Three coelacanth pictures

[redbird]

I've been looking around the Web for coelacanth pictures. These three together might be good to take to my tattoo artist. I still need to decide on location--I like rysmiel's suggestion of low on the left side of my torso, but that would be harder to show people than the tattoos I already have--and whether I want one fish or more than one.

Brown coelacanth A good picture of a coelacanth. From the colors, I suspect this one is of the species found at the eastern end of the Indian Ocean, not the Comoros species.

Approaching coelacanth This coelacanth is swimming toward the viewer. This is the orientation I think I want for my tattoo.

Cobalt coelacanth This may be slightly brighter than the natural color of the coelacanth, but if the inks exist, I want her in these colors.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

One fish, two fish
Brown fish, cobalt fish?

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I had been thinking of low on the left side of your torso as something that could be shown people just by an untucking at the waist, which is not that much more awkward than rolling up a sleeve or a leg to show your existing ones, no ?

[redbird]

True. It wouldn't be something I could show off just by wearing shorts or a tank top. Hmmm. Were you thinking hip, or further up?

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I had actually envisioned sort of appendix-level or slightly higher.

[thette.livejournal.com]

For medical reasons, slightly higher may be better, whether you've had an appendectomy or not.

Post appendectomy: because the scar helps in the diagnosis of abdominal pain and peritonitis.

With appendix left: because if you ever have an appendectomy, the tattoo will probably be destroyed.

Though with the arrival of antibiotics treatment, my point is rapidly vanishing.

[redbird]

What I've been envisioning is way over to one side: more flank than belly. Where would an appendectomy scar be? (As you can tell from the question, I don't have one.)

[thette.livejournal.com]

A little bit in from the corner of the hip bone, exactly where depending on the technique used.

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

I like the cobalt coelacanth picture best. I think the approaching coelecanth doesn't show well enough what it is, a shortcoming which I think would be magnified once it's translated into a tattoo.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

*nod*. yes, that's my feeling too. i like the approaching c. the best from a dynamic point of view, but i wouldn't have recognised it as one from that particular image, and it might not be possible to make it clearer.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I realize it's your tattoo, but I find myself with very strong opinions about those images. The brown one is graphically gorgeous, but if it isn't blue, hardly anyone will know it's a coelacanth. Does that matter? Would it be cheating/unsatisfying to use the cobalt colors on the brown coelacanth?

When I look at the tails, I guess at a lot of muscle under that wide base. Are coelacanths fast swimmers?

[redbird]

Yes, it's my tattoo, but if I didn't want comments and suggestions, I wouldn't have posted this.

I suspect I'm going to take all three of these--and maybe some additional pictures--to my artist and explain what I'm looking for, which ideally would have clearly visible speckles, lobe fins, cobalt blue, and be swimming toward me.

I suspect that I would be dissatisfied with a sort of combination coelacanth, though I now wish I'd annotated the brownish picture so I was sure of which species it is. Back to google image search, I guess.

I don't know how fast coelacanths swim.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth

Wikipedia has some more images which might be useful for details, though none of them are as good for the whole fish as the ones you've got. One of the external links has a description of a deep sea dive to look at coelacanths--they might be capable of speed, but their default is leisurely swimming.

[redbird]

See also http://www.dinofish.com

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

wikpedia is generally not as good a source for images as just trawling through google, because wikipedia is taking a pretty strong view on copyright. :)

[redbird]

Yes. I stopped by Wikipedia, and stayed long enough to edit the taxobox.

I think the tattoo itself will be fine on copyright, since the plan is to take several images to my artist and have him use them as the basis for a drawing: "I want a portrait of this fish, in as close to that color as current inks and my skin tone allow, and it should be facing toward someone who is facing me."

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, no doubt. it's not like you're planning to tattoo nemo on your rump. :)

of course this makes me wonder whether anyone has ever sued somebody for copyright violation based on a tattoo.