I am very sorry this update is coming in so late, I just completely spaced out on uploading it last night. 🙁 Forgive me!!!
Anyway, as the image above says, this sketch update is an anatomy sketch of Selkie’s species. As such it contains some nudity. Firstly, here is a link to the sketch:
For personal reasons I did not want to draw a nude Selkie, even in a scientific/clinical context such as this, so the sketch actually doubles as a peek into what an adult of Selkie’s species would look like. Well, adults. I’ve included a male and a female of her species.
I’ll also be happy to discuss any other physiology questions this sketch may bring up. Unless it somehow would reveal information I am saving for later in the story. 😀
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
I just wanted to compliment you on a well thought out species. I understand and agree with your feelings about drawing and posting a naked child. I do have a question. There does not seem to be any sub-dermal fat deposits in your anatomy sketches, did I miss it? I know salmon store a layer of fat under the skin as well as ocean mammals. If Selkies species is tropical this would be unnecessary, but if they are not it might be something to address. I don’t know, it’s your species.
There are not any fat deposits drawn, but they do possess fat deposits primarily around vital organs. However, they tend to be streamlined for speed purposes when swimming, and combined with a primarily fish-based diet fat deposits generally do not build up very high.
Probably SHOULD point out that dolphins and orcas (which pretty much ARe dolphins, but that is bseides the point) do build up fat deposits (blubber) on a fish-based diet…but then again, they aren’t fish and are endotherms.
HA, I’ve got a dirty mind… left side of sketch… I thought that leg bone was a different type of bone O_o
Ah, you’re very clever! I like how you plan things like this. I usually do similar things in with my writings, even if the information doesn’t show up in the story. It makes me feel like my world is more complete. ^_^
Oh yay, another fan of Worldbuilding. 😀 I love Worldbuilding, it’s a fun exercise.
I LOVE worldbuilding and have been doing so for a good 2 decades:) On your anatomical sketch, I was curious your response to some of the points the fan brought up in his anatomical sketch: color blindness of a particular shade, long hair occurring ever, or a maximum hair length, how the feet work in relation to how human feet work, etc. As for the gills and mouth, so Selkie breathes in through her mouth and exhales through her gills? She doesn’t usually have a closed mouth and wondered if this was the reason. How big is the egg when laid? Gestation similar to humans? Are there predators who attack Selkie’s race? How many sub-species/clans might there be, given that you mention markings and such vary? Along with that, Selkie is from a rarer group, given that she has green eyes, so says your sketch. Very nicely done, Dave, and I know you can’t answer all but it does make me curious. I am a details person. You’ll start to see more details in Shards when we get into the other myths/stories. Been doing research all day on the first two tales that have collided which our heroes have just entered. Big fun!
I’ve never considered Selkie to be color blind, especially since she can discern between “greensy-yellow” human vomit and purplish Selkie vomit.
Their hair grows continually as ours does, although it is slightly coarser.
Their feet are proportionally longer than ours, but their toes account for approximately half of the length and they have a very shallow arch to the point of being almost flat footed. They DO have heels, but it has less padding than ours.
Selkie can breathe in through her noise and her mouth like us, but unless directed otherwise (speech, etc) it directs out through her gills. If her mouth isn’t usually closed, it’s just because she’s talkative. XD
Their eggs are about the size of a cantaloupe when laid.
Her species are upper echelon carnivores and they do not have predators.
I can’t answer the clan/sub species question at this time as I have other plans for that information. :3
Two quick questions:
What is the underwater pressure range for a member of Selkie’s species?
What would be the scientific name for Selkie’s species?
The pressure tolerance for Selkie’s species is approximately 800 PSI for freshwater conditions.
