Isabel De Block

Have a great weekend everyone 😁

The hexagonal fossil on stone.

Take the case of paleodictyon. One of my favourite deep-sea mysteries. *Something* creates these hexagonal traces. Below is a trace fossil (a fossil imprint left behind by the activity of an organism).
📷Falconaumanni

My first paper is out! 🥳🐠🐟

YouTube video by Ze Frank True Facts: How A Species Gets A Name!

Masterful outreach strategy by @oceanspecies.bsky.social to get @zefrank.bsky.social on (the advisory) board! #taxonomy m.youtube.com/watch?v=yn7k...

Interested in the #DeepSea and/or #IndianOcean?

Check out our new review of the Indian Ocean’s diverse deep-sea ecosystems 🌊

Feat. straightforward knowledge summaries, cool maps & awesome deep-sea critters

👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

🌊 Deepness alert! 🌊 Join the launching of EMB’s Future Science Brief. It highlights the need to expand our knowledge on the largest biome of our 🌍 and how science, global cooperation and policy engagement are crucial to ensure its sustainability. #FutureOcean #OceanGovernance #DeepOceanExploration

Needle felted Barbie Pig!
Barbie pigs are a new scientific discovery ⭐ They are sea creatures found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. This site has been proposed for deep-sea mining : (

#oceanlife #seacreatures #biodiversity #ethics #ecology #felting #needlefelting #needlefelted #feltart #animalart

Stared too long into the abyss. Now the abyss wants snacks.

A new study led by NOC has revealed the long-term impacts and first signs of biological recovery in deep-sea mining tracks, 44-years after deep-sea trials in the Pacific Ocean. 🔍

Learn more about the long term impacts of the trials on our website 📰 noc.ac.uk/news/new-stu...

Attention UK researchers interested in the deep ocean - if you haven't already done so, please join the Challenger Society Deep-Sea Ecosystems Group (www.challenger-society.org.uk/DeepSea_Ecos...)

VOTE NOW! Mollusc of the Year 2025

Arctica islandica - world’s oldest mollusc
Cellana exarata - Hawaiian limpet
Glaucus atlanticus - blue dragon
Muusoctopus sp. - Dorado Octopus
Xenophora conchyliophora - shell / collector

YOU decide - we do its genome
moty.senckenberg.science
@cgreve.bsky.social

Will wonders ever cease? Crocheted coral on display in our halls!

The scaly-foot snail doesn’t bow to pressure—it thrives under it. Living in toxic hydrothermal vents, it armors itself with iron, turning the very forces that should destroy it into protection. That’s how you resist oppression—adapt, fortify, and endure. 🐌🔥 #MolluscMonday #Resist

A deep-sea researcher is standing outside on the deck of a boat, smiling in a green hardhat, rain gear and blue latex gloves. She has a sea star laying in her outstretched palm. The deck of the ship is a dark green, and you can see the ocean on the horizon. Photographer credits: Morgan Trimble, PhD.

Hey members!

Did you know? #DSBSoc launched an online mentoring network for #DeepSea scientists in 2018!

There are 10 groups worldwide, each with 2 senior & 4-6 early-career researchers. Meetings are usually monthly or bimonthly, covering career advice, paper writing, work-life balance & more.

And that’s a wrap on my last day at @noc.ac.uk! I’m truly going to miss working there and collaborating with such amazing colleagues. Grateful for all the great science we accomplished together—excited for our upcoming publications! 🦑🦐🧽🪨

Chondrocladia sp. (Carnivorous sponges) – When the system refuses to feed you, you adapt. These sponges don’t rely on passive filtration like their kin—they snare and digest prey directly. Fascism thrives on controlling resources. Some revolutionaries build alternatives. Photo from MBARI.

a large bug is crawling on the ground in the dark ALT: a large bug is crawling on the ground in the dark

Giant isopods (Bathynomus giganteus) – Slow-moving but unstoppable, they scavenge and recycle, ensuring nothing goes to waste. The revolution will be efficient. 🌊🦐 #DeepSea #Ecology

For my first #FossilFriday post:
Bernissartia fagesii, my beloved 💜
This basal eusuchian used to crawl around in between the Iguanodons ~130 MYA in what is now Bernissart, Belgium. It measured only 60 cm at maturity and is therefore one of the smallest - and cutest - crocodyliforms known to science

I love seafood and federal science.

A pile of simply drawn cuttlefish of many colors, lying on and embracing each other. Their eyes are closed and they look happy.

Cuttlefish cuddle pile! Thank you!!

If you want to read more about the #jellyfish -hugging deep-sea #octopus, here is the original paper:
🧪🌊🦑
www.nature.com/articles/sre...

gorgeous!! Here's the model Barbie Pig

Super excited that our review on the ecology of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition is now out on how ecology changes across scales from organisms to communities to the world through time. Fab art @franzanth.bsky.social showing the build up of ecological complexity
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This is officially my horizontally longest image to date, depicting some of the earliest complex animals on the planet from 565 to 505 million years ago and how they changed over time.

Thank you to @egmitchell.bsky.social and Steve Pates for trusting me with this gargantuan task! #Art #SciArt

The glass amphipod Cystisoma is transparent because in the open ocean there is nowhere to hide, and its round head is completely covered in giant eyes. So when you're swimming far from shore just remember: you can't see them, but they can see you.
📽️ Dr. Alejandro Damian-Serrano 🧪🌊🌿🦑🐙

Nominate the International Mollusc of the Year! ~ 2025 ~

1 DAY LEFT to nominate your favorite mollusc for the 2025 International Mollusc of the Year! Winner gets FREE genome sequencing!

More info & Nominate here: tinyurl.com/2025MOTY

@sgn.one @sigwartae.bsky.social

Species of Deep Sea Bug The Size of a Small Dog Named For Star Wars Villain In 2022, staff from Hanoi University purchased a selection of 'supergiant' isopods at a seaford market in Quy Nhơn City in Vietnam, intrigued by a burgeoning market for the deep sea crustaceans as a d...

There is a new Giant Isopod and its name for Darth Vader! Meet Bathynomus vaderi with those dark black eyes that will stare into your very soul #invertebrare #marinelife
www.sciencealert.com/species-of-d...

This illustration is one of the coolest I've ever seen. I desperately want copy to put up in my research lab. www.bu.edu/articles/202...

The FathomVerse crab logo in an underwater world with squids, sea stars, chimaeras, and other life. Beneath the FathomVerse logo is the subtitle "Explore the Depths."

Tired of doomscrolling? Play #FathomVerse @fathomverse.bsky.social to discover all ocean life. 🦑🧪🌎🌊 Download to your device by visiting the App Store or Google Play; more details at www.fathomverse.game. #playingfortheplanet

Erik presenting his paper at dsbs17. Starting to understand who lives where and why at abyssal planes.