Cephalopod Whisperer

Just stop with the balloon releases already!!!! This is what hapoens when you do dumb shit like that. These DO NOT fall apart, they sit down way down here and pollute. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 871 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife

I don't think I'd ever seen the Christmas Island crab babies before. I had no idea how adorable they are!

🦀

We are Hiring! Executive Assistant

Are you keen to use your administrative abilities to support a world-class marine biology research programme and its global membership?

Find out more and apply – mymba.mba.ac.uk/job/executiv...

Application deadline: Sunday 4th January 2026

Me too. It was totally amazing talks this year but l got to watch from home. Hope everyone had fun!

Peek-a-boo with an octopus and her eggs 🙈

MBARI researchers used ROVs to study pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) mothers nesting near warm seafloor springs. Unlike other deep-sea octopuses, their eggs hatched in under two years. The extra warmth boosted metabolism of the moms and their broods.

Remembering GABA pioneer Edward Kravitz The biochemist, who died last month at age 92, was part of the first neurobiology department in the world and showed that gamma-aminobutyric acid is inhibitory.

Ed Kravitz was an extraordinary scientist, educator and activist. I had the privilege of getting to know Ed through his work with SPINES, a professional development course at the MBL. His legacy will carry on, not only through his science, but also in the many students he taught and mentored. 🧪

a colour photograph of the brass inlay of a staircase finial. The inlay shows a seahorse, surrounded by two fronds of seaweed and some bubbles

Did you know that the original logo of @thembauk.bsky.social was inspired by the inlay on the library's main staircase.

The logo may have undergone an update in recent years, but it still retains the iconic seahorse as its focal point

Co-option of TTX for octopus reproduction. (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.027)

Stuck in the US as a postdoc due to the current political nightmare? Consider to join us in Freiburg @dompsfr.bsky.social @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social #plantscience

How genetically encoded sensors have lit up neuroscience Tools that track specific molecules in neurons have enabled researchers to probe previously unexplored aspects of neurobiology — although important caveats remain.

How genetically encoded sensors have lit up neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A Berry's Bobtail Squid (Euprymna berryi) sitting on the sandy sea floor. Its arms are all together and going forwards. Its gins a flapping. On its head, around its mantle opening and especially on its arms, it is a mix of iridescent blue, cyan, green and yellow. It is covered in black chromatophores all over, and the rest of its flesh is translucent or off white.

A Berry's Bobtail Squid (Euprymna berryi) buried in the sand. Just part of its head and mantle are sticking out of the sand, with its eyes peering out. Its pupils are a horizontal line, so it looks like it is sleepy and squinting. It has a little bit of sand on top of its head. It is mostly purple with lots of of purple chromatophores. Its eyes are silvery, and around its eyes is some iridescent cyan, blue and purple.

No animal can nail the whole "spectacular creature" thing as well as the whole "a little cutie patootie" thing like a bobtail squid can.

🦑📷Adrien Cantat (inaturalist.ca/observations...)

We’re used to seeing our planet with land at the center.
But what if we shift our perspective?

📲Discover the wonders of our ocean world with our mind-blowing new web experience: go.whoi.edu/ocean-world

Diving with Terumbu Divers Gili - Lombok Diving and/or stay : https://terumbudivers.com/ Snorkeling trips with statues, turtles : https://snorkelinggili.com/ Camouflage of Cuttlefish in Gili Lombok

Cuttlefish camouflage
youtu.be/P66kyLEnDgI
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #cuttlefish

Nudibranch Halgerda batangas
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #seaslug #nudibranch

Indeed there are multiple formulas for quick success but things are now vastly different for some labs over others. How many really exciting new discoveries only have a couple of authors? Times are changing quickly.

Some impressive teams e.g. gcamp, microscopes, vision research & neural circuits

Individual PI's can be vastly faster depending on funding or institution support. eg. Researchers at HHMI janelia, Max Planck Institutes etc. where great ideas can be tested/published without delays in getting grants or teaching. Exceptions to this exist & should be highlighted + collab teams right.

a Halloween crab on a pebbly beach with its front claws facing up (possibly in a defensive stance)

If anyone was ready for Halloween, it has to be this Halloween crab!

