Slipper Lobster Metamorphosis Crustaceans display some of the most spectacular metamorphoses from free-swimming meroplankton to reef-dwelling adults. Slipper lobsters (below) are closely related to rock lobsters but have a flattened body and short, wide antennae. #Crustmas

Also for #Crustmas: Fluffy crab! (not actually a true crab) Porcellana platycheles, the Hairy Porcellain Crab. #MarineLife

For the 10th day of #Crustmas 🦐, I found this Scapholebris (cf. mucronata) Daphniid that is infested with Chlorella(?) green algae. I believe, they are parasitic, judging by the Daphniid‘s reduced mobility & the strange twitching motion of the antennae. #microscopy #pondlife #parasites #crustacean

Procreate tracks the number of individual marks I make, and I’m currently on 66,816!

#Crustmas Day 9 This is one of the prettiest copepods I‘ve found. It‘s called Hersiliodes latericius and was found in coastal waters in Spain #MarineLife #Copepods #Crustacean

Omg #Crustmas

A pair of Coleman Shrimp (Periclimenes colemani) in between the spines of a variable fire urchin. #MarineLife #Invertebrates #Crustmas 🌿

Just think this gossamer worm needs a moment again 🐙🦑🐡

For Day 8 of #Crustmas, I bring you Greenhouse isopods! Back in June, the botanical gardens in Germany hosted a BioBlitz during which I got to dig around a bit in the greenhouses. #1 Philosciidae indet. #2 Nagurus cristatus #3 Reductoniscus costulatus #4 Venezillo parvus #Isopods #MacroPhotography

#Crustmas day 7 (belatedly) 🦀 I came back from a rehearsal weekend with my orchestra yesterday and I was too exhausted to post anything. The pic I planned to send yesterday is this Xantho pilipes which has some very nice markings on its back, in my opinion #marinelife #crab

#Crustmas day 6! 🦐 I saw some posts with these ostracods (Strandesia sp.(?)) yesterday, so I wanted to share this one. Found in the greenhouses of the botanical gardens in Bonn. If anyone can help ID, that would be amazing! :D #microscopy #ostracods #crustacean

Siphonophores are champions of community collaboration. 🤝🏆 This isn't one animal. It's actually a colony of individual animals called zooids. Each has a specialized role. From the orb-like swimming nectophores to the bright orange stinging tentacles, they're essential to the survival of all.

I am loading all of the worlds' biodiversity databases with many pictures of things called "? Strandesia" because I don't have the heart to open up hundreds of indvidual ostracods to look at the adductor muscle scars, but they look a lot like this guy named Strandesia. I'm sorry.

These little guys that I posted last December are still thriving in a water-filled saucer in my greenhouse. Easy pets, if difficult to see and not at all affectionate.

Day 5 of #Crustmas Presumably a female Cymodoce truncata. No spoilers, but some individuals of this species have some really beautiful patterning (I‘m saving those pics for later) :P #MarineLife #Isopods #Crustaceans

The toxic crab (Lophozozymus incisus), a rare and very beautiful species found in warm waters the world over, including off the coast of Australia. Toxic crabs can be incredibly dangerous, containing toxins that are similar to those of the pufferfish, called tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin. #crustmas

It's day 4 of #Crustmas. This crab is probably about the same age? I was very surprised to learn that this is what larval crabs look like. I think it's either Xantho sp. or Carcinus maenas. P.S.: The feathery things at the top are the cirri of a barnacle and are not part of the larva. #MarineLife

With Crustmas going on right now, it's easy to forget that it is #WormWednesday, too! This is an unidentified Terebellid worm. It may be Amphitrides gracilis, but I'm far from certain. #MarineLife #Polychaete #Worm

Wow! It's hard to tell which part of this animal is which! Very cool shrimp for #Crustmas! :D

I’ve made a diagrammatic reconstruction of one of my favorite prehistoric animals, Aquilonifer spinosis. I’ve noticed many of the reconstructions of this animal appear to be based solely on the fossil model, resulting in some errors that contradict the actual description. #paleoart #sciart

For the third day of #Crustmas my colleagues gave to me: 3 papers with peracarid phylogenies 🧪🦑 (Sorry for messing up the song a little) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#Crustmas day 3! 🦐 Look at the claw on this amphipod! I think it is Gammarella fucicola, but I‘m not quite sure. It’s the only one I found with modified gnathopods like this. Found in a rocky shore habitat in Galicia, Spain. #MarineLife #Amphipod

A rare non-animal-related post, but I also took photos of a bunch of flowers this year. I saw them arranged in a grid like this for the first time today and thought they looked really pretty like this :) #macrophotography #flowers

