Uploads from Fish as art, with geodata

Ocean Chum Salmon

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:53:25 -0700

This is what Chum Salmon look like, fresh from the marine environment, just entering an estuary or river delta. Even at this early stage in their transformation, there is considerable variability among individuals.
I tried to show how the bright silver shine is lost as early stages of transformation set in. Yes, plenty of silver still there, but it's not iridescent.
My Apple monitors are so bad that almost none of the original subtle hues in illustration show up here when I look at it . God help you if you have Dell.

Coho Salmon-Spawning Male

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:10:10 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

I must say, I'm bloody proud of myself concerning this one! My best work, ever! It went well right from the start. However, it took much longer than planned.

Coho salmon are late fall to early winter spawners. Males are often darker than this. The individual illustrated above was captured in early December. Special thanks to Glen Dixon at Fisheries Oceans Canada, Inch Creek Hatchery, British Columbia.

Illustration done with water-colour pencils used wet, overlaid on colour pencil base. I then layered (and I mean LAYERED for days) with colour pencil. Only then was fine detail added.

Chum Salmon-Spawning Male

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:59:35 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

Drawing this guy was no picnic. Besides endless technical problems,I became very ill. Soon, just looking at the unfinished illustration (which I worked on while sick) would make me almost throw up. Every scale was drawn over 2-5 times. I built up so many base layers that the paper was begging for me to stop. Pure Hell.

Winter's End in Yellowknife

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:14:41 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

I spend the entire weekends drawing but a walk to the park with my daughter (right) and her friend is a welcome break. They just finished a major tabogganing session, hence the goggles. Another lovely moment, forever frozen in time.

Nikon D700 FX
Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 Asph.
Lens set at 28mm

Lake Superior Shortjaw Cisco

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:26:42 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

People imagine me working in a serious studio atmosphere. These last two ciscoes were done while I spent a week at the Vancouver Holiday Inn with two naughty children climbing all over me. I had a suitcase full of photographs of the actual specimens and my art kit. Drawing was mainly limited to when everyone was asleep. Dinner was sushi (from the same place), every evening since they never wanted to even try anything else. No underwater photography on that trip, we were visiting family.

The shortjaw cisco was once common in Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, but populations are now thought to be extirpated in Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan and considerably reduced in Lake Superior. Small populations also occur in Canada, including Great Bear and Great Slave Lake watersheds.

A problem of illustrating dead fish is colour. This specimen was dead when photographed and no true colour reference exists. I used reference material (science publication from 1930s) that went into great detail concerning life colours of this species from that particular environment.

Great Lakes Kiyi

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:56:17 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

This little cisco is one of many forms that evolved localy and is unique to the Great Lakes. It is an interesting example of recent "radiation" where an ancestor cisco re-invaded the Great Lakes following the Ice Age and gave rise to highly specialized local adaptations.

The Kiyi has been identified as Special Concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). It is currently listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA).

Once endemic to all of the Great Lakes except Lake Erie, the Kiyi is believed to now exist only in Lake Superior.

Fish Head

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:37:54 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) made a series of stick-on tattoos for kids, featuring some northern fish species. Needless to say, they are a big hit here in town.

I was testing this Ernostar design at f2 setting.

Nikon D700 FX
Nikkor 135mm f2 AIs lens
800 ASA

The Sicilian Connection

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:51:03 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Yes, there are even Brown Trout in Sicily. Many of the features seen in Atlantic drainage stocks is evident here. Also, this individual is much closer to the pattern of colour and spotting seen in North American Browns living in small streams.

This is not a hatchery fish.

The King of Fish

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:46:02 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

The giant Inconnu, called Shee-fish by Americans, is widespread throughout Siberia (Russia), Alaska (USA), Yukon and the Northwest Territories (Canada). The commercial fisheries are somewhat localized but several stocks within Great Slave Lake have been decimated and then slowly recovered.

This fish is what keeps me alive. I eat it almost everyday. Beware to those who under-cook Inconnu, the meat is then mushy and very oily. Some say Incoonu is an acquired taste, others simply hate it but there are those who told me it is as addictive as crack cocaine.

Update: A bit of interesting information about nutrient content of Inconnu.
Inconnu has 19 times more fat per 100g serving than Northern Pike.
Inconnu has 3 times the calories of Northern Pike per 100g serving.
Inconnu has same amount of Iron (0.23mg) per 100g serving as Arctic Char but this is 5 to 7 times less than Sturgeon or Carp.
Incoonu has 2 times the Cholesterol level per 100g serving of Northern Pike.

The Strangest Cisco

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:35:49 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

This little Cisco is among the most "plastic" of all species, showing different life history and morphology throughout its range. Some individuals in Alaska are huge and covered with polkadots while others, like this one from Great Slave Lake are small and skinny.
I drew this back in 2009 for our research publications. For more on the unique diversity of ciscoes in the North, I suggest reading:
Vecsei, P.,Craig T. Blackie, A.M. Muir, H. M. Machtans, and J.D. Reist. 2012. A Preliminary Assessment of Cisco (Coregonus spp.) Diversity on Yellowknife Bay, Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. Advances in Limnology, vol. 63 299-322.

