Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
ANIA is a line of animal figures released under Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. catered towards educating children about wildlife. These figures are highly detailed, inexpensive, and often accurate to the animals they are made to portray. The line has gained popularity in Japan, with them branching out to releasing bath bombs with little animals, gashapons, and blind boxes.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The surgeonfish are a group of fish that inhabits warm waters around coral reefs. They are mostly herbivorous and benifit the reefs by eating algae, which balances the coral and algal growth. They range in size from the small bristletooth tang which can get up to 15 cm to the largest surgeonfish species: the white margin unicornfish, which gets to 100 cm in length.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is probably the most famous fish on this planet. It has gained a fearsome reputation thanks to movies like Jaws, which portrays these beautiful animals as nothing more that blood-thirsty killers driven by the instinct to kill.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The Zebrasoma tangs are a genus of surgeonfish known for their fins that erect like a sail, a spine at the end of the tail for defense like all other surgeonfishes, and features that make them similar to some butterflyfish species such as a disk shaped body and their long snout.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Pufferfish and their close cousins, the porcupinefish, have a particular defense mechanism of swallowing water and thanks to their expandable stomach, it makes them look bigger, rounder and less appetizing for potential predators (One example in popular media is Mrs Puff puffing up when Spongebob fails his driving test for the X amount of times and going ‘Oh, Spongebob.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Sea anemones paralyze their prey with their stinging tentacles with the aid of little harpoons. However, there are a few animals that use these stinging tentacles to their advantage, mainly to seek refuge from predators. But the most famous of these animals to take advantage of these stinging tentacles: the anemonefish.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
When it comes to dangerous sharks to humans, most people will always think about the great white, the tiger, or the bull shark. However, there is a runner up for the most dangerous shark that not many people have heard of, and it’s the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus).
Today I will be continuing the reviews of Papo’s 2020 arthropods with the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. This is one of 5 insects (6 arthropods total) produced by Papo in 2020. Interestingly, it is the only arthropod in their entire collection to-date that is not naturally European, given that Papo is a French company (more on that later).
Review and images by callmejoe3; edited by bmathison1972
Among the various impressive macropredators in the ocean, the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), is among the most powerful and strangest. The tiger shark belongs to the Carcharhinidae family, often referred to as the “requiem sharks”. The Galeocerdo genus was once diverse, but the tiger shark remains the only extant species within this clade.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
When it comes to chondrichthyes, the sharks always come up at the top of the popularity lists. In fact, whenever a toy company makes a fish figure, it’s always almost going to be a shark, usually a great white shark. Their cousins, the rays and chimaeras, are not so lucky in terms of treatment, and the luckiest non-shark chondrichthian to receive figure treatment is the largest of the rays and largest fish that isn’t a shark alive today, the manta ray.
Review by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972
If there are oddballs amongst mammals (and there certainly are), the monotremes are heavy competitors for first place. The order Monotremata includes only five extant species, all of which are threatened to different degress. Most popular is the improbable platypus which was first thought to be a faux by those Europeans who only knew it from imported, stuffed specimens.
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
When it comes to reef fish, no species is as distinct and instantly recognizable as the Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus). They are included on almost every ocean-related merchandise and media out there: from towels, utensils, coins and one even was a character in the 2003 Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo.