To be honest I don’t have a scientific name derived for Selkie’s species. If I had to make one off the top of my head, I would lean towards homo aquarius. I’ve also been tempted to refer to her as an Aquatic-American. XD
I -love- the “Aquatic-American” idea. It’s so pretentiously politically correct! I’m also inclined to believe that the species may have evolved eating rocks in emergencies. Calcium deposits occur naturally, especially in water, it seems. If there’s not enough vertebrate animals around, and thus no bones to eat for calcium, they could resort to eating certain rocks or coral (which is basically rock). It’s been shown that other animals will naturally lick or eat rocks that have certain minerals too… It also makes for a good use of buoyancy. Cannot recall off-hand, but I think I’ve heard of a few fish or things that will swallow rocks to sink lower. Not to mention that some chicken or turkey will swallow pebbles, to grind up seeds in the gullet to make them digestible.
Sorry, I tend to rant…
I dunno about swallowing rocks for digestion, since they have sharp teeth that can shred meat as needed. But I do like the idea that they may chew or suck on underwater rock deposits the way we do gum
More specifically, I love the mental image you’ve given me of Selkie sucking on a piece of coral. XD
Coral Pops!(r) They come in your favorite flavors! Fan Coral, Red Coral, Brain Coral (for the zombies among us). And now in the convenient Multi-pack!
Not only that, Girlinhat, but having a background in Geology, I can tell you that the sea floor is composed of decomposing everything. A lot of it is sludge but there are calcium deposits that form around sea shells and other hard parts of sea snails and what-not that form a rock called oolite. I’m sure they’d be able to eat this for the same reason. However, I dunno how important calcium is to them aside from Dave’s note that it is just for variety. But it would be a nice source of some nutrients if there were ever a shortage of food.
Deepblue got me thinking. I have seen a lot of cold-blooded critters living quite a long while and also grow for the length of their lives. Does Selkie’s species have a stopping point for growing or do they keep growing? And that’s a good point about her not needing to eat as much if she is cold-blooded.
As far as mammaries, they may not have evolved to have them but are evolving not to have them any longer, as well as the hips being “feminine” and childbearing-looking due to some other evolutionary necessity. In writing, there are always ten different explanations for something:) Ya just gotta pick which one and roll with it. I find that in writing I come up with questions like that a lot and the answer I find is one of the most rewarding parts of writing.
I am really liking this idea of sucking/chewing on underwater mineral deposits. It reminds me of NatGeo videos of tribal civilizations who will consume items from the natural world for nutrition that see revolting to us.
For the sake of not having to worry about Todd outliving his daughter, Selkie’s species grow to the same average dimensions and life spans as humans. Although the idea that entering a brumation state (thanks Deep Blue) would extend her life span is interesting, I may see about working that in somewhere.
I just got finished catching up. The past month has not been great and I’ve been unable to keep up since just after Selkie got adopted! (Loved Selkie’s reaction to having her own room!)
I do love the thought you’ve put into Selkie’s species. To slightly tweak your “Homo aquarius” … I would suggest “Homo aquaticus” … fits more with current naming conventions (ie, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, etc…).
My father died a couple of weeks ago and catching up with Selkie and Todd have really lifted my spirits. Thanks Dave!
I’m so sorry to hear about your father, glad to hear you’re doing ok now. 🙂
Love the comic, an absolutely beautiful story thus far. One technical note: A decrease in metabolic rate associated with an environmental temperature change is generally called “brumation” in non-mammalian and cold blooded species. The difference between brumation and hibernation is that the former is always consequential whereas hibernation can be predictive. Animals are also considered “awake” during brumation albeit with a decrease in neurological function and reduced capacity for movement. The requirement for food in this state is greatly reduced, and the metabolic slow-down will actually increase the total life span of the creature all other things equal (almost like living & aging in slow motion). Please don’t think I’m nitpicking, but I’m sure you see the potential for plot twists and arcs based on selkies anatomy. This comic actually has me looking forward to Mondays, lol.
Oooh, thanks for the info. That’ll come in handy.
I really like the story line of your comic, and if you didn’t seem to have things so well though out I wouldn’t point this out (I know, I know, if you half-arsed it I’d let it slide but since you aren’t I’m going to be “that guy”). I noticed you mentioned freshwater a few times. I’d like to make (much like the poster before me) a “technical note” (Deepblue is correct, for the record).
If you deter from the freshwater route you should either make her species more like salmon (anadromous) with specific reasons for being able to move across the barrier (reproduction) or even diadramous (like certain species of eels or migratory fish like salmon).
