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B is for Brachyuran

B is for Brachyuran

Another science alphabet doodle. Maybe this will be turning into an Invertebrate Alphabet series. They are fun to do, even though they are a grand procrastination. I enjoy the hand lettering, exploring bits of my past.

As for the infra order Brachyura – these are the true crabs, with short tails folded under their bodies (Brachyura comes from the Greek brachys oura or “Short Tail”). There are over 6000 species of brachyura. Most are marine but there are about 1000 species that live all or a significant part of their lives in either freshwater or on land. They range in size from a few millimeters across to a leg span of 4 meters!

Brachyurans eat just about anything: detritus, seaweeds and sea grasses, mussels, fish, fresh carrion and each other. In turn they are eaten by pretty everyone as well: mainly other crustaceans and fish, but also birds, starfish, sea turtles and of course mammals including us. True crabs are a delicious and economically important food source—1.3 tons of true crabs were commercially captured in 2010.

A is for Aplacophora

A is for - Aplacophora

The Aplacophora are a very interesting group of exclusively marine molluscs. These worm-like creature were once considered to be holothurians (sea cucumbers) but they were later identified as molluscs from their mantle and primitive radula (two key features of molluscs). Most have been found in very deep waters (as in 5km+ deep). Most of the discovered species live their life buried in the mud feeding on detritus and microscopic organisms in the mud. Some prey on cnidarians. Most are tiny (as in a few mm in length) but some tip the tapes in excess of 30cm long. All have no internal or external shell, though they do have calcareous spicules in their mantle. So far ~300 species have been documented. In the Mollusc Diversity Playing Cards the 2 of Spades is the large Aplacaphoran, Neomenia yamamotoi.

Sanity Control – Desktop Sketching

Desktop Sketching

Desktop Sketching
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

I’ve been doing more sketching so far this year, partly, because I realized I was getting massively burned out last year. I have always enjoyed art—drawing, textile design, type design—and a few years ago I was set to follow it full time. Then the opportunity to go back to school for marine science came up, and I had to jump at it. Unfortunately, being a full time student really reduced the time I had for other pursuits. Grad school squashed what time was available for artistic pursuits to nothing. For the past three years I have done almost nothing artistic. The last significant art project I worked on was the octopus scarf. The one exception is might be Science Deck cards, but I don’t count that because it is all digital design, and more and more, I need analog art mediums. I need to feel the art come to life in my hands.

This sketch was the first effort this year, born of frustration with progress in my writing and a burning need to find some way to detach from the thesis writing in an enjoyable, and dare I say it, me-centered moment or two. Fortunately, when I focus on art, I am pretty solidly focused, but it is a very different type of focus than writing or crunching numbers. Instead of a focus that becomes heavy over time, it is one that seems to make things lighter.

This year (and next) will be very stressful. Transitioning into a fast attack Ph.D. plan (total of 4 years of research/classes/study) quals, thesis writing, presentations, etc. To keep from going totally bonkers—a highly technical term—I absolutely need to have some down time nurturing the creative side. To further that end, I started making a concerted effort to sketch at least every other day. Not a resolution or a promise, but a goal, same as my goal of 120 dives and 120+ hours in the water this year. Doable, but if it doesn’t happen, it’s no big deal. Just something to aim for.

The sketch above was my desk at the time of the sketching. On the right is my Wacom tablet, to the left of it is the legal pad with notes for my thesis writing—yes, I write the first draft of each chapter longhand on legal paper. All my major note-taking methods (except drawing) are represented in the image:

  1. Small Moleskines for taking daily notes.
  2. A larger notebook (this one also a Moleskine on the left) with project notes, effectively my lab notebook.
  3. Index cards above that for details about each video or photo frame (community composition, location, etc). Each card ends as a record (several records actually) in a database in the end.
  4. A legal pad for writing manuscript rough drafts.

