The Sims 3 is, so far, my favorite video game of all time! And, of course, given my lifelong love of marine life, I tend to select the marine-themed items for interior design!

(Despite loving the ocean as much as I do, I never bought Island Paradise. My computer already struggled to run three expansion packs at a time, and Island Paradise is a notoriously unstable expansion pack. I do have the Sims 4 Island Living pack, though, which may be the subject of a forthcoming post!)

For now, I’ll be assessing the accuracy of (selected) items from the handful of expansion packs that I have!

Crab Pot End Table (from Seasons):

Description: “Do you love boats? Do you long for the sea? Do you crave melted butter? Then, the Crab Pot end table is for you! Made from pots from genuine crab boats, you’ll have the smell of sea right in your living room.”

(It’s hard to see, but there are panes of glass on top of the crab pots)

Frankly, this is something I would purchase for my actual house. Although, smelling dead crustacean constantly might impact my capacity to smell whether any other crustaceans have died! Most conventional crab pots I’ve seen would be better suited to a coffee table, but the idea is a simply fantastic one. Starting out strong!

Nautilus Fossil (from Seasons):

Description: “This amazing fossil captures in fine detail the glory of the genus Nautilus. Thriving in the ocean to this day, they first appeared hundreds of millions of years before modern cephalopods such as octopi and squids. Of course they were carnivores, relentless scavengers and predators of opportunity. Place one on your wall so people can say “Ooh, pretty shell!!””

Ammonite Shell Lamp (from Seasons):

Description: “This Ammonite Shell lamp is so beautifully detailed, you’ll swear you could put your ear up to it and hear the ocean! Warning: placing your ear against a lamp can cause severe facial burns and/or electrocution. Do not place your ear against the Ammonite Shell lamp.”

These very similar cephalopod-themed items give me some pause. It can be extremely difficult to tell whether a fossil is an ammonite or a nautilus–especially from a dubiously-rendered video game object!

I am most convinced of the identity of the ammonite shell lamp–ammonite fossils tend to have ridges on their external surface, whereas nautilus fossils tend to be smooth(er) externally. But the “Nautilus Fossil”? I’m not so sure!

The structure of a nautilus shell usually shows a much wider shell structure near the opening compared to the shell making up the spiral. However, if this is the external structure of the cephalopod, then it does look comparatively smooth, which is a point for a nautiloid identity.

It doesn’t look like we’re seeing the internal structure here–if we were, we would be able to look at the position of the siphuncle! The siphuncle connects the internal shell chambers to each other so that the gas within the chambers can be controlled and therefore control the animal’s buoyancy. In nautiloids, the siphuncle runs through the center of the chambers, but in ammonoids the siphuncle tends to run closer to the external surface.

The item description for the “Nautilus Fossil” refers to octopuses as “octopi”–a more common plural when the game was released! In slightly more modern times, people are increasingly aware that octopuses or octopodes is a more accurate plural–the word “octopus” comes from Ancient Greek, whereas “octopi” would be a plural for a Latin word.

Regardless, it’s always nice to see some ancient cephalopods represented!

Olivia Octopi (Generations):

Description: “Eight-armed wonder of wide salty seas, Pirate Queen Olivia Octopi roams with her
crew fighting injustice beneath the waves and keeping perhaps a bit of the plunder for herself and her pals. Though never violent, Olivia is a fearsome foe who can unleash an ink cloud at a moment’s notice, confusing her enemies and abetting her getaway. Always at her side are her loyal crew members Cassie the seahorse and Elmo the striped fish.”

We’ve just covered the octopi vs. octopuses situation, but I suppose Olivia could potentially have the last name Octopi!

“Eight-armed” is an apt description, and I am glad to see that the Sims team utilized the correct word for her appendages! (Tentacles only have suckers on their tips, whereas arms have suckers across the entire structure. Octopuses only have arms!)

Octopus mouths don’t really smile, their mouths are in the middle of their arms, and their eyes aren’t on their mantles, but I’ve certainly seen less accurate octopus depictions in artwork for children!

Speaking of octopus depictions for children…

Monstrously Cute OctoCat (Generations):

Description: “Mad scientists bent on world destruction have long created deadly animal hybrids to terrorize the unwitting populace. Who could forget the cruel attacks of the fearsome Gorlion, the terrifying Rhinoger, and the massive Elephadillo? As these attacks were inevitably thwarted by a crack special ops team, evil gene researcher Dr. Monroe turned to a different tactic: destroy the world with cuteness. Thus, the OctoCat was born!”

Personally, I think this stuffed animal is based on a flapjack octopus! (Opisthoteuthis sp.) Flapjack octopuses have fins on their mantles, and their arms have connective tissue between them like we see here.

I can confirm that OctoCats have 8 arms!

Octavian (Ambitions game registration bonus item):

Description: “Eight legs are better than two, especially when they are used for jumping! Octavian enjoys salted fish, long jaunts on the seashore, and frightening young Sims.”

I am a big fan of Octavian’s suckers on their arms–they just look cool! Each arm could use more suckers, but there isn’t a whole lot of space, so we’ll let it slide. Although their arms are referred to as “legs” in the description, it’s more accurate than “tentacles” would have been…!

Octavian’s eyes are in a slightly better location than Olivia’s, as is their mouth, so it’s an improvement!

Tentacled Wind Up (Ambitions craftable item):

Description: “This squid-like widget is amazingly life-like and aquatically inspired.”

Well, it does say “squid-like,” so we can’t judge it too harshly! But, frankly, there’s not much judging going on. The eyes are in a fairly good place, the mantle looks broadly mantle-like, and there are 8 arms (or at least arm-like appendages)! (A squid has 8 arms and 2 tentacles–the tentacles tend to be retractable)

Whale Toy (Ambitions craftable item):

Description: “This Whale is an excellent hand-crafted toy for children!”

Despite being adorable, this item showcases a common issue with whale depictions: the water jets from their blowholes!

Whale blows are less “jets of water” and much more “clouds of mist.” Lungs need moist air to more efficiently perform gas exchange, so the air in our lungs has quite a bit of water vapor. If we breathe out on a chilly morning, we can see evidence of this–the water vapor in our breath is condensing before our eyes!

When whales breathe out, their breaths are quite forceful, pushing that warm, moist air up! Water that was sitting on top of the blowholes may also be pushed away. But a whale blow is nothing close to the jet of water we see here!

Tower of Teeth (Seasons):

Description: “This pretentiously stylish display pedestal reaffirms your spot at the top of the food chain. The shoulder high base ensures maximum visibility of the full size ceramic shark jaw replica. It’s every bit as authentic as your shark’s hunting tales.”

I recognize this is meant to be a replica…but where are all the extra teeth?!

Sharks have serially replaced teeth–their teeth aren’t fused to their jaws like ours are, so when a tooth falls out, a new one moves forward to take its place! That means that shark jaws will have many rows of teeth lined up behind their active row. You can see these rows of teeth on an actual shark jaw (of a dead shark). This is why shark teeth are fairly common finds–each shark has a lot of teeth!

Overall, a solid effort towards accuracy by the Sims team! I’m going to go look at real-life crab pot tables now…