Erin Spencer, PhD

Great drama happening on the Hudson Canyon livestream right now! Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n289... 🧪🦑🌊🌍

Champions of Conservation 2025 Safeguarding Helene-threatened salamanders, cultivating gulf oysters, boosting mallard habitat, and spreading native grasslands—the work of this year’s under-the-radar Southern eco-heroes is more impo...

Excited to see @gardenandgun.com highlight the work of conservationists across the Southern U.S. + Bahamas in their Champions of Conservation feature. It showcases how conservation and recreation can work hand-in-hand for stronger, more lasting outcomes. 🐟🌍

gardenandgun.com/feature/cham...

What a cool graduate opportunity!! Dietary benefits of sexual cannibalism in spiders at Oklahoma State University. 🧪👩‍🔬🌍

sevenseasmedia.org/job/ms-or-ph...

A curious little guy! Spotted on @schmidtocean.bsky.social livestream from 9/8: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivht... 🐟🦑🌊🌍

Catching up on my shows today @schmidtocean.bsky.social 🌊🦑🧪🐟🌍

Watch live: NOAA and Partners Lead Expedition to Advance Deep-Sea Habitat Restoration in the Gulf - NOAA Ocean Exploration The upcoming expedition is part of a multi-year collaborative effort to restore deep-sea habitats in the Gulf of Mexico that were injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest offshore ...

Starting TODAY: Join scientists at sea to learn more about deep sea restoration in real time. Our fall livestream series features many opportunities to hear about ROVs, deep corals, and more. 🌊🦑🧪🐟

Learn more: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/mdbc-li...

A New, ‘Adorable’ Deep-Sea Fish Swims Into View

The bumpy snailfish, discovered 10,000 feet down off the coast of California, shows that not all denizens of the abyss are frightening. (I watched the video more than 10 times.)

My latest for @nytimes.com (gift link!)

#marinelife

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...

This deep-sea worm creates a toxic yellow pigment found in Rembrandt and Cézanne paintings!

Paralvinella hessleri is the first known animal to create orpiment, which was used by artists for centuries. 🦑🧪🌊

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Good news out of the Gulf -- A new project found that modified turtle excluder devices (TEDs) successfully excluded small turtles while maintaining shrimp catch. 🌊🦑🧪🌍

gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/2025/07/smal...

Developed by researchers in MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, the EyeRIS camera system (right) enables near real-time three-dimensional imaging and visualization in a compact payload that can be deployed to depths of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet). Image credit: Joost Daniels, MBARI

It all started with a grand challenge: How can we unlock the potential for ocean life to inspire future technologies? @mbarinews.bsky.social's Bioinspiration Lab has spent years trying to tackle this problem, and we recently developed 4000 m-rated EyeRIS, an in situ lightfield imaging system. 2/n

What EyeRIS revealed was incredible, fine-scale detail of the 3D movements of octopus arms as they crawled over the seafloor completely unconstrained. We learned that octopus crawl by creating a modified foot that persists throughout the behavior, a simplification that could aid roboticists. 8/n

Deep-sea livestreams can inspire wonder and drive action. @schmidtocean.bsky.social's current expedition in Mar del Plata canyon, off the Argentine coast, has become an internet sensation -- just as Argentina’s president threatens to cut and privatize science. 🦑🌊🧪

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/w...

How Great Hammerheads Survive on a Diet of Other Sharks Great hammerhead sharks eat other large sharks. They can survive on a single blacktip shark every few weeks. Here's what you need to know!

Thanks SyFy for sharing our recent great hammerhead energetics paper! And for pairing it with a Sharknado promo, which feels like the bigget win of all. 🌊🐟🧪🦑

www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/ho...

MBARI researchers deploy new imaging system to study the movement of deep-sea octopus • MBARI 3D visual data collected by MBARI’s groundbreaking EyeRIS camera system could contribute to the design of bioinspired robots in the future.

