Floesselaal

Pencil drawing of a Reedfish (Erpetoichthys calabricus), also called Ropefish or Snakefish. I used a random picture from the internet as reference and did this in about 30 or 45 minutes.
I improved my pencil skills very much in the last half year by the looks.

I love those babies! Members of the order of the Bichirs (Polypteriformes) who are kinda the oldest/most primitive actinopterygians alive. They resemble Sarcopterygians and early Tetrapods with their fleshy pectoral fins, have heavy ganoid scales plating and their tail fins are also very primitive (not forked as in modern Actinopterygians). Also they have lungs and need to regularly swim to the surface to breathe instead of just breathing via their gills. As young they have external gills much like Axolotl, what makes them very cute. Since they do not really see that good, they find their food by smell and search the ground or the surface for it and according to they also use ampullae of Lorenzini located on their head in order to sense the electric fields of their prey. Small fish like Guppies or Neons are prey to them, but generally they're very peaceful and in my opinion the most harmless Bichirs suited for a fish tank, since you need to keep them in a small group and not solitary.

>> MORE OF MY SCIENTIFIC ART HERE <<