Melissa Ramsay

Mutualism on the deep-sea floor: a novel shell-forming sea anemone in symbiosis with a hermit crab | Royal Society Open Science Interspecific species interactions are fundamental evolutionary forces that shape the traits and adaptive strategies of biological communities. However, their diversity and dynamics in deep-sea ecosys...

Our newest paper has just published from Royal Society Open Science!! 🦀

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Special Issue: Measuring fish cognition: Empirical based guidance for designing cognition assays: Journal of Fish Biology: Vol 107, No 4 The <em>Journal of Fish Biology</em> is a leading international ichthyology journal, addressing all aspects of fish biology, their exploitation and importance to human society.

🐟 Our special issue "Measuring Fish Cognition: Empirical-based Guidance for Designing Cognition Assays" is out! From acclimation protocols to automated tracking, these studies tackle a range of methodological issues. Check it out: tinyurl.com/vdprfbf4 #FishCognition #AnimalBehaviour

The yellowtail parrotfish face off and throw down in the Stadium with their mohawks up 🦜🐟😤😤🦜🐟 #yellowtailparrotfish #parrotfishjungle #parrotfishcapitaloftheworld #slowmotion #faceoff #throwdown #mohawksup #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity

Our Special issue on Visual Ecology in Challenging Environments is out: #coral reef & #deep-sea fishes, #reindeers on polar daylight, #bioluminescence, non-visual #pigments & life in dark caves. Happy to co-edit with Sara Stieb + thks to all contributors! See in Functional Ecology: buff.ly/z5AYxZQ

Rearing condition affects behavioral response to cross-modal expectancy violation paradigm in zebra finches https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.10.681716v1

On World Migratory Bird Day, today’s #AutumnArrivalSpotlight is the Grey Plover! 🤩

These impressive fliers migrate from the Arctic, capable of non-stop flights of 6,500 km to reach UK coastlines.

Some stay for winter while others continue their journey to western Africa.

Three trays of oilseed-rape(OSR) plants The plants in the tray on the right are looking a lot healthier and larger than the other two.

The Rothamsted Research site entrance, with a brick sign in front of a large tree and red-brick building.

Already one month into my placement at Rothamsted Research and learning more and more about chemical ecology every day! 🌱

Jane Goodall with monarch butterfly scarf

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
― Jane Goodall

💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

A Turning Point for the Ocean: What the High Seas Treaty Means - Inside Climate News With more than 60 countries on board, the new international law will soon enter into force, ushering in the world’s first framework to conserve biodiversity across two-thirds of the ocean.

A Turning Point for the #Ocean. What the High Seas Treaty Means. More than 60 countries signed, and the law will soon enter into force, ushering in the world’s first framework to conserve #biodiversity across two-thirds of the ocean
#MarineEcology
#Policy

insideclimatenews.org/news/2709202...

How do light and noise pollution impact selection on sexual signals?

We tested mate attraction and bat predation on túngara frogs in the field.

Full text: doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

#evolutionarybiology
#animalbehavior
@eseb.bsky.social
@jevbio.bsky.social

Photo: Grant Maslowski

Protecting animal cultures as World Heritage - Nature Sustainability It is becoming increasingly clear that animal cultures have intrinsic, irreplaceable value, and yet they are not adequately protected by preserving habitat. The time has come for UNESCO to explicitly protect non-human cultural heritage alongside human heritage.

Here we propose adding an 11th criterion to UNESCO’s framework to protect animal cultures—habitat protection alone isn’t enough. Excited to collaborate with philosophers @merikatariina.bsky.social & @birchlse.bsky.social on this!

Message me for access ;-)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Soundscape Listening Room • MBARI Access a live stream and a library of sounds recorded using a hydrophone (underwater microphone) off the Central California coast.

Sperm whale echolocation loud & clear on the @mbarinews.bsky.social hydrophone live stream right now!
www.mbari.org/project/soun...
Amazing to have live audio from the deep sea streaming online... & this long-term data enabling discoveries about these cryptic animals' lives tinyurl.com/58a5jefp

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

High Seas Treaty Progress Table For the High Seas Treaty to have an impact on the water, it must be signed and ratified by at least 60 countries. Follow progress on the Ratification Tracker.

Very happy seeing that already 60 countries have ratified the #HighSeasTreaty. It could be enter into force next year! Nice to see my country among them!

#MarineEcology
#marineprotection

highseasalliance.org/treaty-ratif...

How can the #HighSeasTreaty help enable the protection of nearly half of our planet?

Discover how we can protect it for future generations: buff.ly/mQVvEgX #RaceForRatification

Together for Palestine YouTube video by Brian Eno

❤️ Happening now - tons of big names performing at Wembley Arena & live on YouTube.

#Together4Palestine

Musicians, artists, writers & cultural figures unite to raise millions & share solidarity.

