My new story in the NCJ. Why purple-striped sea nettles and billionaires don't mix. www.northcoastjournal.com/life-outdoor...

Here's installment 2 of my jellyfish trilogy in the North Coast Journal. Please enjoy responsibly... www.northcoastjournal.com/life-outdoor...

The world is covered in teeny jewels! An ab fab Genus Arhyssus Scentless Plant Bug for #TrueBugTuesday #becurious #inverts

Lots of fun (and science!) here. Get your science-based New Yorker comic fix! bsky.app/profile/hime...

My new Washed Up story in the North Coast Journal. If this one makes you hungry, eat anything other than Sugar Frosted Moon Flakes. www.northcoastjournal.com/life-outdoor...

Here are clips of some of the bigger sets that came in during the big California surf on Dec 23. From Wedding Rock at Sue-meg State Park. #Humboldt youtu.be/gESK9Iq9QdM

Here are some clips of the breach at Stone Lagoon on Sunday. This was shortly after the breach began and shows the breach channel still forming. #Humboldt youtu.be/Ak-Clx8ZU7o

Merry Christmas everyone!🎅🤶🎄

I'm not certain, but I think this is a Pugettia decorator crab. I wouldn't expect it to be comfortable encircled by the tentacles of a giant green anemone, but that's how it seemed. In a #Humboldt tide pool - for #Crustmas.

A larval herring and a recently transformed herring fry sampled in a tidal pond on #Humboldt Bay for #Fishmas. 🐟

I believe this is a yellowtail rockfish in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Fishmas. 🐟🤿

A porcelain crab with an injured "thumb" exposed at low tide in #Humboldt for #Crustmas. 🦀

For #Crustmas - a long isopod on the stipe of a kelp that was washed up on the beach and taken into the lab. I believe it is the kelp isopod Pentidotea.

For #Fishmas - a jacksmelt riding his osprey sleigh to bring presents to all the good little children. #Humboldt 🐟

A cluster of goose barnacles in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Crustmas. 🤿

For #Fishmas a smoothhead sculpin, I believe, in a #Humboldt tide pool with a bonus Hermissenda nudibranch. 🐟🤿

A combo #Fishmas and #Crustmas post... A small lingcod from #Humboldt Bay with dozens of copepods living on its body. The fish and its "friends" were released to continue their affair.

I believe this is the lined shore crab - Pachygrapsus - exposed at low tide in #Humboldt for #Crustmas. 🦀

I believe this is a grass rockfish - in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Fishmas. There are also 2 green marine leeches on the 4th dorsal spine. I couldn't find a leech emoji though... 🐟🤿

A hermit crab of some kind in a #Humboldt tide pool for this 14th day of #Crustmas. (The shell is from a wentletrap snail.) 🦀🤿

A rockhead poacher in a #Humboldt tide pool at night for this 14th day of #Fishmas. 🐟🤿🌙

For #Crustmas, a so-called skeleton shrimp (a caprellid amphipod) on a kelp holdfast with smaller caprellid hanging on. They were on a washed-up kelp holdfast on a #Humboldt beach and taken into the lab. 🦐

A gunnel peeking out from coralline algae in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Fishmas. 🐟🤿

A purple shore crab exposed at low tide in #Humboldt for #Crustmas 🦀

A small topsmelt in a #Humboldt tide pool at night for #Fishmas.

Two views of northern kelp crabs in #Humboldt tide pools for #Crustmas. 🦀🤿

I believe this is a fluffy sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi) in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Fishmas. 🐟🤿

A Pacific rock crab in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Crustmas. 🦀🤿

Today's #Fishmas entry is a cabezon in a #Humboldt tidepool at night. 🐟🤿🌙

For #Crustmas, the sea slater isopod Ligia in a #Humboldt sea cave.🦀

For #Fishmas, a buffalo sculpin in a #Humboldt tide pool at night. 🐟🤿

Celebrating #Crustmas and #Fishmas with an uncomfortable-looking sculpin that has an isopod on its face and 3 leeches. I don't think the isopod is normally a parasite, but its not doing the sculpin any favors. In a #Humboldt tide pool. 🐟🦀🤿

A so-called stout shrimp in a #Humboldt tide pool at night for #Crustmas. They are commonly green, but highly variable in color and pattern, and are very common. 🦐🤿

A portrait of a monkeyface prickleback for #Fishmas. Poking its head out from under a rock in a #Humboldt tide pool to get a better look at the thing trying to get a look at it. 🐟🤿

Saw 3 southbound gray whales this afternoon from Wedding Rock at Sue-Meg State Park in #Humboldt. I wonder if the two travelling together - of obviously different sizes - may be a mother/calf pair from last season's brood...? The 3rd was about 15 minutes later and seemed intermediate in size.

Got distracted by the earthquake yesterday and missed my #Crustmas post. So here's a 2-fer. A decked out decorator crab and a hermit crab that looks like it could use a bigger shell. Both in a #Humboldt tide pool. 🦀🤿

Got distracted by the earthquake yesterday and missed my #Fishmas post. So here's a 2-fer. Juvenile kelp rockfish oriented up-side down under a boat on #Humboldt Bay, and juvenile black rockfish in a local tide pool.🐟

Well, that was one of the bigger earthquakes I've felt. It built for a long time. No damage at my house as far as I can tell. Still under a tsunami warning...

A molt of a granular claw crab found on a #Humboldt County beach for #Crustmas🦀

A young-of-year coho salmon in Redwood National Park, #Humboldt County, CA for #Fishmas 🐟

Saw this so-called cloud-top flash at sunset in #Humboldt County, CA today. It's not the same as a green flash, but is similar. Tried the blurry super-cropped one to show the colors, but the flash may not have been visible to the naked eye. #AtmosphericOptics 🌈🌥️

Saw some killer whales from Wedding Rock in Sue-Meg State Park in #Humboldt County, CA this PM. They were milling around the Turtle Rocks - maybe 2 miles from where I was standing. There were lots of sea lions around, but I didn't notice any obvious hunting. Then a lone southbound humpback went by.

Mole crabs for #Crustmas. Some years mole crabs are super abundant on #Humboldt County, CA beaches. They go up and down the beach as the tide changes and ride the was - though sometimes piles of them are briefly stranded until the next wave.🌊

For #Fishmas, brook lampreys spawning in Redwood National Park in #Humboldt County, CA. 🤿🐟

A rock greenling at night in the rocky intertidal of #Humboldt County for #Fishmas. 🤿🐟

Swarms of mysids AKA opossum shrimps in a #Humboldt County tide pool for #Crustmas. 🤿🦐

I'm happy to see #Fishmas on Bluesky! So here's a painted greenling in a #Humboldt tide pool to get me started. 🐟🤿

YAY! It's #crustmas time! Here's a juvenile crab that was in a washed-up kelp holdfast on a #Humboldt beach. I took the holdfast to the lab and eventually we had a red rock crab that lived another 4 or 5 years. I assume it was this crab, but I don't know.

These 2 similar-looking nudibranchs used to both be Diaulula sandiegensis. Now only the 1 with few spots has that name. The many-spotted is D. odonoghuei. My wife's thesis helped solve this. There is lots of variation, but a visible key characteristic is spots on the skirt or not. #Nudivember 🦑🤿

This is the only time I've noticed both species of Hermissenda close enough together to fit in a single picture. I don't think it's that uncommon though because both are abundant and conspicuous in our #Humboldt tide pools. #Nudivember 🦑🤿