Lip Trout (Turkish name)

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:48:06 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Named for the fleshy lips that becomes more apparent on large individuals, this new trout has recently been given species rank by some experts. Resides in streams in the Ceyhan basin of Turkey.

Those of you interested in trout taxonomy can read more on this in:
Turan, D., Kottelat, M, and S. Engin. 2012. The trouts of the Mediterranean drainages of southern Anatolia, Turkey, with description of three new species (Teleostei: Salmonidae) Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters, Vol. 23, No. 3.

The photo I used to create this illustration was taken by Johannes Schoeffmann. He is an expert on trout diversity in Anatolia.

Big Turk

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:38:18 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

What can I say, I have a thing for Brown Trout from Anatolia. This is a recently classified species. Some experts would give this full species rank (Salmo coruhensis) but for now, i'll stick with (Salmo trutta coruhensis), a rank also considered more appropriate by many. This is the first and only serious illustration of this species/subspecies ever done.

Salmo coruhensis is a large migratory trout (anadromous), spending time in the Black Sea prior to migrating into small rivers or streams. It can reach a size of almost 1 metre in length with 800 mm individuals having been documented.

For those interested in this sort of thing, I strongly recommend reading:
Turan, D., Kottelat, M, and S. Engin. 2009. Two new species of trouts, resident and migratory,
sympatric in streams of northern Anatolia (Salmoniformes: Salmonidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters, Vol. 20, No. 4

Freshwater Cod!

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:32:41 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

This fish is known as a Burbot. It is the only freshwater representative of the Cod family. They live in cold, deep lakes. You either love them or hate them. Michigan folks are especially fond of them. They taste like lobster and there are limited commercial fisheries for this species throughout the world. They are present in parts of Northern Europe and widespread throughout Russia.

Burbot are late winter spawners and form giant "orgy ball" consisting of dozens to hundreds of fish. Spawning occurs in shallow water under the ice.

A race of giant Burbot (up to 10kg) exists in the Mackenzie River Delta of he Arctic.

This was a very complicated illustration to render in terms of lighting, shape and pattern. If viewed larger, you can see every tiny scale. The illustration was done entirely using coloured pencils on 20 inch x 30 inch Crescent Cold Press drawing board.

Sold for private purchase.

Back in Hell (-42 Celsius)

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:04:54 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Catching food in such cold is not for everyone. A lot of work goes into dealing with thick ice. Also, you need a plan A, B and C for everything. As you can see, I was down to plan C for my gloves. Any small thing that goes wrong may turn into a very serious problem.
But what a shot!
Thanks to Marc Lange for being stupid enough to come out with us and take this photograph.

Nikon D7000
Tokina 11-16mm zoom lens
TTL flash

The Prize from Hell

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:05:04 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Okay, so I won't go hungry this Christmas. I eat these fish twice a day. Sometimes at night, I sneak down to the fridge for some smoked Coney. I find no food as addictive as a plump Coney from ice-water.
Sarah (wife) took photo and then ran home due to frozen feet.

MediterraneanTrout

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:46:07 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Well known in Europe but a strange creature for us North Americans. Mediterranean trout populations often have such barred patterns with small sized spotting.

Sonaghan Trout-Lough Melvin

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:05:45 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

The Sonaghan is a deep water form of Brown trout that lives in Lough Melvin where it co-exists with two other sub-species of Brown trout (the Gillaroo trout and the large Ferox trout). The Sonaghan is a highly specialized mid-water plankton feeder. While rarely growing larger than 1 kg, it a favourite among anglers.

For this illustration, I used a combination of paint and colour pencil. I encountered the usual number of problems during the week-long layering process. However, result is a pretty drawing. I still can't believe how much detail is lost when viewing it so downsized. On the original, you could see the highlight on each scale and individual pigments that have blurred together in this version.

Tigris Trout

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 12:53:20 -0800

Fish as art posted a photo:

Another interesting sub-species of Brown trout. The Tigris trout is founf in Eastern Turkey and lives in stream environments. Most of us North Americans have no idea that Brown Trout are so widespread in Europe and Eurasia with so many local adaptations throughout their range.

In the last two years I have illustrated quite a few Brown trout from all over the world. The differences in external appearance (gross morphology) is often striking. Compare this little Turkish trout with the giant Ferox trout from Scotland.

The photo I used to create this illustration was taken by Johannes Schoeffmann. He is an expert on trout diversity in Anatolia.

Strangest Brown Trout

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 12:21:44 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

No, this is not the Balkan Marmorated trout (Salmo marmoratus) nor the so-called Tiger trout (S. trutta x S. fontinalis). The specimen illustrated is a form of the common Otra River Brown trout. A certain portion of the population from that river has a unique pattern as seen in this individual.
In all other aspects, these trout are identical to the non-marble brown trout from the same river so this is an example of intrapopulational (within population) polymorphism.

Huge Trout Turning

nobody@flickr.com (Fish as art) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:45:33 -0700

Fish as art posted a photo:

The colour and pattern on the Lake trout from Sub-Arctic lakes is often stunning.

Nikon D 90
Nikkor AF 10.5 mm fisheye lens
Ikelite housing with wide-angle dome port
500 ASA

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