Right about the time I decided the review the Cadbury Yowie giant clam a couple weeks ago, Toy Spirits (a subsidiary of SO-TA, or vice versa) decided to produce one in the third volume of their Shellfish with a Lid Mascot series. The figure was not marketed at the species level, but I bought it hoping I could confidentially identify it as something different than the Cadbury figure which was specifically marketed as Tridacna maxima.
Giant Clam (Yowies Series 4 by Cadbury)
5 (3 votes)
The genus Tridacna consists of large marine bivalves commonly known as giant clams. The largest, T. gigas, can be 120 cm across, weigh over 200 kg, and live for over 100 years. Today we will be looking at T. maxima, which is known as the maxima clam (although it also goes by the oxymoron ‘small giant clam’).
Sloane’s Viperfish (MIU Deep Sea Odyssey 2 by Kaiyodo)
4.8 (4 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
The deep ocean is one of the most inhospitable habitats on this planet, and animals have to find extreme ways to adapt or die out. For one, sunlight only goes as low as 1000 m, although any significant light rarely goes to 200 m, which means that there are no plants to photosynthesize and in turn, no plants for herbivores to graze on.
Vampire Squid (MIU Deep Sea Odyssey 1 by Kaiyodo)
5 (2 votes)
For this review, I deep dive for our October scary theme, and talk of blood sucking horrors, Vampires. In the deepest parts of the ocean, where even the sun fears to shine, live creatures of a frightening and ghoulish nature. One of these creatures floats silently through the waters, looking for prey to devour.
Blue Whale (Mega Sofubi Advance by Kaiyodo)
4.3 (13 votes)
There are many iterations of a fabled, island-sized sea monster across various cultures, which were in no doubt inspired by early accounts of animals such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Blue whales exist in all major oceans, but precise distributions are patchy and their migratory movements are poorly understood.
Bamboo Shark (Wild Safari Sealife by Safari Ltd.)
5 (5 votes)
Bamboo sharks, also less glamorously known as longtail carpet sharks, belong to the family Hemiscylliidae within the order Orectolobiformes (carpet sharks). This makes them close kin to such familiar sharks as the whale, nurse, and zebra sharks. All of them are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific and the largest members of the family only reach about 4’ (1.2 meters).
Leopard Moray (Shinagawa Aquarium by Kaiyodo)
5 (2 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
With it’s bright colors of an orange head, mouth lined with narrow teeth used for grasping slippery prey, a brownish body decorated with spots, an ornate pattern, and, to top it all off, a pair of distinctive horn like nostril tubes that gave the fish its name and makes it stand out from the rest of its relatives, the leopard or dragon moray (Enchelycore pardalis) is certainly one of the most distinctive fish on the reef.
Jellyfish (Incredible Creatures by Safari Ltd.)
5 (4 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Jellyfish, along with sponges, are among the oldest living creatures on earth. They have been traced all the way back to the Cambrian period, dating back over 500 million years ago. Jellyfish are part of the phylum Cnidaria and are closest related to corals and anemones.
Blue Damselfish (Colors of the Animal Kingdom by Yowie Group)
4.7 (6 votes)
The blue damselfish (Chrysiptera cyanea) is a member of the Pomacentridae family (damselfishes and clownfishes) that inhabits reefs and lagoons within the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is also included in Yowie Group’s Colors of the Animal Kingdom series. Yowie Group is a company that produces chocolate candy, molded around plastic eggs that contain toy animals.
Zebra Shark, juvenile (Wild Water Series by Yowie Group)
5 (3 votes)
Since joining the Animal Toy Forum, the Yowie Group company has quickly caught my attention. The chocolate wrapped eggs they produce offer a wide range of toy animals inside them, many species not readily produced by other companies. For whatever reason I didn’t think I could get these Yowie eggs myself, I thought they were unique to other countries overseas.
Great White Shark (Monterey Bay Aquarium Collection by Safari Ltd.)
4.6 (7 votes)
Review and images by JimoAi; edited by bmathison1972
Every year, there will be a week dedicated to sharks known as Shark Week, where many content creators dedicate to posting shark-related content for that period of time. Most famously, the infamous Discovery Channel airs the sub-par shark specials annually for that period, which unfortunately focuses more on sensationalization rather than actual science, which misinforms the general public about sharks, causing a deeper divide between fiction and reality.
Sharks (Play Visions)
5 (2 votes)
In honor of Shark Week, I have decided to post a brief review of the Sharks collection by Play Visions, originally released in 1996. I collect sharks because they are animals, but I must admit it is a group, at least among common and familiar animals, that I have little experience and knowledge with.