Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the biggest whale, the biggest mammal, and the biggest animal of all time, hands down. A mature adult can measure roughly the same size and length as three school buses parked end to end.
Review and photos by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
Biggest of all rays, the magnificent manta ray is an imposing but gentle giant that feeds only on zooplankton. What you may not be aware of is that there are currently two recognized species: the giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) and the smaller reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi).
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) has the distinction of being the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world. In the last 22 years the population of vaquita has dropped from 567 to roughly 10 individuals. The vaquita, like so many marine species, is not targeted specifically but ends up as bycatch in gill nets set for other species, in this case the similarly sized totoaba fish (Totoaba macdonaldi) which is itself also critically endangered.
Time for the next walkaround by brontodocus, this time the 2014 octopus by Papo. I picked this figure for two reasons. First, to have our first mollusk on the Animal Toy Blog. And second, because there is an obvious anatomical error with it (you will see below, brontodocus explains it well).
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972
The most famous, most popular, and most feared shark of them all is unquestionably the great white (Carcharodon carcharias). It has appeared in more films, documentaries, books, comics, cartoons, games, and toy lines than any other shark, and probably any other sea creature for that matter.
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.
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).
Sometimes I wonder how Kaiyodo do it! How can it be possible to squeeze so much detail into such minuscule figures, what sorcery is at play in the ChocoQ lines? The mystery Kaiyodo sculptors are clearly masters in their field, and the humpback whale figure (Megaptera novaeangliae), part of the ChocoQ Animatales series (series 6), is one such example of that mastery.
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.
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.
