Sea Creature Series: Oil on Canvas

Considering that approximately 80 percent of our planet's oceans remain unmapped and largely unexplored, there is an enormous amount of inspiration to be found in their depths. Sea life is so wonderfully diverse and interesting, and it can provide an endless supply of source material for artists!

Here are just a few pieces of Nick's Sea Creatures series!
The first 2 are complete, and the rest are still works-in-progress which I will post updates on in the future.

Hope you enjoy!

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The Coconut Octopus has an interesting defense mechanism..
It will gather coconut shells to hide in, and will even carry them around while walking along the sea floor on its free tentacles!

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The Striped Marlin, also referred to as the Striped Swordfish, is not the largest marlin species, but can still grow to around 12 feet long and a weight of over 450 pounds!

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The Lionfish is a venomous fish with an interesting hunting technique. It will blow a jet of water toward its prey as it approaches, in order to disorient it and knock it off balance, before swallowing it whole.
It's also worth noting that while extremely painful and accompanied by nausea and a host of other horrible symptoms, the sting of a lionfish is rarely fatal to humans.

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Piranhas, despite their grisly reputation for feeding frenzies, are actually more typically foragers than hunters. They swim in shoals more for defense from predators than anything else and, being omnivorous, primarily eat insects, worms, plants, seeds, and crustaceans. Some piranha species are even vegetarians!
The Red-Bellied Piranha is considered one of the most aggressive species, however, so I wouldn't recommend taking a swim with them!

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This little guy is not strictly a sea creature, but he deserves an honorable mention anyway! We found him in a stream not far from where we lived at the time, and he became King of the Tank shortly thereafter. He loved to perch on top of his tiki with his claws outstretched, just waiting for some little fish to be foolish enough to swim between them.
Long live the King.