Carving Ancient Underwater Terrors
This is Eusthenopteron -an extinct Devonian, lobe-finned fish who was among those that would lead to the tetrapods; terrestrial vertebrates which would later walk on land.
This was a 5-6 ft long carnivore who possessed both gills & lungs so don't fall asleep on the beach 370 mya.. because this one can crawl out onto the sand! Augh!!
Although they probably didn't do too well moving on land... This fish reminds me of the bowfin mudfish and snakeheads who do & will routinely snipe attack ducks from under the surface or super shallow waters and creeps me the heck out!
There's a huge ancient looking bowfin who lives in the river by my house with algae grown on parts of his face and one blind, white eye.. he rules a whole section of backwaters. You can't catch him; as a prehistoric bony plated fish, he bites through everything, except thick steel wire.. and he learns all your habits, so he's too smart for that. You must respect the old fish.
Sometimes if you wait.. he'll rise up motionless from the murk and just stare at you with this look that's millions of years old.. and as a mammal it's very unsettling. Even though our comparable sizes are much different in present day, I still feel that old ancestral dread. ..Like he definitely remembers when we were just a little monkey-ish weasle thing that could be swallowed in one gulp!
I ought to give him a name.. that always makes things less scary, ha (:
& I should try to carve him... For now I need to practice carving & coloring...
This is wip on 7-8 oz veg tanned leather.
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