These absolute beauties live in coastal forests in Central America and Mexico, heading back to the ocean to make babies


📷 Halloween crab at Carillo beach in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Credit Thomas Splettstoesser (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Do flies feel pain?

Spooky new preprint from our lab on the cells and circuits that mediate nociceptive behaviors in adult Drosophila, led by graduate student (and newly minted PhD!) @jonesjes.bsky.social.

🪰⚡👻🎃

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The cognitive ecology of wild bumblebees

New #PhD ad alert!
Interested in wild #bee #cognition and #brains in different #bumblebees? Want to live in #Newcastle and the beautiful north-east of England?

Check out this project with me, @lenariab.bsky.social and Sarah Scott. Contact me for further information.

iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

I did NOT know this!

Kat standing regally at the podium in front of her slide of a deep sea squid titled “deep-sea cephalopod observations from Schmidt ocean institute’s first Antarctic field season”

Screaming inside with joy seeing @jeffday.bsky.social on the slide at the cephalopod international advisory council meeting this morning.

“He is massively accelerating our ability to monitor cephalopods in the deep sea”- Kat Bolstad

Jeff started his work on cephalopods here on social media 😭

Ancient skeletons yield the first hormonal evidence of reproductive life University of Sheffield and University College London researchers have made the first successful detection of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in bones, teeth and dental calculus, opening a wa...

"first successful detection of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in bones, teeth and dental calculus, opening a way to identify pregnancy in the archaeological record." phys.org/news/2025-10... #histmed #WomensHealth #MedievalSky

We are pleased to announce that throughout Open Access Week, from 20 – 26 October, all Royal Society journal content is freely available. Explore our journals here: royalsociety.org/Journals/ #OAWeek #OAWeek25

1️⃣ month to go! ⏰

#ABL2025, our annual international online conference is on the 13–14 Nov 🎉

6 plenaries • 24 talks • 40+ posters • 3 workshops • lively Discord chats.. and more !

🌐 Free registration — register now!
👉 ablaoc25.sciencesconf.org

Print featuring three bats hanging upside-down in branches of a tree with green leaves and orange blossoms

Australian printmaker Rachel Newling is inspired by the floral and fauna of her homeland.
'Grey Headed Flying Fox', hand coloured linocut #ReframjngWomenPrintmakers

A Wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus) standing on the sea floor. It has its arms together, so it looks skinny and tall. Its mantle and eye stalks are also quite thin. The octopus has an orange colour with some black stripes and white stripes.

A blackwater photograph of juvenile wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus). It is facing the camera and has its arms curving and dangling down. Its body is translucent except for its eyes and an internal organ. There are shiny, multicoloured specs in its flesh. Some are blue, green yellow or red.

A wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus) sitting on the seabed, looking at the camera. It has a thin mantle and eyes on long stocks, with fleshy "horns" above the eyes. Its long arms feeling around and widened. It is orangish brown coloured, with off white stripes. Its suckers are visible, and they alternate in colour with the stripes on the arms.

A wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus) sitting on the seabed. It has a thin mantle and eyes on long stocks, with fleshy "horns" above the eyes. Its long, thin arms are stretching across the sand. It is mango coloured, with beige, sandy textured stripes. Its suckers are visible, and they alternate in colour with the stripes on the arms.

The Wunderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus), as its flattering name suggests, is an incredibly popular subject for underwater photography.

With their lanky limbs and stripes, they look very similar to the mimic octopus. Both species have a similar range and mimic other animals.

#OCTOtober

Here is a sneak peak of some of the animation using the motion capture pipeline for body and face expressions.

Octopus track chemosensory plumes to find food

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

#invertober day 9: flamboyant cuttlefish!!! 💃🦑
#art #sciart #cuttlefish

Flight Camp - The Animated Series This is the pilot for a comedic and educational animated series, where an amazing group of insects attends summer camp.

I want to share a new project: We are working to support the neurodivergent community with the goal to educate young children about different brains and skills that people have to offer. Along with some fun about insects, vision, flight and ecology.

See here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/fli...