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Eurwentala β Fish of Baltic Sea
Published: 2014-08-01 11:45:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 11549; Favourites: 235; Downloads: 0
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Description
While the Baltic Sea might seem boring and mundane compared to tropical oceans, it has a fairly diverse and very odd assemblage of fish. It's the world's largest pool of brackish water, but it's geologically so young, there are no specialized brackish water species.So it's a confusing mix. There are resilient ocean species, often smaller than their oceanic counterparts and unable to breed in some parts of the sea, and just as resilient freshwater fish venturing into the salty parts. Arctic fish mixed with temperate species coming from south. Oceanic fish that once invaded fresh waters and then returned here, now unable to tolerate full ocean salinity.
Fish that give birth, fish whose males get pregnant, fish whose eyes migrate over their heads during their lifetimes, fish that build nests, fish that smell like fresh cucumber. We have everything.
Made forΒ Sieppo, a children's magazine published by The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.
Black markers and Photoshop imitating watercolor.
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Comments: 29
Jeez, what's with me not seeing this stuff, Maija?
Guess I've only seen your paleoart, unfortunately...
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Incredible collection of species here, love your colouring!
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I had no idea the Baltic Sea was so interesting! Very nice work, the artwork is great.
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Gorgeous, this is a great style for it - both accurate and clear. I had no idea the Baltic Sea had such interesting fish. It is a bit hard to read the writing though.
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Nice to see some fish like those here on deviantart! You really drew them in a great way! (:
I myself always have a lot of fun with pipefish and young flatfish every time we go to the Baltic Sea because you can easily find them at the coast (the crustaceans are great, too, though ;D). But I see, there really are a lot of interesting species there, some of which I haven't known til now.
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If you don't already do professional illustrating, you totally should! The world needs this type of talent^^
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Wow, thanks.
I do some professional stuff once in a while, though writing is my main occupation. I did get paid for these fishes, for example.
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Very nice piece! Β I really like art like this, nat history style 
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Which smells like cucumber? And that flatfish looks amusingly contemplative!
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Thanks! I had fun drawing it.
The European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) is the cucumber-smelling one. The scent is actually pretty strong and really weird when coming from a fish.
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Great work! 
Also, it looks like that Pike is trying to smooch the wall 
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Oh, also, I really commend your use of atypical postures for these fish - it gives it much more life, and much more visual interest!
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Thanks!
I like to draw less popular animals. There are plenty of really cool obscure freshwater fish around the world as well.
I specifically tried to make the fish look expressive and use different postures. As it's a children's magazine, it's ok to sway from field guide style a bit.
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Yeah. The European smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), the toothy little fish, has a very clear cucumber smell. I have smelt them a few times, and it's pretty odd.
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So cool! Oceanic, non-tropical fish are way too underrepresented - I prefer them over all those fancy, colorful reef fish! 
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Fascinating about the combination of species, and lovely, delicate illustrations too!
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Thanks!
They wanted to have a mix of the most common and the most weird or interesting species in the magazine. I wanted to expand it a bit for DeviantArt, but unfortunately couldn't find the time.
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I see. Β Well you managed to get a cool combination here, at least! Β
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Looks great!
I'm glad to see more art from you.
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Β Awesome fishes, friend,Β i especially liked the pike
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