Shark Week might be over but there’s one more elasmobranch I wanted to review before moving away from cartilaginous fishes, the 2019 Incredible Creatures marble ray (Taeniurops meyeni) by Safari Ltd.
The marble ray goes by many names, including blotched fantail ray, round ribbontail ray, giant reef ray, and black-spotted stingray.
Review and images by Alopias superciliosus; edited by bmathison1972
I appreciate Shark Week on the Animal Toy Blog far more than I do the actual shark week programming on Discovery because the reviews on the Blog are more in line with what Shark Week should be and once was: an educational look at a fascinating group of animals, as opposed to over-dramatized, fear-mongering pseudo-science.
The porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) is a mackerel shark of cold waters. The origin of its common name is unknown. One theory is that ‘porbeagle’ is a combination of ‘porpoise’ and ‘beagle’, in reference to the shark’s tenacious hunting behavior. Another is that it is a combination of the Cornish words porth (harbor) and bugel (shepherd).
My next Shark Week review is another blast from the past, the 1996 Wild Safari leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata). Since the release and retirement of this toy, better leopard sharks have come along by Safari and Papo, but this oldie is still worth taking a look at.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
It’s Shark Week on the Blog once again and for today’s subject, we’ll be looking at the magnificent and feared great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), a species that needs no introduction, being prominently featured in many games, movies, books and toys.
Review and images by Alopias superciliosus; edited by bmathison1972
I’m happy to be back for my third Shark Week with the Animal Toy Blog, and this year I will be contributing two reviews! First up, arriving just in time for Shark Week, Papo’s newly released thresher shark.
Thresher sharks are a fascinating family of mackerel sharks easily distinguished by their incredibly long upper caudal fin lobes.
Today it’s my contribution to the Shark Week posts, and just like last year, it’s a very unusual species from the Discovery Science set “Return to Isle of Jaws”. As before, I haven’t actually see the show of the same name, but it did lead to a whole box set of shark figures.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
For Shark Week this year, I’m covering this charming plush hammerhead from BJ Toy Company. I acquired it back in 2009 when I visited the Memphis Zoo in Memphis, Tennessee. And it ended up coming in rather handy when my suitcase got lost on the flight back home.
Shark Week is back, and this year also marks the 50th anniversary of Jaws, so to kick off a week of toy shark reviews we’ll start by looking at Shark Week’s headlining shark species and the star of Jaws, a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
Here we are, the end of the line, in every sense of the phrase. I have been reviewing the fish from Replica Toy Fish for what seems like forever (but has only been about 8 months), all from my personal collection. The very first post was the 6″ channel catfish, possibly the most popular figure and the first to go out of production, well before the line closed up for good.
Here we are, the penultimate post for the Replica Toy Fish figures (unless I can get my hands on a few other prototypes that I know are out there). Like the previous prototype brook trout this model represents a very unique species, using an existing sculpt. As it is, I also received one paint prototype of a related species, also using that same sculpt.
Pufferfishes are a family of fishes scientifically known as Tetraodontidae and although they can also inflate their bodies the porcupinefishes of the Diodontidae family are not generally regarded as pufferfishes. The two families are closely related of course, both belonging to the Tetraodontiformes order. And although any fish in the order that puffs up can colloquially be called a pufferfish it’s important to mention the distinction when reviewing today’s subject, a porcupinefish that Safari marketed as a pufferfish.
