It is native to Australia, which doesn't surprise me at all given that it looks more like a trap designed by a deranged dungeon keeper than a creature
If only I could give you two upvotes. One for Australia being the most dangerous place in the known universe, and two for the messed up looking D&D beastie. Well played, my friend.
IRL Shambling Mound was my first thought when I saw the picture.
The tasselled wobbegong has been reported to bite and kill humans unprovoked
hol' up
With several records of apparently unprovoked attacks on people, the tasselled wobbegong has a reputation beyond other wobbegongs for aggressive behavior.
Is such a fucking funny sentence to me.
That reads like some Rick and Morty interdimensional cable shit
"The vicious.. tongles of the tasselled wobbegong turn into... teeth, and they, chomp, on the wobbegong's prey."
Normally when I think of wobbegongs I think about cute, maybe a little strange-looking but otherwise harmless creatures. But then I remember that the tasselled wobbegong exists.
UNPROMPTED
My son had a book called "You're Called What?!" which featured a tasseled wobbegong, alongside other animals such as the Shovelnose Guitarfish, Bone Eating Snot Flower Worm, and the Aha Ha.
My partner and I have this thing where we ask each other if we are the other person's x, where x is something ridiculous, cute, grotesque, or profane. For example, I once asked my partner if I was her gutter-bloated corpse, to which she, of course, answered in the affirmative.
I'll soon find out if I am actually a tasselled wobbegong carpet shark in the eyes of my partner.
As an aside, I asked the corpse thing after reading this delightful line from one of my very favorite books:
“Body found floating by the docks,” Glokta breathed, “bloated by seawater and horribly mutilated… far… far beyond recognition.”
Unexpected first Law by Joe Abercrombie! Loved it, Glokta is such an interesting character.
I've just finished the Book of Law trilogy. Again.
Very cute, best of luck in your quest!
I just read that part of the book a couple nights ago.
Man I love those books. Only time I've finished a series and gone straight back to the beginning again.
Love Joe Abercrombie!
"Damn, is this acid bunk? It's been like an hour."
The carpet:
It looks like a Muppet.
i was gonna say this is a rejected muppet idea
Meet the Feebles.
"Father!"
I've seen more convincing muppets.
Triggered
When I was getting my bio degree, carpet sharks (including Wobbegons) are what I was most interested in studying. Just about every family in the order is fascinating in some way.
there's a whole order of carpet sharks. orectolobiformes
I don't believe you. You can't convince me that someone didn't smash Oscar the Grouch with a comically large wooden hammer and send him to the bottom of the ocean.
This planet is so beautiful and wonderful. And underneath its waters is an entirely different world, full of wild and majestic creatures just like the Tasselled Wobbegong here. I pray that we act quick enough on our climate initiatives to save these things for the future.
I’m sure Nintendo/Gamefreak are going to file an infringement case against them.
I keep reading it as woebegone.
I kept reading "tessellated"
I loved these things as an ocean obsessed kid. Fun to see it mentioned; i haven't thought about these for a long time!
Unless it sings a happy song teaching me letters or numbers, I’m out.
That's a goosefish.
Yer a goosefish!
Moo
Peak performance
What is everyone on about puppets? This looks like something out of neverending story. Turn around, look at what you see.
You mean one of the puppets from the Neverending story?
No, the horse.
Best play set ever.
But do you think it has cute babies?
If so, we need an anti ugly duckling story
Is it wearing a gilly suit?
Basically. They're ambush hunters that pop up and snatch/vacuum prey into their maws. I recall the tassels are also attractive to fish that look for food in the sand, but don't quote me on that.
https://youtu.be/mbv2DhcKAh4?si=HbeUT1T-3haR9DOX
Least annoying video I could find in a few seconds.
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
