Coral Lab

Unveiling the early evolution of black corals - Communications Biology The authors describe two transitional species of Sterictopathes from the Middle Ordovician of Shaanxi, China, bridging the fossil gaps and thereby elevating the genus Sterictopathes to a new family, S...

🚨 Fossilized Black Corals 🚨 Includes two transitional species too! Come learn about the evolutionary trend toward regularity in the axial skeleton from the Ordovician to modern day antipatharians (includes reduced ridges and a longitudinal fusion of networks). www.nature.com/articles/s42...

starfish in jars

Appropros for #taxonomistappreciation day a NEW video by GFOE's Art Howard and Caitlin Bailey- the Power of Collections- a feature on #okeanos museum collections featuring myself, Martha Nizinski, Andrea Quattrini (@corallab.bsky.social) and @agcollins.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=STtg...

So, there they are, the @marinespecies.bsky.social top-ten marine species of 2024!

Do you have a favorite?

marinespecies.org/worms-top-te...

#toptenmarinespecies #taxonomistappreciationday #OceanDecade #GenOcean #marinespecies

Authors on these papers include: @declan-morrissey.bsky.social @deepseamoleco.bsky.social and others!

a man says it 's a great discovery in front of an american flag ALT: a man says it 's a great discovery in front of an american flag

Two new species described from the Coral Lab this week!

𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘢 Horowitz & Barajas, 2025
zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1369...

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘤𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘦 Quattrini, Morrissey, & McCartin, 2025
mapress.com/zt/article/v...

This is really cool. I’ve seen some of the similar mesopelagic fish carbon work - great to see equivalent estimates now for cephalopods!

Meme of Japanese spider crab. It's a red crab with cartoonishly long claws on a black background. Text: "This Tuesday has been exceptionally long. Please send thoughts, prayers, and treats to a very tired Reginald "

#CrabAZ never ignores memes. M is for Macrocheira.

This is both the largest arthropod alive (3.8 m or 12 ft leg span, only males are this extreme) and the only living species in its family. Mainly found in Japanese waters up to 600 m depth.

(Yes we know it's Thursday, sorry)

🦀🧪🦑

"Funding for taxonomy makes sure that existing collections of undescribed specimens are properly studied, cataloged, and made accessible to researchers world wide" - Dr Jini Jacob

Meet Dr Jacob, currently documenting over 60 new nematode species 👇
oceancensus.org/women-in-sci...

It’s not #WormWednesday but check out those beautiful drawings of echiurians and sipunculans drawn by Ikeda, from 1904!! Also just saying « I don’t know » was done so elegantly. Reading old taxonomy papers is so so cool!!

💙 Finding "the one" is difficult, but in the dark, deep ocean, it’s even harder.

From the fascinating relationships of anglerfish to the use of bioluminescence to attract mates, the deep ocean holds some unique love stories. 💙

#ValentinesDay

Dr Clare Ostle © The Marine Biological Association.

Dr Nova Mieszkowska © The Marine Biological Association.

Dr Katherine Helliwell © The Marine Biological Association.

Dr Angela Stevenson © The Marine Biological Association.

Happy #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience! 🌊 At the MBA, we’re proud of our diverse team of female scientists whose groundbreaking research is shaping the future of our ocean.

Dive into our latest update to explore the journeys & career advice of our female Research Fellows ➡️ buff.ly/3WYFjYK

Today, on #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience, we proudly celebrate the incredible women pushing the boundaries of ocean science and deep-sea exploration. ODL is a female-founded and led organization with a team of 80% women, and we work to make ocean exploration more accessible to all.

Deep sea mystery: does anyone know what this weblike structure is that we say on the deep sea corals today during the ROV dive? What forms it? 🌊🪸🐟🦀🦑

I'm Eryn and I will be adding Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists to the science feed. Please respond below with evidence that you are an Eco/Evol scientist to be added to the feed. This moderation will be done in the same way as the general science feed 🧪.
bsky.app/profile/did:...

Antarctic scale worm: The glitzy frilly horror show with giant protruding jaws that look like Alien's xenomorph This deep-sea polar worm looks like it can't decide if it's dressed for a glitzy party or a gruesome massacre.

This deep-sea polar worm looks like it can't decide if it's dressed for a glitzy party or a gruesome massacre.
www.livescience.com/animals/anta...

