When Anton Chekhov Said “develop The Aesthetic Feeling In Yourself. Allow Your Heart To Ache For What

Dungeness crab Megalopa Research

Hello fellow POE students! The host organization I work with is known as Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG). They are a research group whose main function is to find ways to sustainably manage Dungeness crabs in the Pacific Northwest. Within PCRG, my specific role is to monitor Dungeness crab megalopae (larva) abundances. I am able to do this using a tool called a light trap. These traps are programmed to essentially “fish” for megalopae for two nights. Once the two nights are up, I check the traps and count how many megalopae they have caught.

Through working at my internship, I have experience and learned some really interesting things. I would say the most intriguing thing I’ve learned to far is how to properly ID certain crab megalopa species. It is fun to learn because it involves getting a closer look at the larvae under a microscope and getting an idea of the morphological differences between all the species. This aligns with my future goals because I want to work in species conservation after college, and it is hard to know how to conserve certain species without first knowing how to ID them.

The biggest challenge I’ve faced in my internship so far is coming up with an effective way to address my research question. My research question involves comparing Dungeness crab megalopa abundances to other crab species megalopa abundances in order to predict interspecies competition. However, other crab megalopa species almost always appear in the trap at much smaller numbers than Dungeness crab megalopae. In order to better address the research question, I have decided to not only compare the megalopa species abundances at the light trap, but I will also compare the juvenile species abundances in the nearshore habitats. This will give me a better idea of which crab species are able to successfully outcompete other crab species while settling in nearshore habitats.

-Brendan Beaudette

Here are a couple microscopic photos I took in the lab. One photo is a hermit crab megalopa and the other photo is a mussel crab juvenile.

Thank you for reading my blog post, I will wrap things up with one question for my readers. Do you think interspecies competition has any correlation to Dungeness crab decline, or do you think the decline is caused by other phenomena?

Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed in The Devils (1971)

absolutely everyone is missing the point of “the green knight” by overanalyzing everything about it EXCEPT me and @spohkh​, sorry to everyone else but we’re different

Not to be gay on main.... But all I want is to live in a small medieval town. I'm the town baker. My bakery is my home and I'm always wearing an apron and covered in flour.

Nextdoor is a forge, and I am very close with the blacksmith that works there. Every morning I bring him a freshly baked loaf of bread. As I hand it to him our hands touch briefly. His hands are rough, yet they're so careful and gentle with everything he touches. I secretly want him to be that gentle with me.

One day, he walks into my bakery, he's still sweaty from the intense heat of the forge. In his hands is a small dagger in it's sheath. He hands it to me and tells me it's to protect myself if needed.

I take the dagger out of it's sheath. It's beautifully made. There are intricate designs engraved into the metal. It's so much more complicated than anything else yeah blacksmith has ever made. It must've been so time consuming to make.

I look up at him and with just one look I understand why he's giving it to me. With one look we both understand that we love each other. He leans in and kisses me. It's so soft and sweet, and gentle.

He comes by every day to get a loaf of bread and kiss me. We keep our relationship a secret. And everyone wonders why neither of us have found wives. But we know exactly why. And we're completely content with being secret lovers.

Is that really too much to ask?

Love at first s(word f)ight. With Gawain? Feel like that could be some hot shit. Thx babes! xx

A/N: All I know about Knight Tournaments comes from “A Knight's Tale” starring Heath Leger (RIP King). Work with me here. Masterlist // buy me a coffee 🥰// Word count: 1,241

You had expected your father to say “no,” to the tournament. You had some sense of logic, but it was still a great annoyance. You were the third daughter of your family, and your brother was already poised to take control as the new lord of your small pocket of land.

Your father had no reason to say no, but he did anyway.

The man had trained you to fight, as your older brother was weakened with a health condition no one in your family would talk about. Someone had to keep the family techniques alive, but at the same time, you were never to use it unless your life was in mortal danger.

Fuck that.

So you signed up under your brother’s name, tied your hair back, got your gear, and left.