The EyeRIS camera, developed by @kakanikatija.bsky.social and MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, is a game changer for studying the biomechanics of marine life, revealing new insights about octopus locomotion that open the door for future bioinspired technologies.

Learn more: www.mbari.org/news/mbari-r...

Restoration Milestone: Scientists Deploy Coral Domes in the Gulf - NCCOS - National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science On a recent expedition, restoration experts deployed artificial substrates deeper than 200 ft to help restore mesophotic corals in the Gulf as part of a long-term effort to restore deep-sea habitats i...

New from the Mesophotic & Deep Benthic Communities restoration team: We deployed dome-shaped concrete structures to support mesophotic coral growth and provide habitat for other small marine animals. 🌊🦑🧪🌍

Read more in my new piece for NOAA NCCOS: coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/restora...

Hammerhead sharks eat other sharks—and it’s worth the risk Apparently, sharks are food, not friends.

Thank you @popsci.com for covering our recent paper on great hammerhead energetics! 🐟🧪🌊🌍 Read the piece here:

www.popsci.com/environment/...

Anemone, umbellula, sea pen, scotoplanes? @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 820 #MarDelPlataCanyon #MarineLife

Cusk eel from @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 818 #MarDelPlataCanyon #MarineLife

This surprisingly relaxing footage is from SIX MILES under the ocean – and it’s the deepest ecosystem yet discovered

Unreal images from the hadal zone, the deepest part of our ocean, in this new paper in @nature.com. Scientists used the manned submersible Fendouzhe in the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench and the western Aleutian Trench at depths from 5,800 m to 9,533 m 🦑🌊🧪🐟🌍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Look at the detail on this STUNNER from yesterdays @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive in Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon in Argentina 🦑🌊🧪🐟

🤣 that squid is straight up saying🖕🖕 @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 817 #MarDelPlataCanyon #MarineLife

Pandea rubra (paper lantern jelly) @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 817 #MarDelPlataCanyon #MarineLife

Spotted on the @schmidtocean.bsky.social livestream! Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9N... 🦑🌊🧪

What Your Birth Month Says About Your Next Seafood Recipe Celebrate National Culinary Arts Month by finding a new sustainable seafood recipe based on your birth month.

This is the horoscope content we NEED🐟🌊🧪🌍

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...

Sinocyclocheilus wanlanensis sp. nov., GXU2020000062, holotype, 86.74 mm SL. (A) Live specimen (not holotype); (B) lateral view of head in preserved specimen; (C) dorsal view of preserved specimen.

𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠, a new species of eyeless cavefish is described from Guizhou Province, China. 🐟🧪

mdpi.com/2076-2615/15...

Science and Democracy Under Siege This administration's first 6 months have been characterized by destruction, division, and chaos.

Just released: a comprehensive report by @ucs.org of how this administration has gutted federal science systems.

Huge thank you to @dminovi.bsky.social & coauthors for this important work. As they say in the report: When science is sidelined, people are harmed. 🦑🧪🌊🐟🌍

www.ucs.org/resources/sc...

Robotic rabbits deployed to fool invasive Burmese pythons Wildlife researchers in Florida have tried lots of methods to remove Burmese pythons from Florida’s ecosystems. The latest trick relies on the snake’s ability to find a delicious-lookin…

The latest technology in the battle against invasives: robotic rabbits.

🧪🌍👩‍🔬

www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/07/17/r...

Sharks might be spending less time in Florida. That’s actually not good. Fishermen sometimes complain that they munch their catch before they can get it into their boat, and every so often, one might bite a swimmer or surfer. But as far as the health of our oceans go, shar...

From a new study about migration in coastal sharks: "We found delayed departure dates from summer habitats under future elevated SST ... Delays in migration timing of may alter local ecosystem dynamics and challenge current management strategies." 🌊🐟🧪🌍

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/e...

Spotted!! This stunner

🐟🦑🧪🌊🌍