Animals from a freshwater habitat cannot survive in a saltwater habitat and vice versa simply because of osmotic pressure. Saltwater fish, quite frankly, “drown” in freshwater (in order to deal with the hypertonic environment they “drink” constantly and excrete excess salt while freshwater fish pee constantly to shed excess water in the hypotonic environment present in freshwater) and freshwater fish “dehydrate” rapidly in saltwater.
If you did want to make the freshwater / saltwater connection, I’d suggest finding a reason that would tie into regulatory hormones somehow. 😀
I hope, much like DeepBlue’s advice, you’ll understand this is well-intentioned and hopefully fits in with your well-planned out species info. 😀
I have no issue whatsoever with the biology advice you guys have given me. It’s great food for thought. For example, I was not aware any fish species could survive in salt AND freshwater environments. Do you happen to know if any amphibious species thrive in salt water? The closest saltwater analog I could find to an amphibian is a crustacean, which isn’t even close to the same type of organism. 😡
Hi Dave! Been reading the comic since it came out. It’s really cute =). To answer your question, there are no amphibians that live in salt water. If you’re trying to be as plausible as possible, “brackish” (fish that live in fresh and salt water) won’t really work for you either, as these species are typically small and survive in rivers and streams that connect to large bodies of salt water. I think it’s interesting that you took the biology down a different route from the mythology that included seals. It causes a lot of biological questions to create your species, and eventually you’re going to have to decide how important it is to be completely accurate. Sometimes people need to just accept a little fantasy for the sake of it ;).
Also, I just realized this, but I’m not the same Krystal as KrystalPuss lol.
….Why would an amphibious species have evolved mammary glands? Are these exothermic mammalians? A cul-de-sac like the platypi?
Don’t get me wrong, I can entirely see this creature being real. It’s great work. But it has always annoyed me that non-human females will obtain lumps on their chest for no scientifically valid reason. Just pointing that out.
My internal logistics for mammary glands is that after hatching, the newborns don’t have enough jaw strength to crush bones or mollusk shells into calcium to supply themselves, so they obtain it from the mother until their muscles and teeth are strong enough for them to hunt unaided, which isn’t more than a couple weeks typically.
My external logistics is that when sketching possible adult forms of the species, I actually tried out a female with no mammary glands and slimmed non-childbearing hips first. I decided against it because it created a kind of androgynous female that was indiscernible from a scrawny or adolescent male. I have nothing against androgyny, but I also wanted the females of the species to be readily identified as such.
I figure it makes as much sense for females of Selkie’s species to have breasts as it does for a mermaid to have them.
Actually, platypus is a good example – the reproductive biology implies that Selkie’s species’ last common ancestor was probably at about the monotreme stage (given the hair and brain structure they’re clearly mammalian). I’m curious about heart function – fully four chambered or something more like a crocodile?
I love this comic. Here is another biology suggestion 🙂 Selkie’s species is way too different from us to be under Homo. I think their genus would be something like Aquantropus (water people). Keep the good work!
This is why I wish I knew latin. XD Thanks!
I mean Aquanthropus. ^^;;
All this talk about calcium from alternate sources (eating rocks, etc.) overlook a critical point. Other foods are mandatory for energy and other purposes.
Also, most likely other minerals are needed for a healthy and balanced diet.
Never mind the above – it’s answered in a later strip.
You know, I was out getting groceries when it occurred to me, “I can’t let Dave call Selkie’s species ‘Homo aquaticus’, that would be a sin against proper taxonomy”.
“Aquanthropus” is a good compromise.
Do they have navels, by the way?
Gotta work on your female anatomy! Regardless I love the idea. You work really hard with the development especially and I thoroughly admire that about you, also noting the forms from before. Keep this up, it makes it so much more interesting. You rarely see that with some webcomicers so it’s really good to see with yours.
Loving the story so far as well. Very cute and very interesting so very well done!
… honestly doubt this anatomical diagram warranted redirection-type censorship (or any other kind), but hey CYA, as they say. 😛
So what happened to the sketch? The link doesn’t work anymore.