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Description
Alrighty, this may be the last of the "invertebrate pinnipeds" until I find another interesting invertebrate body design to serve as the basis for a seal analogue. (Any suggestions?) I'd like to do a predator too, though I'll probably move farther afield to the arthropods for inspiration.

This one is based on a photo of a larval sea urchin (it was the size of a pinhead, while this animal is clearly supposed to be much larger). One of my ideas for this one was that the long trailing limbs might actually move with a kind of rotating or corkscrewing motion, so I tried to imply the mechanics behind that with the ropy, twining muscle bands. While I didn't picture bones along the length of the appendage, I did picture small bones in the "flippers" at the end, and added claws to reinforce that impression. To me, there's something kind of "cryptid-like" about it, probably because of accounts I've read of the fabled Con Rit and of Bernard Heuvelmans' "many-finned" class of sea serpents.

I originally wanted to do a more interesting face on this one, but nothing really worked out conceptually. I considered an elephant seal, but something about that seemed at odds with the gracile quality of the limbs. I also considered a hooded seal, but that seemed kind of gimmicky, like I would just be hitting all the bases in terms of iconic points of visual interest (tusks, inflatable sacs, etc.). (Besides, I want to save inflatable sacs for something truly special.) In the end I just went with a generic, vaguely pinnipedal face. I think of these guys as analogous to true seals, but I just realized that I keep giving them external ears!

This one's not poisonous, so Darcie can ride it and Emile, you can give it a big hug!

Description
Alrighty, this may be the last of the "invertebrate pinnipeds" until I find another interesting invertebrate body design to serve as the basis for a seal analogue. (Any suggestions?) I'd like to do a predator too, though I'll probably move farther afield to the arthropods for inspiration.

This one is based on a photo of a larval sea urchin (it was the size of a pinhead, while this animal is clearly supposed to be much larger). One of my ideas for this one was that the long trailing limbs might actually move with a kind of rotating or corkscrewing motion, so I tried to imply the mechanics behind that with the ropy, twining muscle bands. While I didn't picture bones along the length of the appendage, I did picture small bones in the "flippers" at the end, and added claws to reinforce that impression. To me, there's something kind of "cryptid-like" about it, probably because of accounts I've read of the fabled Con Rit and of Bernard Heuvelmans' "many-finned" class of sea serpents.

I originally wanted to do a more interesting face on this one, but nothing really worked out conceptually. I considered an elephant seal, but something about that seemed at odds with the gracile quality of the limbs. I also considered a hooded seal, but that seemed kind of gimmicky, like I would just be hitting all the bases in terms of iconic points of visual interest (tusks, inflatable sacs, etc.). (Besides, I want to save inflatable sacs for something truly special.) In the end I just went with a generic, vaguely pinnipedal face. I think of these guys as analogous to true seals, but I just realized that I keep giving them external ears!

This one's not poisonous, so Darcie can ride it and Emile, you can give it a big hug!