iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

It's easy to grow in culture, eats a wide range of prey, and can tolerate lots of abuse. Thanks to @thealgaeman.bsky.social for suggesting it.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 16h

DAY 490 SPECIES 490 - Oxyrrhis marina STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR watercolor. Sakura & Writech pen O. marina is a marine heterotrophic dinoflagellate widely used as a model organism in protist ecological and evolutionary research #sciart #paint #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 21h

These boys have the best dance!😄

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Oh my gah! Its so good! 😮

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It's only distantly related to the familiar Amoeba. Testate amoebae belong to at least three distantly related lineages that independently evolved shell dwelling. Speed painting tonight so its a bit rushed. ⚡

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

DAY 489 SPECIES 489 - Sphenoderia lenta STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor. Sakura pen S. lenta is a testate amoeba: a single celled amoeboid organism living inside a self built shell. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The stealing continues up the food chain. The dinoflagellate Dinophysis eats M. rubrum and keeps the cryptophyte chloroplasts for itself, so those chloroplasts have passed through two predators.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

DAY 488 SPECIES 488 - Mesodinium rubrum STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor. Sakura pen M. rubrum is a ciliate that has the ability to steal cellular parts from consumed cryptophyte algae to perform photosynthesis #sciart #watercolor #paint #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I wanted to figure out a way to show both the species exterior and innards at the same time. The idea of having a realistic outside contrasting a simple pattern inside is super attractive to me, so I'll be experimenting off and on with the idea. 😁

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

DAY 487 SPECIES 487 - Spirostomum minus STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR watercolor. Sakura pen S. minus is a single celled freshwater ciliate shaped like a worm. It has a beaded macronucleus. similar to a string of pearls. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Color varies with conditions. They are usually pink when collected in nature but turn red when grown in darkness with abundant food. Albino strains also exist

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Its color comes from blepharismins, a group of light sensitive pigments characteristic of the genus Blepharisma, stored in cortical granules just beneath the cell surface.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

DAY 486 SPECIES 486 - Blepharisma undulans STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR watercolor. Sakura pen B. undulans is a single celled pink-to-red freshwater ciliate. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It uses toxicysts to hunt, they are little harpoon like weapons that it fires into prey.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

DAY 485 SPECIES 485 - Didinium gargantua STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor. Sakura pen D. gargantua is a single celled marine ciliate named after the gluttonous giant in François Rabelais' classic 1534 novel Gargantua. #sciart #watercolor #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

They flourish in environments with high levels of organic waste, so their abundance often signals poor water quality.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

DAY 484 SPECIES 484 - Colpidium colpoda STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & QoR watercolor. Writech pen C. colpoda is a single celled freshwater ciliate. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The main reason I paint on small A5 sized paper is because of the amount of room all the folders and art will eventually take up. I'll have to figure out how I want to approach larger species when I cross that bridge. But the plus side is paper costs are much lower with small paper.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I'm still a few folders behind where I need to be, but here are the 3 new folders filled with art. To keep up with the project I'll have to make a new folder every 60 days, so I'm going to start doing them in batches.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Its cysts in the fossil record indicate warm sea surface temps, because the species today lives in warm temperate to tropical waters.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

DAY 483 SPECIES 483 - Pyrophacus steinii STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor P. steinii (Stein's fire lentil) is a marine planktonic dinoflagellate. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One thing I think of often, is how terrifying all these little guys would be if they were me sized. 😭😆

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The lorica is made of a gelatinous material with bits of debris and sediment embedded in it. It's found in ponds, lakes, and slow moving rivers, either floating in the plankton or attached to submerged plants.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

DAY 482 SPECIES 482 - Tintinnidium fluviatile STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen T. fluviatile (little bell of the river) is a freshwater ciliate that lives inside a soft tube shaped case called a lorica #sciart #watercolor #paint #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I began this project thinking I'd learn to paint while documenting the process. But now, I feel like I'm learning about life and documenting the process.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

DAY 481 SPECIES 481 - Trachelius ovum STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen T. ovum (Neck egg) is a large freshwater ciliate shaped like an egg or balloon with a small snout. first described by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1831 #sciart #paint #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It does sound similar! I'm still wrapping my head around it, but it sounds like each strain's sexual role depends on its partner. Chemistry reacting and complementing.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It produces both male & female sex organs, normally on separate strains. However "male" & "female" are not fixed. Researchers found relative sexuality, an intermediate strain can act as male when paired with a more strongly female strain, and as a female when paired with a more strongly male strain

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

DAY 480 SPECIES 480 - Achlya bisexualis STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen A. bisexualis is an aquatic, fungus like water mold. It's more closely related to brown algae & diatoms than to true fungi #sciart #paint #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The nine games that shaped me. Halo CE hit me like a truck. 😄

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It anchors itself while feeding but can detach and swim to a new location.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

DAY 479 SPECIES 479 - Stentor roeselii STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen S. roeselii is a trumpet shaped freshwater protist. Found globally in still or slow moving freshwater habitats. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

They really are doing so much with so little!

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The sound you make when you stub your toe mixed with excited geologist noises!

static.klipy.com

Glasses Took Off What

ALT: Glasses Took Off What

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The shell is made of sand grains and particles. Inside the organsim feeds with a ring of hair like cilia that crown its mouth

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

DAY 478 SPECIES 478 - Tintinnopsis campanula STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & HWC watercolor, Sakura pen T. campanula is a single celled planktonic ciliate shaped like a bell. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Pallas in 1766

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

DAY 477 SPECIES 477 - Acineta tuberosa STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen A. tuberosa is a stalked aquatic protist that lives attached to crustaceans, algae, and other aquatic substrates. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Only the free swimming young have cilia, the adult catches prey with branching antler like arms. I've been trying to wrap my brain around painting in values. Its been a slow process, but at some point I'll have a breakthrough. 🙃

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

DAY 476 SPECIES 476 - Dendrocometes paradoxus STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek & DS watercolor, Sakura pen D. paradoxus is a single celled suctorian ciliate that lives attached to the gills of amphipods, small shrimp like crustaceans. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

O. scolopax is a marine single celled dinoflagellate that serves as a reference example to define the genus Oxytoxum

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

DAY 475 SPECIES 475 - Oxytoxum scolopax STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen Consistency is hard, often I'm trying to replicate something that worked well in the past and cant pull it off. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #eukaryotic #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Its name means "little swallow" because its horns look like a swallow's tail. Also Its horns change with the seasons and water temperature.

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

DAY 474 SPECIES 474 - Ceratium hirundinella STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek watercolor, Sakura pen C. hirundinella is a freshwater dinoflagellate. #sciart #watercolor #paint #protist #protistsonsky

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's one of the most common red tide organisms worldwide and can produce dense blooms I feel like I overcooked this one a bit 🤔

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Smart Alyk @smartalyk.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

DAY 473 SPECIES 473 - Prorocentrum micans STAGE: Protists MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatek, DS & HWC Watercolor, Sakura pen P. micans is a single celled armored marine dinoflagellate. It is teardrop or heart shaped with a surface covered in small pores #sciart #watercolor #paint #protistsonsky

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