It was easy until round four, everything else seemed so far away now.

You weren’t entirely sure what the fuck was happening. The crowd was going insane, and your opponent knew every move you would make before you did. You were smart, strong, and for the most part, organized. And this knight was your perfect match.

Gawain was thinking the exact same, only he was a little more annoyed as this was supposed to be fun.

After his first quest, he’d come back somber and withdrawn. After urging from his mother, he’d agreed to “do something for himself”, so he’d chosen a local tournament.

Normally, due to his status as the King’s nephew, he’d simply compete for two rounds, and drop out due to “injury”, as to not draw sway any judges looking for his favor, or draw any particular ire from any opponent in the ring.

This time, he’d chosen to enter a tournament under a fake name. Not the best idea for a man of his standing, or the most original, but it was supposed to be easy. He needed it easy after confronting the Green Knight. He deserved it

Up until round four had been easy. and then there was you.

As your father had told you, “tall, burly men only know how to fight their own.” He’d been right, but your opponent was tall, he was clearly more lean, agile than the rest you’d defeated. You were smaller than your other opponents and used your speed to your advantage. It looked as if you weren’t getting away with it this time.

Every move he made was predictable, because you were going to do the same. If you had been in the mood to ponder such things, you’d have known at that moment he was a royal. The fighting style was too refined and smooth as opposed to your previous adversaries who had been taught to strike as hard as they could.

Watching the two of you fight was a savage and brilliant thing, but it’s not as if any of the peasants who frequented such events knew such words.

But both you and Gawain did, and that’s what mattered. It was a part of this even-matched fight, and a reason that you were both nearing your wits end with the other.

It’s in small moments like these, where one really finds out what kind of person they are. You knew it, Gawain knew it, and you certainly were going to act accordingly.

Gawain didn’t. He knew it was a cheap shot, but he did it anyway.

His fist connected with the jaw of your helmet with an alarming force, sending you down to your knees.

In the moment, you were absolutely livid. Your helmet had been struck with such a force that it was sent halfway across the ring, leaving you totally exposed.

You gasped, attempting to right yourself, as you felt the cold metal of the blade tilt your chin up.

Gawain sharply inhaled when taking you in.

Your hair had been tied back, but the force of the blow had left it in the dirt, leaving your soft hair to scatter across your face.

Gawain was sure he was going to die.

Clear, beautiful eyes. An elegant nose, and he could hardly bring himself to look at your mouth as he was still your opponent, even if his mind was racing at the sight of your face.

But a dull thud of reality set in across the inside of his skull, as it usually did.

A woman. He’d just punched a woman.

The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Gawain’s mind snapped back from trying to memorize your features as he realized his sword had wandered down to your newly-exposed throat. He barely hid a shiver as you cleared your throat and spat a bloody clump onto the dirt between his feet.

He was supposed to be here.

He’d just met his future queen.

“Do you yield?” Gawain asked, voice feeling hoarse and far away. He’ll blame the fact you were a vicious and smart opponent, and not the fact that seeing your eyes sent a lightning bolt straight to his heart.

A woman. The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Of course you looked as if you could snap him in half at that moment, but that was hardly new for Gawain.

You huffed, breath sending some strands of hair out of your eyes.

“No.” You used your gauntlet to knock his sword away and swiftly got up from your knees, striking your opponent square in the jaw of his helmet. The helmet didn’t come off, not that you were surprised at that, you didn’t use your usual amount of force. You’d later ask yourself why, but the answer would reveal itself in time.

Gawain wasn’t sure what had happened until he hit the ground.

It was love. It had to be love.

Whatever he’d been through with the Bertilaks had been lust, but whatever this was more. It had to be more, or his mind had truly not come back from his quest in one piece.

As Gawain fell, the screaming crowd faded into the back of his brain, as he tried his best to make a plan. It was a tough feat to accomplish with all of the blood rushing to one’s ears, but he’d win you over.

You didn’t know his face, but he’d win you over. He had to. Deep in his bones, he had to.