Day Two of #Crustmas! 🦐 Athanas nitescens comes in a variety of colours. I found this green-blue individual that‘s speckled with red chromatophores that form these very cool dendritic splotches of colour (closeup below) #marinelife #crustacean #shrimp

#DeepSeaDecember 🐡 I'm hoping that more people on BlueSky will celebrate the #deepsea (partly because I still don't like Instagram) #artchallenge 🐟🦑 @dsbsoc-arts.bsky.social

This cute fluffy crustacean is perfect #crustmas :D

A couple of pics of a pair from a blackwater dive in Balayan Bay, Anilao. I think this is a phyllosoma (the larval stage of a lobster) riding a purple-striped jelly which is really too small for it... ID very tentative in both cases though! #MarineLife #Invertebrates 🦀🌿

we see a lot of amphipods in all depths of water. Some species live in the plankton but most live on or close to the sea floor! They come in a range of colours, shapes and sizes

Since the last one went over so well...another amazing Antarctic punk-rock crustacean..I believe is the amphipod Epimeria sp. 🧪🦑🇦🇶🌍🪱

Cool Antarctic ISOPOD Pleuroprion, about 700m from the USNM collections! #Antarcticaday #crustmas

The first article from last year's expedition on the famous Polarstern that I participated in has been published. The amphipod species Amathillopsis spinigera was found for the first time during this expedition in the 25 year sampling history of the Fram Strait. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Here's an #InverteFest phenomenon where I genuinely don't know why it's like this. Many hermit crabs have this morphotype l call "stars in their eyes" with some light colored ommatidia scattered around a dark eye. What's up with that? Evolution of maximum cuteness? 😍🤩 🦀🧪🦑

As #Crustmas 🦀 comes but once a year and my new connection @jopabinia.bsky.social seems keen on species identification here's one more crab on a coin!

Emerge from your shells everyone, it's #crustmas time! 🦀 🦐 For Day 1, I have this beautiful little hermit called Clibanarius erythropus. Look at those fashionable red and blue striped feet! And those eyes! 🤩 #marinelife #hermitcrab

Everyone get hyped: although #Nudivember is ending, #Crustmas (25 days/advent style) starts tomorrow. It's not an art challenge with a list, just post any crustaceans you like in whatever format you like throughout the month! 🧪🦑🦀

little jelly, big parasite Hyperia riding inside (maybe) Solmundaegina nematophora 🐙🦑

I thought, I’d join in and post a nudibranch for the last day of #Nudivember. Here‘s Aeolidiella sp. I found in Spain in a rock pool #MarineLife

Merz is certainly an embarrassment and a pathetic excuse for a chancellor. Insulting the host country after attending a climate conference–while ignoring/actively working against every environmental protection policy at home–and then saying an „apology isn’t necessary“‽

I have a comic about prehistoric Animals. It’s an anthology that starts in the Cambrian and progresses forward through time. It’s called Prehistories. www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/pr... #prehistoric #cambrian #comic #paleoart #art #hallucigenia #webcomic

I finally had some time to go on a #macrophotography walk again, last weekend. Just look at those adorable antennae on this little fellow! 😍 It's a poduromorph springtail called Bilobella braunerae.

It’s baby octopus season 🐙🦑 Saw this little guy last night with the Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA as part of their free community dock walk I volunteer as an interpreter for. We can tell it is a giant pacific octopus from the single line of chromatophores on each arm.

Today's Oarfish comes from Mycotae on Twitter! They're an artist who does creepy, realism, sometimes cute and usually centers around horror! #underwater #sealife #marine #fish #Oarfishdaily #marinelife #drawing #marineanimals

This little 1” goby chose the most beautiful spot for its home!

Stunning close ups #marinelife #macrophptography #underwaterphotography

It is finally #WormWednesday again! 🪱 The perfect time to post my photo of this 40 cm long beast! :D Scientific name: Phyllodoce lineata ↓ thread with more info ↓ #marinelife #polychaetes #invertebrates

This little polychaete larva is having a good wiggle! #marineplankton 🦑 sound on for funky tunes

I just discovered that my affinity apps no longer work and I had to download the new „free forever“ version. As much as I like free stuff, this feels very ominous. Canva doesn’t seem that trustworthy to me… And I don’t want yet another good digital resource to go the route of enshittification. :(

Welcome to the 2025 #Nudivember art challenge! Like last year, here is a list of some lesser known, yet always fabulous, nudibranch species. Participate as much or as little as you want in any art form you like. Make sure to use #Nudivember and use alt text!

Lately we have been working on the interactions of #lichens and #mites. This has been super exciting and the first two publications with our findings are now out. Here a quick summary (thread).