Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
As its name suggests, the grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) make its home around coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific, where it preys upon fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. While not a very large shark, it is highly aggressive and will drive off other sharks from its territory.
Although the great white shark is without dispute the most popular of sharks it’s the closely related shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) that might be the most quintessential of all shark species. It’s as streamlined and graceful as they come, an efficiently evolved animal that might just be, the perfect shark.
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) is one of the largest predatory sharks, with some females growing up to five metres in length and weighing over a ton. It has the widest diet of any known shark; it hunts fish, other sharks, crustaceans, mollusks, sea birds, seals, sea lions, dugongs, dolphins, sea snakes, and sea turtles, the latter being a particular favourite.
Review and photos by Suspsy, edited by bmathison1972
Ichthyologists the world over were flabbergasted back in 1976 when a US warship hauled in its anchor only to discover a large and previously unknown species of shark entangled in the chain. Its enormous gaping mouth, lined only with tiny teeth, led it to be called the megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios).
I promise I will eventually not write about a fish…but today will not be that day. Instead, I’m going to write about a really interesting fish, and a really unusual–and rare–figure produced to represent it (spoiler, it’s in the title!). I am speaking of course about the Safari Ltd Loach Minnow, produced for Marsh & Associates LLC (as part of their Marsh Education program).
Review and photos by Suspsy, edited by Animaltoyforum
If you’ve ever been to an aquarium in your life, especially one with touch tanks, chances are you’re familiar with cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus). I’ve quite lost track of how many times over the years I’ve purchased those little cardboard containers of just three pieces of herring or squid or shrimp to feed to these endearing creatures (probably spent enough to buy at least a couple of PNSO’s big dinosaur figures).
It’s a shark! No, wait, it’s a ray! It’s a shark-ray! Although all ray in the front and all shark in the back the shark ray (Rhina ancylostoma) really is a species of ray, but in appearance it looks like some kind of transitional form, making it easy to see the close relationship between sharks and rays.
The Colorata Saddled bichir represents one of the coolest groups of fish alive today. One that is sadly underrepresented in toy form, but this figure is a good start!
So for my next foray into Animal Toy Blog I am going to discuss a full set of ten figures from a relatively new set from Safari Ltd, released in 2017 (but I only just discovered it…go figure). I’m going to come out and say, there will be brief parts (in point format) and longer parts (paragraphs) as I will discuss the toob figures individually (save two).
After all of these years, I’m finally doing a blog post for the Toy Forums! It is of course a fish, and since it’s hard to decide I went with one that arrived only a couple of days ago–the updated Slender Oarfish Regalecus russelii (Cuvier, 1816) made for the revised Colorata Deep Sea Fishes box.
The coelacanth, Latimeria, is an iconic species of ‘living fossil’ and a text-book example of evolutionary stasis – an organism that has changed very little over millions of years. This is presumably why Safari Ltd picked this distinctive prehistoric-looking fish for their Wild Safari Prehistorics line, which is normally dedicated to prehistoric critters.
All manner of bizarre-looking creatures lurk down in the darkest deepest oceans, but you don’t have to descend too far to meet the unusual frogfish. The Furuta version of the frogfish under review here is absolutely one of the best toys of its kind available.
The packaging doesn’t specify the species, but the Furuta frogfish is probably Antennarius striatus, the striated frogfish or hairy frogfish (thanks go to Brontodocus for the likely ID).
