Day 18 #SciArtSeptember prompt cenote, or the limestone sinkholes accessible by ground water, a term originally only used for characteristic features in the Yucatán, Mexico and now applied more broadly to karst features anywhere, including in Australia, where fascinating but endangered stygofauna: aquatic animals who live underground, can be found. This is a hard-carved and hand-printed linocut 🧵

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #invertebrate #stygofauna #mastoArt #amphipod #crustacean

Subterranean life in the groundwaters of northern Australia https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/Articles/2025/June/Stygofauna

"#Stygofauna are creatures specifically adapted to life in underground aquatic habitats... Often dwelling in darkness, many have lost their eyes and have developed a range of unique features to thrive in these environments, frequently low in nutrients and oxygen... They contribute water purification and nutrient cycling within aquifers, which directly impact the quality and availability of our resources."

Stygofauna (Ecology 🏞️)

Stygofauna are any fauna that live in groundwater systems or aquifers, such as caves, fissures and vugs. Stygofauna and troglofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna. Both are associated with subterranean environments – stygofauna are associated with water, and troglofauna with caves and spaces above the water table. Stygofauna can live within freshwater aq...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stygofauna

#Stygofauna #Ecology #Hydrology #CaveAnimals #FreshwaterAnimals

Next up for #InsertAnInvert2024 is stygofauna: aquatic animals who live underground. This is a hard-carved and hand-printed linocut print of a little semi-transparent, white amphipod crustacean in the Neoniphargidae group from the Pilbara. This is a large, dry, sparsely populated region in northern part of Western Australia which is a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna 🧵1/2

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #invertebrate #stygofauna #amphipod #crustacean

Carving a block for the final subterranean invertebrate for #InsertAnInvert2024. Stygofauna are aquatic animals who live underground. This one is a crustacean!

#linocut #printmaking #sciart #stygofauna #wip #invertebrate #amphipods