Tessera
Folgen

Danna Staaf

@dannastaaf.bsky.social

https://www.dannastaaf.com/ Author, artist, speaker with a fondness for cephalopods. Books: 🦑 Monarchs of the Sea 👩‍🔬 The Lady and the Octopus 🐣 Nursery Earth 🐙 The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/dannastaaf

1473 Posts1982 Follower232 Folgt
David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈@whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 2d ago

ICYMI, the longest-ever post on Southern Fried Science contains answers to 50 (ish) of the most commonly-asked questions about careers in marine biology, answered by me and a panel of experts. Please share! www.southernfriedscience.com/marine-biolo...

Marine Biology Career Advice

You asked us questions about marine biology careers, and our panel of experts answered them! In April, I solicited your questions about careers in marine biology, and we received nearly 100 questio…

southernfriedscience.com

Danna Staaf@dannastaaf.bsky.social · 2d ago

Child: Look, it's a red Mazda 3 like ours! But it has a roof rack. Me: That's sexual dimorphism. Child: Mom. Me: The rack is for carrying their young; I just don't remember which sex has it. Child: MOM STOP

Danna Staaf@dannastaaf.bsky.social · 5d ago

Just interviewed a fish biologist, and I'm loving how the transcription software thinks we discussed "bunny fishes" and "the YOLO bypass" (actually bony fishes and the Yolo Bypass) It's putting unhinged images in my head which I'm then compelled to put on paper

A quick pen on paper sketch of two bunny-fishes (rabbit ears and hind legs on the body of a salmon) jumping up a series of weirs. The one in front is shouting, "Jump, lads! You only live once!"
Bethany Brookshire@beebrookshire.bsky.social · 4w ago

Scientists describing these whale moms as "resting" or "cooling" themselves I think are not themselves new moms. You cannot tell me those poor whale mommas aren't touched out beyond belief and just trying for FIVE MINUTES OF EFFING PEACE. gizmodo.com/why-are-thes...

Scientists Thought These Upside-Down Whales Might Be Sick. They Were Wrong

If you see a whale floating upside-down along Australian coasts, please leave it alone. They're just really tired, scientists say.

gizmodo.com

Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕@restingdinoface.bsky.social · 4w ago

Every state in the US contains fossils from ancient seas. The Smithsonian exhibit "From These Lands" highlights a few of them, an invitation to consider our connections to prehistoric waters. My latest for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social 🧪

An Ancient Sea Once Split North America Down the Middle. The Beautiful Multicolored Ammonite Shells From Its Waters Are So Perfectly Preserved That They Still Shimmer Today

Spectacular marine fossils tell the story of the long-gone Western Interior Seaway and the planet’s past aquatic life

smithsonianmag.com

Danna Staaf@dannastaaf.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The wonderful malacology curator at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Jennifer Trimble, showed me around last week! I saw a model of the biggest Giant Pacific Octopus, a drawer full of argonaut shells, and a box of squid beaks found in the stomach of a dead whale in 1869 🤯 I LOVE MUSEUMS

Photo of a huge octopus model hanging in the atrium of one of the Harvard Museum buildings.Top-down photo of a specimen drawer filled with boxes of different sizes. Each box holds a beautiful shell of an argonaut octopus (or sometimes multiple shells).Photo of a specimen box in a drawer with other boxes visible around it. It is filled with hundreds of dark brown squid beaks and has several labels, including a very old handwritten note that reads "Taken from the stomach of a Cetacean. found dead on Dennis Beach. Jan 29, 2869 Mass."
Danna Staaf@dannastaaf.bsky.social · 2mo ago

While I was on the east coast, I met an amazing seven-year-old who's been devouring The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives! He'd drawn a giant squid poster for me and written down a list of questions 🥹 (my favorite species of cephalopod is Octopus micropyrsus, the California Lilliput octopus)

Photo of a poster taped to a wooden door. The paper is filled by an enormous red squid with orange fins and very large eyes. The squid's eight arms are wonderfully dynamic and its two elastic tentacles are appropriately long and thin.Photo of a piece of paper covered with text written by a seven-year-old. Above many of the words, the seven-year-old's father has rewritten the word with correct spelling. It reads: "Queshtines for Danna Staaf. What is your favorotn cephlopod? What spices? What baby cephlopod do you like? What tpye? What is your favorot deedsea dwelling cephlopod? What is your favorit corlrefe dweling cephlopod? What is your favorit anatick and atic cephlopod?"
Danna Staaf@dannastaaf.bsky.social · 2mo ago

These argonauts are made of GLASS! I was so thrilled to visit the Blaschka exhibit today, with all its mind-blowing biological detail rendered in glass, and the argonaut was an especial favorite.

Photo of me grinning in front of an exhibit case that contains the Blaschka glass models of argonaut octopuses. The discerning eye may notice that I'm wearing my rainbow squid shirt.Photo of the Blaschka glass argonauts on display. They are stunningly detailed models of a female, an egg case (shell), and a male.