I've had an idea in my sketchbook for awhile to draw cryptic moths (eg waved umber, green carpet) with part of the background faded or cut out. So you could appreciate how effective their camouflage is, & also how beautiful they are in their own right. I never got time to try it tho… Until now! 😁

So, I tried a new microscope technique today… Let’s just say it was successful! :D #microscopy

Here's another one, Eumolpus asclepiadeus.

So the bad news is that my plants have thrips. 😓 The good news is that I got a great photo! #thrips #microscopy #entomology

I was very surprised to find this beetle larva in my marine/brackish water sample today. I thought aquatic beetle larvae occurred exclusively in fresh water! If you have any idea as to what species/genus/family this belongs to, please let me know. I’m very curious! :D #microscopy #beetle #larva

I went to the sea last week and took some water for microscopy. Found a flatworm and just look at those cells! So pretty :D #microscopy #wormwednesday #flatworm

Found three different species of pseudoscorpions yesterday and they‘re all from different species as well! :D #arthropod #mesofauna #pseudoscorpion #arachnid

I can finally share the Giant Clam illustration I created for @20kleagueszine.bsky.social !! 🐠🐡🦑 #invert This was my favorite illustration of 2025 :) My papercraft has evolved considerably over the last few years

もちもち春の風物詩

Flabellospora acuminata - in a foam sample from northern hessia from last december. #AquaticHyphomycetes

I don’t remember whether I posted this one, but for this #WormWednesday here‘s Alentia gelatinosa! 🪱 #MarineLife #Polychaete

iNatting for the City Nature Challenge with spectacular scenery! #landscape #nature #iNat #citynaturechallenge

If life hands you a deadline, draw polychaete stickers! (Am supposed to be working on velvet worm nephridia, but oh well…) #polychaete #worm #art #marinelife

Onychophorans are weird. They have 3 different kinds of nephridia. Small ones in the first 3 pairs of legs. Huge ones in 4 and 5. And „typical“ ones in all the remaining ones. Also in 4 or 5, instead of having the opening (nephridiopore) at the base of the legs, they open right at the feet. Wth??

Die letzten Wochen war hier alles gefroren. Einzig ein Entwässerungsgraben war eisfrei, aber in dem gibt es nur Ruderfußkrebse. Darum habe ich ausführlich Copepoden fotografiert. Von dorsal und ventral

Harpacticoida Copepoden sind nicht leicht zu fotografieren. Ich habe nur sehr wenige Fotos von denen. Heute habe ich ein Weibchen ventral mit angehängter Spermatophore ablichten können.

Breaking news! I have successfully adapted the camera to my microscope! Yaaay! Still need a bit more distance for parfocality with the eye pieces, so I‘m ordering a helicoid extension tube.

This week’s UV copepods! I swear these colours are getting wilder every week. #marineplankton 🦑

Went to a marine exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle today. Great exhibition all the way through. But I was particularly stunned by the crocheted coral reef. I think this is one of the most beautiful and impressive works of art I‘ve seen. It‘s a collaboration by a few hundred (>1000?) artists.

Hello cutie squish squash Spionidae larva! A gorgeous little polychaete (bristle worm) larva from last week’s sample. #marineplankton 🦑

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Micro-fried-chickenleg! #copepod #microscopy #pondlife #crustacean

oh interesting! A polychaete Phyllodoce mucosa surrounding this green ball! is that where the species epithet comes from ? A mucus ball? eggs? interesting! #wormwednesday www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Just a photo from yesterday‘s walk that‘s horribly overexposed, but that I like a lot. Spring is here! :D #cherryblossom #spring

Joining in with the reference vs. art thing 🌿

Three copepods under UV from my sample last week. A female Pseudodiaptomus marinus, a female Pseudocalanus sp., and a Harpacticoida (I don’t know genus). #marineplankton 🦑

I‘m gonna have a great day tomorrow! :D

Another copepod for you! <3 I just think they‘re very neat. This one‘s Eucyclops sp. #pondlife #microscopy #crustacean #copepod

Another Onychophore post! :) This time the whole animal from the side. I’m surprised by how well the colours got preserved. Apparently it has been collected a couple decades back and stored in ethanol ever since #onychophore #photography #macrophotography

A helluva chonk of a bristle worm! This is the larva of a polychaete from the genus Scolelepis and it was hard to miss! #marineplankton 🦑

Haven’t posted a polychaete in a while… :) This one’s Arenicolides branchialis. I love this very deep and dark iridescent green colour it has. In person it looked almost black. #polychaete #worm #WormWednesday

I hope, the people whom I’ve told “I’m doing 3D reconstruction of animals with a microCT scanner to visualise their anatomy and morphology” never find out that most of that is just me colouring in pictures like in a colouring book.

First proper microscopy session with the new scope! Experimenting with the light to get a DIC-like effect. This is what I got so far. I’m quite happy, but it only really works on the 20x objective! ^^ Images show stuff growing on a copepod. #microscopy

✨Kelp embryos looking extra photogenic under the confocal today 🌱🔬 Young Egregia menziesii embryos developing from the megagametophyte 📸 Image by Siobhan Braybrook #FluorescentFriday

Yet again the same worm. Regular photo this time. I just finished turning the background black. :) The little “paws” are very cute, but the mouth is terrifying. #photography #macro #worm #onychophora

Same Onychophore (velvet worm) as yesterday, but from the outside. It looks so alien! :D #biology #worm #3D

I love visual science! Made these today. What you can see are two cross-sections of an Onychophore from different angles.

They are here, finally. Let’s gooooo!

My first ever UV microscopy image! This is a Halacaridae mite, but I think it might just be an exoskeleton. It glowed gloriously under the UV light source! #marineplankton 🦑

Tergivelum cinnabarium is species of deep sea acorn worm which is noted for being a big fan of Junjo Ito's Uzumaki #Invertebrate 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

FedEx still hasn’t managed to deliver my package because apparently my address doesn’t exist. (Spoiler: It does which I happen to know because I live there) They have now called me to confirm the address *again* and said, it will be delivered on Monday. Wish me luck that they find it this time 😑

Oops. I almost said something positive about FedEx last week, when they managed to get my package from Japan to near my city in only 3 days. (But then they tried to deliver it to somewhere in the wrong city and it has been stuck in that city since and the delivery date ._.)

Look closely at the surface of the sea cucumber… There’s a strange little creature hiding there! This scale worm changes its coloring to match its sea cucumber host. You’d never notice it unless it moves. Such amazing camouflage! ✨️

Interesting times ahead! Just bought this microscope today and carried it (with the help of 4 different trains) halfway across Germany. My back hurts, I am exhausted, but it was very worth it! #microscope #biology

Dragon Flower Mantis (Toxodera integrifolia) #AppreciateADragonDay

Another sponge from the university collection. This one is really weird! (If anyone knows has tips for ID, let me know! It wasn't labeled) #MarineLife #Nature

Check out these beautiful macro photographs of Slime Moulds by Barry Webb at www.barrywebbimages.co.uk/Images/Macro... Additional links - Fungi: www.barrywebbimages.co.uk/Images/Macro... Instagram: www.instagram.com/barrywebbima... Slime mould info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mo #Nature

I tried that soap bubble freezing thing. Catastrophic failure. ☹️

Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄 Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️ Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei Happy holidays!