Watch live, buy merch, donate what you can - all proceeds go to aid groups in #Gaza 🇵🇸

#FreePalestine

Hermit crab, Pagurus longicarpus, in a white broken moon snail shell. It looks like the crab is looking up at you. It's in a hand with seaweed (check out the encrusting bryozoans where its legs touches) over the water

Tonight seems like a good time to share your emotional support crabs 🦀 🦑

A novel protocol for exploratory analysis of unknown sound‐types in large acoustic datasets Current ecoacoustic analysis methods are unsuitable for exploring unknown sound-types in large acoustic datasets. Ecoacoustic studies can collect considerable quantities of audio with minimal fiel...

What do rivers sound like? What creatures (or otherwise) contribute to freshwater soundscapes? Our newest research, led by Katie Turlington, provides a new method to explore these types of questions. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #bioacoustics #freshwater

A lil nurse shark arrived in Coral City and circled the Cam a few times today. Welcome home! #nurseshark #sharksofcoralcity #shark #babyshark #boop #circles #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity

Two Decapod Crustaceans, Panopeus herbstii and Petrolisthes armatus, Stabilize Their Gaze Using Achromatic Visual Cues, but Not the Angle of Linearly Polarized Light Synopsis. Gaze stabilization is important to animals because it allows them to visually differentiate between their own motion relative to their environmen

Ever wondered how tidal creek crabs stabilize their gaze? think crabs are neat? want to support a first time author? read my first article! out now in IOB @sicbjournals.bsky.social academic.oup.com/iob/article/...

Five members of "team fish" in our waders and woolly hats in front of the main rockpool, with a grey sky behind us.

Selfie on a sailboat

Three members of "team fish" wading into a large rockpool carrying rigs and floats for data collection, with a blue sky and fluffy white clouds

After almost a year(!!) of my PhD, I am excited to start my 3-month placement at @rothamsted.bsky.social 🌱 I shall miss this lovely group at St Andrews @animalsdoingstuff.bsky.social @mikemwebster.bsky.social @lrendell.bsky.social but I'm sure I'll be back to the sea before I know it! 🌊🐟🦀

Crickets, finches, chimpanzees, fish, sholicola, lovebirds, ants & insects: the "Animal Communication II" session at #Behaviour2025 explored how sound, song, signals & even vibrations shape survival, sociality & adaptation in animals from cities to coral reefs.

New fish species keep popping up in Sweden, most likely because of ocean warming!

Today a large Mahi Mahi in Lysekil!
(Photo Janice Melander)

🦀

Around the world, birds sing longer in light-polluted areas In light-polluted landscapes, birds' singing time is an average of 50 minutes longer per day. It's still unclear if this hurts bird health or helps.

“A behavioral analysis of nearly 600 bird species suggests that light pollution from human development can lengthen the time birds spend singing by nearly an hour per day”

#scicomm
#lightpollution
#sensoryecology
#bioacoustics

www.sciencenews.org/article/bird...
🧪 🐦

Screenshot of an independent article titled: "Six beaver families to be released in Highlands" overlayed on a photo of a beaver created wetland. Background image credit: Tierney Lloyd / scotlandbigpicture.com

Beavers are back 🦫

For the first time in over 400 years, wild beavers will return to the northwest Highlands. Today, the Scottish Government gave the green light for six beaver families to be reintroduced to Glen Affric and Abriarchan forest.

🧵1/2

A green shore crab measures, at most, 5 cm. across the carapace. Here, a hermit is balanced on the tip of one of these crab's legs. The hermit wears a brown and white periwinkle shell; of the hermit herself, all we can see are three legs, two above, waving about, one below, holding onto the crab's dactyl. The crab's leg is white, with brown spots. In the photo are four segments of the leg, each one at least twice the size of the hermit in her shell. The dactyl is narrow and pointed; the next segment has spiky hairs on both sides; on the third, the hairs are only on the bottom side. Some of the hairs are longer than the hermit's legs.

A tiny hermit in a glossy black shell walks across a hinge of a crab's cheliped. The hermit, still very young, is almost colorless, except for spots of red, which may be eyes or antennules. The cheliped is huge, compared to the hermit; it's white and cream, with black or brown spots. Above and beyond the hermit, looms a white eyestalk with a blue-black eye, seeming to stare at the hermit; it's as large as the hermit, almost as large as his shell. On the left, in the shadow, is another segment of the cheliped, with its hinge. The crab is a green shore crab, measuring, at most, 5 cm. across the body.

Living dangerously. A miniature hermit balances on the tip of a crab's leg. She's tiny, but valiant. Next, a tiny hermit on a crab's cheliped, ignoring the watchful eye above. It's a big world out there! #VancouverIsland #HermitCrabs #IntertidalInvertebrates #Invertebrates #MarineLife #DailyHermit

Scorpionfish spend most of their time hunkered down looking like a rock… but when they swim, they fan out their strikingly colorful pectoral fins to caution haters that they are packing potent venom 🦂🐟 #scorpionfish #venomous #packing #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay ##coralcity

All hail the Queen 🙌👑🐠 #queenangelfish #angelfish #holocanthusciliaris #allhailthequeen #staghorncoral #acerventura #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity

A photo of myself and a colleague hunched over sitting on buckets in the rockpools to count shell species.

Me: why do I always have a sore back?
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