the abyssal zone

Something’s wrong with my dog I think it’s gay

Today we’re going French. Cotriade is a culinary icon of the Breton coast and takes its name from the Breton word kaoteriad, meaning ‘the contents of a pot’. From the 18th century onwards, it was prepared by fishermen using ‘godaille’ – unsold fish that were shared out after the catch and served as part of their pay – and eaten on board in a convivial atmosphere. However, the dish was also eaten on board large sailing ships, as fishing took place there too, and this stew could be easily prepared using the ingredients already available.

Here’s what you need for 4 people:

1 kg fish (conger eel, sea bream, hake, mackerel…)

1 leek

2 carrots

6 potatoes

3 turnips

2 onions

clove of garlic

10 cl white wine

20 cl tomato purée

thyme, bay leaf, rosemary

Preparation time: 15 minutes – Cooking time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

1. Wash the fish and cut it into pieces. Set the heads and large bones aside.

2. Peel the vegetables and cut them into pieces. Set aside.

3. Finely chop an onion. In a saucepan, sauté the onion in butter with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the garlic. Deglaze with white wine.

4. Add the fish heads, bones and herbs. Cover with water and simmer for 1 hour, then strain through a sieve.

5. In a casserole dish, fry the second finely chopped onion in butter. Add the tomato purée, stir, then add the fish stock, vegetables, herbs, salt and pepper. Stir, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

6. Add the fish and cook for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

but apparently this photo is fake which is an enormous burst of relief to my already fragile, suddering psyche.

sadly though THIS photo of a barrel jellfish is real

Some of my favorite jellyfish (sorry if I go on a tanget and vear off jellyfish)

are the Stygiomedusa gigantea, which I believe is also called the blanket jellyfish, but like dude look up a video of it moving it is chilling and fantastic! This thing is 10 meters long, so not the largest here, but ohohoho look at my love

It is a deep sea jellyfish and is one of the largest invertebrate predators known. However, according to Cambridge, it has been consistently recorded in the twilight and sunlight depth zones down south so do with that what you will :)

If we want to keep going down the large and length category of ocean creatures, allow me to introduce the current longest recorded ocean animal. A deep sea siphonophore that clocks in at around 46 meters; my beautiful death halo

Technically siphonophores are hundreds upon hundreds of tinier organisms that grouped together to make a bigger one, but for all intents and purposes, this is one animal. Some of them are incredibly beautiful!

However there is also ones not so pretty, main one was something I saw a month or so ago and it looked like someone had fused like a dozen human limbs together and they were flailing to move and jesus christ yall can go mentally scar yourselves.