Tomorrow, April 30, 2026, at 4 p.m. ET I will share some discoveries (including the “golden orb”) from the 2023 Seascape Alaska expeditions during a webinar. Registration link: vimeo.com/event/584117....

Amazing zooms on this Tomopteris! Way to go pilots 👏 @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 919 #DesigningtheFuture3 #MarineLife

The science -- and excitement -- of discovery: Scientists reveal identity of mysterious ‘golden orb’ collected during NOAA expedition --> Check out our special #EarthDayNOAA feature story: noaa.gov/news/scienti... via NOAA Research & NOAA Ocean Exploration #GoldenOrb

Remember that Golden Orb? #MarineLife is cool, and Exploration is key to learning the stories of species, every one of which is fascinating. with @echinoblog.bsky.social @megdaly.bsky.social @abcollens.bsky.social and others. www.noaa.gov/news/scienti...

A stunningly blue-silver cerianthid sea anemone! 1241 m Solide seamount! #okeanos #saveNOAA

This is a perfect case of an animal evolving to deal with fluid dynamics. There's a boundary layer on the bottom where the water is still. Raising up above it allows the animal to take advantage of currents for feeding and gamete dispersion. Infant help wondering though...

Remember that glass (?) sponge #okeanos saw in the deeps off the North Pacific? BIGGER THAN A FREAKIN MINIBUS! #spongeThursday youtu.be/v1Tx2GKk-eM?...

And now there is a newly described and named species of Manokia, Manokia bandiera. #MarineLife is cool www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

How gorgeous is this box jelly!?!?!? Manokia in the family Alatinidae. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

New #MarineLife! Or rather, a new recognition of an existing species by hard working taxonomists. ;-) Meet Stemonosudis dianea! www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...

24 new deep-sea species found including a rare new branch of life www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... 🦑🌎🧪

Our paper documenting the recent find of a species of so-called stalked jellyfish (Stauromedusae) that had not been seen for quite some time just came out. So nice to know that this #MarineLife is still with us. Paper led by the incomparable Lucilia Souza Miranda. www.mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Go Chris! Happy #TaxonomistAppreciationDay Truly amazing. We need more of this.

Sponge Ambusher Worm! #MarineLife www.marinespecies.org/worms-top-te...

The Dragon Nematode! #MarineLife www.marinespecies.org/worms-top-te...

"The product..takes advantage of the porous nature of starfish skeletons... the microstructure of starfish skeletons helps regulate the release of chloride from salt, reducing damage to concrete by up to 90%, while improving the ability to melt snow and ice..." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/15/s...

NOAA Fisheries is Hiring. www.fisheries.noaa.gov/careers-more...

Great explanation of cool work by @gelatinoussting.bsky.social

Go Chris Mah! Keep bringing dark taxa to light.

[New Paper] Provides the first description of cold seep fauna in the Sea of Japan, revealing just a few species living in very cold water. We also found a new snail species -- named Provanna cocytus after the icy hell in Dante's "Divine Comedy"! OPEN ACCESS: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/...

The plot thickens in the sponges-vs-ctenophores-as-animal-outgroup drama…

Maybe this explains why many species fall apart almost instantly upon capture and most have been very difficult to preserve in collections.

🧪🌐🦤 #Biodiversity declines as #kelp forests thin and fragment. Our large‑scale field experiment shows that denser kelp forests support more taxa, and kelp spatial arrangement strongly shapes community composition. #FeatureArticle bit.ly/meps15090

I was looking in the sand for some other tiny slugs when I spotted this little Costasiella ocellifera. It was about the size of a grain of rice! #nudibranchs #underwaterphotography #macro #bahamas #scuba 🦑 📷

Whip coral goby (Bryaninops amplus). These little fellows are very difficult to photograph, they will scuttle around the whip coral avoiding you like it's a game of tag. Palau Hantu, Singapore. #scuba #marinelife #underwaterphotography

🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 Ocean Exploration Trust is hiring independent contractors for at-sea positions of data engineers, video engineers, and ROV engineers for our 2026 expedition season aboard E/V Nautilus. More information at nautiluslive.org/about/employ.... Questions can be directed to [email protected].