Dr. Andrea Quattrini holding up a big orange coral while standing in a room full of drawers that contain corals.

Congrats to Dr. Andrea Quattrini (Coral Curator, SI NMNH) for winning The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers!

This is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists in the early stages of their independent research careers!

A round jellyfish with glowing golden stripes on the bell and long tendril tentacles against a background of deep sea sediment.

An anemone with many white thin tentacles

A close up into the centre of a feather duster worm with radiating striped white and brown tentacles

A semi-translucent octopus with a spotted mantle and blue tentacles.

Happy New Year from invertebrates that look like fireworks.

Credits
Jellyfish: OET/Nautilus Live
Anemone: Cathy Lewis
Feather duster worm: Pauline Walsh Jacobsen
Octopus: Schmidt Ocean Institute

Colorful primnoid and zoanthid corals stand out in the deep sea. ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute / Smithsonian Magazine

Do you love the deep sea? I do! So happy to partner up with @dsbsoc.bsky.social, check out their page filled with fascinating info! #STEM #deepsea #writingcommunity #kidlit #amwriting #amreading #edusky

Life brings cool surprises, like this curious skate who DECIDED to turn around and explore ROV SuBastian 😊. Have a new year full of good surprises🍾 🌊!
This happened while we explored hydrothermal vents in the Pacific on my second expedition aboard R/V Falkor (too).
credits SOI🐙
@dsbsoc.bsky.social

Today is all about squat lobsters. These guys were found living on corals from Irelands deep sea! Soon we will work to assess the diversity of these animals in Irish waters including descriptions of new species! @corallab.bsky.social

The DigIn team from @nhmla.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social & @floridamuseum.bsky.social held a class at Friday Harbor Labs, WA to train the next generation of researchers in morphological & molecular approaches in invertebrate biodiversity & taxonomy. Photos: @exogone1.bsky.social

Left: Branches of Aphanipathes puertoricoensis Horowitz & Quattrini, 2023, a branch with some subbranches and a scale showing 5 cm, with a white box over a branch indicating the section shown in the middle image. Middle: Skeleton of the branch section that has rows of skeletal spines, with a white box highlighting the area shown in the right image. Right: Close-up of skeletal spines that have little bumps or tubercles, small surface features on the spines used to identify black coral species.

We use scanning electron microscopes to image skeletal features, which are used to identify or describe new species.

This image shows branches of 𝘈𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴
(left) with a highlighted section showing the branch skeleton (middle) and skeletal spines (right). 🦑🧪🌊🐙

a white discord logo with a wink on its eye ALT: a white discord logo with a wink on its eye

We’re moving from Slack to Discord! Thursday, 26 September 2024, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at #17DSBS, is the official date for terminating the Slack workspace.
17DSBS participants will use Discord for online discussions during the meeting. Check your email for the Discord invite!🦑🧪🌊🐙

JAMSTEC Sub

Lot's of positions available, broadly in marine biotechnology, with Tohoku University and JAMSTEC in Japan. www.jamstec.go.jp/recruit/e/de...

Conservation photography 📸 from our grant programme - important to communicate urgency of ocean advocacy & welcome energy boost 🔋on a gray monday December morning in Berlin....

Black coral fan that is tan in color branching out from Central point against a black backdrop

Close-up of some black coral branches with the polyp sticking out and it appears to be mucus stringing off some of them against a black backdrop

Super close-up of some black coral polyps on the branches and what appears to be mucus coming off some of them

This is a beautiful close-up of a black coral, heteropathes I believe. You don’t usually get to see such a nice zoom and detail on the polyps. From SOI dive 753 back in November. @corallab.bsky.social #ChileMargin2024 #MarineLife

“Sunlight only penetrates up to 200 metres in crystal clear waters, and much less in murkier conditions. Beyond this depth, the world as terrestrial creatures know it ceases to exist, and life develops in total darkness. Welcome to the deep sea, the world’s largest ecosystem.”

Picture of the holotype of Stauropathes arctica.

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁!

Black coral 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢 (Lütken 1871) was described from the stomach of a shark!

You read that right, the type series includes a specimen collected from the stomach of a Greenland shark.

𝗥𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹?🦑🧪🌊🐙