My finished Lookdown illustration for today's #SundayFishSketch 🐡

Our Observation of the Day is this bright red squid (potentially in the genus Onychoteuthis), seen in Spain by marcm13! More details at: www.inaturalist.org/observations...

sometimes the stupid video memories my phone makes for me are actually brilliant

#fishmas day 17 + 18! Dwarf seahorses are truly tiny, with adults only reaching a meagre 2 inches. Meanwhile, lined seahorses are monsters in comparison. Occasionally reaching a mighty 7in, they will consume anything small enough to fit into their mouths- this includes small fish. #25DaysofFishmas

#crustmas day 18 (and 17) - double feature! Pink shrimp can attain respectable sizes, with large individuals measuring up to about 10 inches long. Speaking from experience, they grow fast! The flat bodies of green porcelain crabs allow them to hide in very narrow spaces. They're quite secretive.

For day 16 of #fishmas, another sunfish- a warmouth (Lepomis gulosus). It is a tough species, capable of surviving temperature extremes and oxygen-depleted water. As long as there is enough small prey (it is not choosy) and enough plants to hide in, it is happy. #25DaysofFishmas

Ancinus depressus, the flat pillbug, for day 16 of #crustmas! This is a wonderfully rectangular, flat isopod that likes the sandy, shelly substrates of nearshore marine habitats, particularly beaches. When threatened, it rolls into a ball. It's flat, broad shape means it can only try it's best.

Little-known fact: Shortnose Gar can fly! See moxostoma.com/garfrenzy/ for more photos and the whole story. #gar #garweek

It’s still #Fishmas and so today we have Enchelycore pardalis - the Dragon Moray from the southern coastal waters of Oman. This was the one and only time that I ever saw one of these and don’t they look friendly. #MarineLife #UnderwaterPhotography #TeamFish

Lamprohaminoea evelinae Oskars & Malaquias, 2020 Location: Bali, Indonesia 🇮🇩 #MolluscMonday #MolluskMonday #seaslug

Some artwork for #Crustmas from one of my favourites - Alister Hardy's 'The Open Sea - The World of Plankton' in the New Naturalist series, published in 1956

Some deep water planktonic crustaceans from Alister Hardy's 'The Open Sea - The World of Plankton' (1956) #Crustmas

#Crustmas 🦞: Ohno Bakufu (大野麦風, Japan, 1888–1976) Spiny #Lobster イセエビ, 1950-60s Watercolor, hand painted on shikishi art board, 25 x 27cm www.ohmigallery.com/DB/ItemDetai... #JapaneseArt

The formidable barbfish, Scorpaena brasiliensis, is the star of day 15 of #fishmas. The venom sequestered within each fin spine is potent, and causes a laundry list of nasty symptoms, not to mention severe pain. The 'cool' factor is undeniable. #25DaysofFishmas

A hairy hermit crab, Paguristes karenae, for day 15 of #crustmas! True to it's name, this species is covered in a thick coat of luxurious brown fur. Additionally, this species was described recently, only two years ago. I think they're really, really cute...

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. 🐟🤿🌙

Spanish dancer

Day 15 of #25DaysofCrustmas and we have Rhynchocinetes durbanensis - called the Durban Dancing Shrimp.

Super awesome to finally see a video of this Dolichopteryx longipes! I'm a fan of any barreleye.

OCEANA Euorpe - Canary Islands Expedition 2014

And for day 14 of #fishmas, spotted sunfish (not the Mola kind...) The spotted sunfish is an endemic to the southeastern United States, primarily Florida. These individuals live inside of a flooded sinkhole, where they are one of the only few species of fish present. #25DaysofFishmas

It's the 14th day of #crustmas! Today, a seasonally appropriate peppermint shrimp (Lysmata boggessi). This species lives in seagrass beds, oyster reefs, and in sponges unlike many species in the genus. Their vivid color and way of moving, swaying back and forth, make them popular in aquariums.

Semibalanus balanoides in steel, bronze, and silver for #Crustmas

Green Gar {Esox osseus} Ökonomische Naturgeschichte der Fische Deutschlands  (Economic natural history of fish in Germany) 1783 Biodiversity Heritage Library

On the 13th day of #fishmas we also celebrate #FlatsharkFriday with the southern stingray, Hypanus americanus! I found this one down in the Florida Keys and it let me get real close. Of course, I was at the bitey end, not the stingy end, an important distinction! Happy #25DaysofFishmas 🦑

Ambon scorpionfish (Pteroidichthys amboinensis), Lembeh #Fishmas #MarineLife 🐟🌊

The spotted porcelain crab, Porcellana sayana, which often lives as a #commensal inside of the shell of the giant red hermit crab, Petrochirus diogenes. That is excactly where I found this one hanging out in Tampa, FL. #crustmas #invertebrate

It's day 13 of #crustmas! This is the blue spot hermit, a small hermit crab that doesn't surpass a few centimeters. Named for their prominent blue spots on the inner surface of their arms, their eyes and antennae also take on a bluish hue. The feathery antennae catch small pieces of floating food.