Sorting through some images today I came across a ciliate I’d forgotten all about! This flabby little fella is Campanella sp. #marineplankton 🦑 #protistsonsky

Today's Oarfish comes from Junikoon on Pinterest! They have many more lovely sketchbook drawings on their profile for you to see! #sealife #marine #fish #Oarfishdaily #marinelife #drawing #marineanimals

More fun with UV! This polychaete larva proved to be a great subject to experiment with my new UV torch! The setae (the ‘hairy’ bits) are particularly striking. #marineplankton 🦑

Onychoteuthid from @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 453 East Cortes Basin #designingthefuture2 #MarineLife

A chance to name a new species!

What's a freckled stargazer you ask? Find out, and learn more about how Fisheries Surveys and Museum Collections build evidence that helps us better understand #MarineLife! www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...

It is Ocean Exploration Day! #OceanExplorationDay videos.fisheries.noaa.gov/detail/video... Here are some old thoughts on the importance of exploring our oceans, with a #MarineLife slant for sure. What are your favorite reasons for exploring the world's oceans?

First characterization of fungal communities in a benthic jellyfish!! #MarineLife

Your artwork could go on an ocean adventure aboard #EVNautilus! Students ages 5 to 18 can submit artwork for consideration for the official Nautilus Expedition Season Stickers and Patch to be worn and displayed by members of the #CorpsofExploration: Learn more: bit.ly/47LODnm

#PublicationAlert! A recent paper describes seven new species of Lepidonotopodini #scaleworms from deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems, including some samples collected by #EVNautilus in the #Galapagos in 2015. Read it in Marine Biodiversity here: bit.ly/4ofrhws

Excellent to see this record that adds good distribution and association information about this species and genus in need of description. @beziostudio.bsky.social is working on it as part of his dissertation.

Deep Sea squid gets down in the dirt…er….sediment?? www.livescience.com/animals/moll...

🦉🌎🧪 TY @sfgate.com for covering the Farallones murrenados! During breeding season, hundreds of thousands of #CommonMurres swirl over the island before landing en masse. Once reduced to 6K, the Farallon population has rebounded to 500K thanks decades of monitoring and #conservation. shorturl.at/ZZJZQ

Today we are running seawater samples from the Fall Bering Sea #EcoFOCI mooring cruise. #FieldworkFriday 🧪🌊🦑 www.ecofoci.noaa.gov

First day at sea on our expedition to Commonwealth Bay in east #Antarctica, and we've been joined by three species of albatross already! Such magnificent birds, cruising effortlessly on massive wingspans #auroraexpeditions #USyd #SAEF @stephgardner.bsky.social #marinescience 🧪🦑

It isn’t World Jellyfish Day, but any day is a good day to share images of jellies!

I for one will be extremely happy to peruse an illustrated guide to microscopic organisms documented through expansion microscopy. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... This past year I reviewed an MS using this technique and was very impressed by this new technique. #MarineLife

I suppose it is natural to have the comparison point by “human” in discussing the earliest divergence with metazoans. Consider the source! That aside, another marker post in the Porifera-or-Ctenophora first (divergence) is fun to see. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This work on benthic ctenophore systematics (creation of Benthoplanidae) sets up a few planned works, focused on the systematics and evolution of shallow and deep water groups. www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=...

As part of his dissertation, @beziostudio.bsky.social leads a recent paper on benthic ctenophores. New family established based on anatomical observations, mitochondrial genome structure, and sequence data. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Very proud of my former student and longtime collaborator and friend Cheryl Lewis Ames. www.tohoku.ac.jp/romance/en/0...

NOAA #OceanExploration created a nice write up of research led by Javier Montenegro on the jellyfish Botrynema. oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/jellyfi... Demonstrating the value of exploring and collecting for understanding #MarineLife

"I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath." --Kahlil Gilbran www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zK5... #MarineLife #SciArt

Great write up on how NOAA and Smithsonian scientists work together to build resources supporting marine research. www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...