And Gawain goes down hard, in more ways than one, ears ringing in his helmet as the weight of his armor took him down. The referee rings their bell and the match is over, you're on to the next round tomorrow. Four rounds in two days was a lot, but you wanted this. You deserved this.

As you put your helmet back over your head, you felt your body begin to shake. The adrenaline started to take its toll as your mind started to race. Good. The fight was over, you could think at a reasonable pace.

Why did he do that for you?

Did he even mean to?

He left himself open and he stared at you. Two big, dark eyes staring at you like you were the moon or … something beautiful.

It wasn't as if you could find this ‘Sir Kay’ and ask, but you can feel the same gaze following you as you hustle away to your tent to change.

The Bacchante, 1853 Jean-Leon Gerome (detail)

Hello, I have read that the Mantas put 20 eggs but inside this 20 eggs (mermaid pocket) they have 400 more eggs, i don't understand that. Also, i have read that this eggs normally are attach to algas to feed when they are born, but then again i have seen videos of the mantas being born of the inside of the mom. it is because they are different species? please i would love to know that. thank you so much.

When you say mantas, you are talking about manta ray aka devils ray, which are pelagic and travelers batoids, very famous, and seen in snorkel and diving spot in tropical parts of the world. These species do not lay eggs, but rather become pregnant and give birth.

Distant relatives to manta rays are skate (ajidae) and in some cases they lay eggs.

There are big species, who lay big egg cases. such is the big skate (Beringraja binoculata), and particulary, this one is know to lay around (in some cases) 5 to 10 eggs or embryos, inside one single egg case or mermaid pocket.These eggs are fertiliced insided the female, after the copula. Then, the eggs are closed insided the egg case and laying on the seafloor.

howard, 2017

but in other cases, small skate species, usually coastal, lay a lot of egg cases with a single egg inside, each egg case have tendrils who entangles, and these female lay a lot of egg (or it is likely a group of female laying egg in groups) here is one example of numerous egg cases lay together.

Left to right: a pelagic nudibranch, crab megalopa and soapfish all photographed at about 16 feet. Photograph: Robert Stansfield/Media Drum Images

Discovered In The Deep: A ‘Night-Time Migration’ of Marine Life – In Pictures

These images were taken by underwater photographer Robert Stansfield, from Southampton, UK, on a blackwater dive in the open ocean surround the island of Cozumel, Mexico.‘The blackwater dives never fail to amaze me with the crazy alien-like life forms that drift past out in the open ocean, well away from a reef,’ says Robert. ‘The idea is to see the largest biomass migration on the planet. Every night a huge volume of life migrates up from the mesopelagic zone up to the epipelagic. This night-time migration gives us the opportunity to see life at the surface that normally lives well beyond recreational diving depths.’

A Squid, Photographed at 5 metres in Cozumel, Mexico. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Rainbow Tripodfish, Photographed at 5 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

An Atlanta Heteropod, or Sea Elephant, Photographed at about 20 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Flying Fish, Photographed at the Surface. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Transparent Oxycephalus Smphipod on a Hydromedusa, Photographed at about 18 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Male Argonaut on Salp, Photographed at 19 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Pelagic Nudibranch, Photographed at 5 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Crab Megalopa, Photographed at 5 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

A Soapfish, Photographed at about 5 metres. Photograph: Media Drum Images/Robert Stansfield

I think what I find most attractive about Dark Academia is the amount of unfiltered passion present throughout the whole aesthetic. Its all or nothing, no matter how small a task is; whether writing or painting or studying, or hell, even my morning cup of coffee seems to be deeper and bigger than just a morning routine, its fuel to help me achieve my dreams, a foundation stone for the castle that is the rest of my life.

As someone who struggled for years to find a reason to be passionate, to find a reason to enjoy the little things like my morning cup of coffee, to actually believe I could be more than just a insignificant speck in the vast universe, dark academia has become a lifeline to tether myself to. I didn't believe I would live past 18. Now I'm working toward a career in a field I'm passionate about, and I want to live.