Scattered on the desk are several of my writing tools: a pair of Waterman Hemispheres and a Waterman Phileas. One of the Hemispheres has a matte black finish with a fine nib and is loaded with black ink. The other has a blue, marbled body with a medium nib and is filled with Noodler’s Polar Blue ink. The Phileas is a medium nib with blue Waterman ink, a real workhorse of a fountain pen, which was quite affordable in it’s day. It’s a little large for my hand, but still comfortable enough for hour long writing sessions. This one is now out of commission, as the end cap came off and got lost just the other day. I really like the Hemispheres. They are very nice pens. I do need to spend some time with the fine tipped one—a gift from Dad—to personalize the nib. It’s just a bit scratchy right now. Unfortunately, my favorite pen of all, a Parker Sonnet with fine nib, is not in the lineup since its nib met with the deck of the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster during the one evening of storm waves we had during our cruise last spring. It slipped longways off the desk and landed directly on the nib, doing quite a bit of damage. I’m hoping that the folks at the Fountain Pen Hospital will be able to affordably fix it by either replacing the nib or straightening it out.

I plan to post several new drawings and doodles here and at my Flickr Photostream.

Science Bake Sale

Eric told me about the trouble he and his dive buddy, Joe, are having with the old scooter they’ve been using to collect data for Eric’s thesis. The scooter belongs to their Dive Safety Officer (DSO) and is an older model. They’ve been nursing it along, but it doesn’t work as well as it used to and there are few replacement parts with which to repair it. The propellor is cracked and the batteries are not holding their charge. On the last dive it completely died on them. They had to push it all the way back. A half of a mile is a long way to push a scooter against the current. We’ve also been dealing with a lot of red tape with any funding, which has been frustrating, to say the least. So I thought, enough of this garbage, why don’t we raise our own funds?

The obvious question is, “How?” We barely get by right now. We were forced to live off of our savings and house downpayment a long time ago. The first thought that came to my mind was a bake sale. Why not? Other people have done it. Eric was skeptical and laughed, thinking I was joking. I was dead serious. You don’t know if something will work until you try and regular channels aren’t working. We have to get creative to get what we want.

So I suggested my idea about CafePress again. He’s had an account set up there, but never did much with it. When I was brainstorming for ideas on how to make money to cover our bills if the PhD offer doesn’t come through, I thought of printing our leaf art onto T-shirts to sell. Eric read about other scientists who have turned to the online community for help and thought, “Well, maybe we CAN do it.” And so, Science Bake Sale was born.

Diver on Gray's Reef - Leaf art inspired by research dives on Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary

Diver on Gray's Reef - Leaf art inspired by research dives on Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary


Eric took pictures of the leaf art Johann and I did while he was at Gray’s Reef last year on a research cruise. Eric told us the animals he saw while they were diving one day: a guitarfish, a leatherback sea turtle, and a cobia. The art project helped us feel more connected to Eric and gave Johann’s mind something to focus on besides missing Daddy. Johann was so excited to show Eric what we had done. Now it is the first design in our Science Bake Sale CafePress store.

Please go take a look and see if you like what we have so far. We have plans for more CafePress designs and some marine biology and ocean themed original artwork and dyed clothing that will go up on an Etsy Store as well. Our first goal is to buy a replacement scooter, so Eric is sure to be able to complete his research dives.

Knitting Therapy

I’ve been knitting a lot to build up my stock for selling on etsy and at Bestemors in Mystick Village this coming winter season. In between items specifically made for sale, I’ve been doing personal projects as well. I deliberately created a project for myself to keep my mind occupied while I was recovering from knee surgery. I knit socks for friends of ours, one for each member of the family. I started with the hearts pair last November right after the surgery. The orange skull socks were made second, followed by the diamond patterned ones. The white skull socks were finally finished about a month ago. I’m so glad I did it. Our friends have happy, warm feet and the knitting got me through a very difficult time. Now I need to knit wacky socks for the three of us!

Heart Socks

Purple Hearts for the daughter


Orange Skulls for the son


Rainbow diamonds for the Mrs.


White skulls for the Mr.

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