For day 13 of #fishmas, a bandtail puffer. Of gulf Florida's puffers, the bandtail is amongst the smallest. Small extensions on the skin are effective aids in camouflage, and the row of black spots along the lower flank as well as the reflective eyes are especially beautiful. #25DaysofFishmas

stripes (Caranx hippos, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, Heterotilapia buettikoferi, Archosargus probatocephalus)

biblically-accurate paper snowflake

For day 12 of #fishmas, and keeping on-theme, here's a baby and adult leopard searobin. The odd little 'fingers' under the head are modified fin rays, and are used to walk and feel around in soft substrates for buried prey. They are covered in taste buds and are very sensitive. #25DaysofFishmas

Today for the #25DaysofCrustmas we're venturing to a shrimpy branch of the family tree. Meet Taylor's Coastal Shrimp (Heptacarpus taylori), which I often find in the #tidepools. As a species in Thoridae, these are also known as broken-back shrimp. They come in festive #Crustmas colors too!

Happy day 12 of #crustmas! These are Florida stone crabs- baby and adult. Young stone crabs are tiny and purple, more like a smooth pebble than a stone. Adults, meanwhile, are heavily-armed, brown, and comparatively rugged.

#Crustmas 🦀 Crab sketch painted in 1814 at the Maruyama-Shijo School Japan. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 🦑 #SciArt #Invertebrates

It’s still #Fishmas so here is a little festive looking goby - in fact it is Trimma avidori - a type of Pygmy goby from the Red Sea. The little pattern around its eye is what helps to ID this species - but you need to get close to look properly. #MarineLife

On the 11th day of #fishmas the yellowtail snapper, Ocyurus chrysurus! Like the porkfish (see #fishmas day 10), yellowtail snapper are increasing in abundance further north along the Florida Gulf coast. Driven, we think, by warmer winter low temperatures. Happy #25DaysofFishmas 🦑

It would be impossible to cover bioluminescence for #25DaysOfFishmas and not discuss lanternfish. They are, by biomass, the most important group of mesopelagic fish, and are highly diverse, so I've just picked my personal favourite - Lampadena speculigera, the mirror lanternfish.

We're gonna finish off our Communication topic with a return to the deep sea, revisiting one of the stomiids I covered for last year's #25DaysOfFishmas. This gorgeous mesopelagic monster is Echiostoma barbatum, the threadfin dragonfish.

Here is a cute little Western Sea Slater (Ligia occidentalis) for today's #crustmas offering.💚 #Isopods 📷🦀

Freedrifting longsnout seahorse (hippocampus reidi) about three miles offshore while drifting in the #gulfstream. After a #seahorse give birth, their larvae sometimes get swept out to sea, joining the #plankton where they will then grow up on the drifting seaweed. #marinelife 🦑 #blackwater

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

I'm more of a jellyfish person, but for #crustmas, I can share a couple of my favorite deep-sea crustaceans: Anuropus is an isopod which lives inside the bell of the giant medusa Deepstaria, and Nebaliopsis is a speedy swimmer, seen here brooding its young. 🦑🧪🌊

For #Crustmas I will give you so many ostracods, with calcified shells enclosing the body. These are myodocopes: "Giant" (3 cm) Gigantocypris with mirror eyes, bioluminescent sexual displays in the Luxorina, eyeless cave dwellers like Spelaeoecia, and SO many fossils (here with pyritized eggs) 🧪🦑

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For day 11 of #fishmas is a ballyhoo! This one is a juvenile. Ballyhoo are a species of halfbeak, a group of flyingfish and needlefish relatives. Many exhibit an extremely long, disproportionate lower jaw- as for the ballyhoo, it gets much, much longer with age. These fish are accomplished jumpers.

For day 11 of #crustmas is another crab, the spineback hairy crab- also called a gorilla crab by some. The thick coat of hair that covers it's body conceals the stout, sharp thorns that cover almost the entirety of it's surface. These crabs love living in sponges, and are difficult to extract.