All the heart eyes for these tiny wonders 😍⁠ ⁠ Many animals that live in the dim waters of the ocean’s twilight zone have evolved powerful eyes to detect prey, mates, and predators in the dark. Hyperiid amphipods have developed remarkably diverse eyes, each with different functional capabilities.

You know how I do! All jokes aside this was a herculean effort to get published. Thankful for strong coauthors.

I am having an extremely rough mental health week. Help me get through by responding with adorable marine invertebrates. #marinelife

Slow your scroll and float with Flota ✨⁠ ⁠ The midwater bristle worm (Flota sp.) is a free-swimming worm often seen near the deep seafloor, more than 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) below the surface. These fascinating worms propel themselves by moving their bodies, parapodia, and spines. #MondayMood

Remember when United Airlines actually used to be decent? Now plagued with high cost tickets, additional costs, and poor customer service

My god. Have you ever seen close-ups of sea star skin? 🧪🌊🌿

Deep-sea hermit crabs from the Parapaguridae family live 1,000+ meters deep! Unlike typical hermits, they often use soft “homes” made by anemones or zoanthids instead of shells. #marinelife Image from @schmidtocean.bsky.social

This is everything my early week needed.

Because the #marinelife tag needs a lot more invertebrates have this deep-sea polychate! Photo from nautiluslive.org/blog/2020/12...

Here is big chonky deep-sea nudibranch for you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvw_... #marinelife

Adorable dog tax photos for Bluesky that @sydneymcdermott.bsky.social took while dog sitting for me.

If you don't think environmental accessibility matters. "The busiest shipping routes in the ocean only cover 2% of ocean area, but contain 18% of records and 41% of species."

This is so out of touch. I can tell you first hand that people living in poverty know far more about money and finances than those living in wealth.

That's Gertrude! The McClain lab mascot!

Getting into the 3D printing hobby. Starting off with a Creality Ender and a small 3D-Printed Giant Deep-sea Isopod. Also pictured here is the output from a new 2D printer. #LUMCON #memories. Thanks @drandrewthaler.bsky.social www.southernfriedscience.com/the-3d-print...

A new paper shows that deep-sea corals host dense communities of amphipods, including the spiny genus Epimeria. This individual was photographed at 921 m on a purple gorgonian. Photo from tinyurl.com/bdfrs85x

Spotted: Adorable baby deep-sea squid! 🥰 During a recent scientific cruise aboard MBARI’s R/V Rachel Carson, biologists from our education and conservation partner, @montereybayaquarium.org, encountered a baby glass squid bobbing along in the water column: www.mbari.org/news/mbari-d...

There is a mollusk journal names Festivus published by the San Diego Shell Club. And I can only think of one thing every time I encounter it.

NSF Update Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit. Now by Directorate... 1/11

Directorate for Geosciences 5/11

Somewhere, in the vast depths of the abyss, there's a worm that lives on the corpse of a dead blue whale, consuming the oil that leaches from its bones. It's name is Osedax mucofloris, the bone-eating zombie snot flower worm. It will never see this video. Envy it.

For #molluscmonday the the red-lined bubble snail (Bullina lineata). Although delicate looking, they are voracious predators on small worms.

🌍🦑 This #OpenAccess study from 'Landscape Ecology' highlights how seascape ecology can link spatial patterns and ecological processes across abyssal and hadal depths. @drcraigmc.bsky.social bit.ly/3Zuto5L#OpenAccess#MarineEcology

Some more commensal brittle stars (Ophiothela mirabilis) on a purple octocoral (Leptogorgia rigida). Playa Balandra, La Paz, Baja California. 🦀🦑 #baja #tidepool #echinoderm

Smiley for the win!!! #spottedeagleray #eagleray #smiley #remora #remorahat #ftw #stingraysofcoralcity #coralcity #coralcitycamera #miami #coral #portmiami #biscaynebay

Today for our lab meeting we are reading about dolphin falls and I'll admit I'm. sucker for a good photo mosaic #marinelife www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A genuinely informative watch. @drandrewthaler.bsky.social continues to be one of the clearest, strongest voices advocating for the deep sea and sound science.

Maxine Dexter Decries 'Concerning Lack Of Transparency' In Deep Sea Mining Permitting Process www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLY2...

Dragon in the deep. 🐉⁠ ⁠ Dragonfish (family Stomiidae) are cunning predators. Although they are strong swimmers, they prefer to lie in wait and ambush unsuspecting fishes and crustaceans. This black dragonfish (Idiacanthus sp.) was spotted at 527 meters (1,729 feet) in Monterey Bay.

Visited the Natural History Museum London last week and honestly: collections like this are the backbone of everything we think we know about the ocean. Absolute treasure trove.

The mammal hall at @nhm-london.bsky.social gives a wonderful example of the scale of life. Here a full size elephant display is against a back drop of a replica full size blue whale. The blue whale is so large I cannot even fit it into the frame.

Got to see two bucket item animals today at the @nhm-london.bsky.social the extinct dodo and ivory-billed woodpecker

Need to up my deep-sea display collection in my lab, look at this amazing specimens in the Glover lab.

Having a great week in the UK. First part with @tomjwebb.bsky.social continuing collaboration and then second half at @nhm-london.bsky.social with Adrian Glover

Today I feel like going with deep-sea textures. How about bumpy (bumpy snailfish) + gelatinous (sea slug) + spiny (spiny king crab) + fuzzy (yeti crab) #marinelife

YES! Seals are marine mammals and so share common bone structures! #neiltheseal #science #biology Loving all the questions! 🦭🧪🦑

Can’t wait to read this paper coauthored by @sethf.bsky.social

Here is what you need for your Monday.

Across America and the world, people are realizing it’s not possible to appease America’s dictator. The only way to deal with him is to stand up to him — and the only way to stand up to him is by joining together against him. It's time for a massive general strike across the country.

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.

Brief break from my usual deep-sea content to highlight the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus (LPSO), a species known for mating and social behaviors that differ markedly from most octopuses. www.youtube.com/watch?v=niuf...

The deep sea runs on mucus... Marine snow, larvacean houses, feeding nets, even snail armor...slime is infrastructure down there.

*laugh* a FASCINATING observation of this sea cucumber, Paracaudina from Australia doing.. something. Blowing bubbles? A great big "WHAT?" #echinoday www.inaturalist.org/observations...

The balloon worm looks nothing like a typical worm because it doesn’t live on the seafloor, it floats in the deep midwater. With a gelatinous, bag-like body for buoyancy, it drifts and feeds on sinking organic particles. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5KG... #marinelife #wormwednesday

“ZOOPHYTES Pl. 1” Hand-colored illustrations of echinoderm species from ‘Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle’ by French botanist Charles d'Orbigny, published in 1849. Zoophytes is an antiquated term for plant-like invertebrate animals. Coin for scale. 🦑

Ocean heat content keeps smashing records, but don’t worry! Someone will definitely invent a new graph before they cut emissions.