Giant clams love light. As a general rule, the more light they can get for their symbiotic algae, the better. Which makes the "devil clam", Tridacna mbalavuana from Tonga and Fiji so weird. It lives up to 100 ft down! https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/479982-Tridacna-mbalavuana (364)

Devil Clam (Tridacna mbalavuana) · iNaturalist

Tridacna mbalavuana, the tevoro clam, is a species of bivalve in the family Tridacnidae. It is found in Fiji and Tonga. It is currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridacna_mbalavuana, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) James W. Fatherree, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by James W. Fatherree)

inaturalist.org

*record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here

Anthony Vs. Utahceratops@mosasaurologist.bsky.social · 6d ago

Happy #FossilFriday from the special surprise found inside the last stupid Xiphactinus that i discovered this spring: a complete Micropycnodon! This poor little guy was eaten right before the Xiphactinus (nicknamed Brown Sugar) died, and is forever trapped in fish rib jail. 🧪🐟

An archive where I store OPEN scientific data had to require a login for a while to protect itself from the AI crawlers. Some genealogy websites I use had to do the same. This bubble can't pop soon enough.

Betsy Streeter 🐋@betsystreeter.bsky.social · 2w ago

More insight from @sachajudd.com - her newsletter is really, really interesting.

Accessibility is one thing where I go abroad and think "we do this better." And that's mostly because of ADA

Democracy Forward@democracyforward.org · 2w ago

Today marks the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act – a landmark civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. Disability rights are human rights. We recommit to continue fighting for them.

I spotted this beauty in Singapore: yep, also a weird and wonderful fly. :-) @wizentrop.bsky.social

Genus Themara

Themara from Bukit Panjang, Singapore on December 21, 2024 at 10:47 AM by Soh Kam Yung

inaturalist.org

Admirable clarity @science.org

David Roberts@volts.wtf · 2w ago

Whew, the editors of @science.org are getting real.

They are so, so weird and I love it. gilwizen.com/photographin...

Photographing Richardia – a long way to victory - Gil Wizen

My journey to photograph male Richardia flies in Ecuador: colorful, fantastic beasts with antler-like projections from their eyes!

gilwizen.com

Nancy 🪲SciBugs🪲 Miorelli@scibugs.bsky.social · 2w ago

Stop! Hammer fly time! El Septimo Paraíso, Mindo, Ecuador

The clam facts keep rolling out. The only limiting factor is me. Clam lore is so deep, I am only beginning to understand them.

Your grant has not passed thoughtcrime review.

Mikhail Zinshteyn@mzinshteyn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California admitted that they used keywords related to diversity to screen for projects. It’s an admission that lawyers for the researchers say is proof the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2b in grants.

See a crab, post a crab. Also bonus of my hermit crab Saul who is not a true crab

taenia@taenia.bsky.social · 2w ago

🦀 see a crab, post a crab 🦀 Adorable little shellback from Far North Queensland

USFWS refused to list white sturgeon as endangered despite agreeing they fit all the criteria; a horrific mistake. I'll never forget seeing giant fish longer than I am tall, as old as my parents, dead due to a HAB in SF Bay in 2022. These fish need our help. baykeeper.org/press_releas...

Feds Determine That San Francisco Bay’s White Sturgeon Is an Endangered Species—But Refuse to Protect Them - San Francisco Baykeeper

The San Francisco Bay estuary’s White Sturgeon meet all the criteria for threatened status, but feds say that officially listing is “precluded” Media Contact: Fiona Baker, San Francisco Baykeeper, (51...

baykeeper.org

Shelledness is a spectrum

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.@sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2w ago

What in God's name is a Semi-slug? I don't like the sound of it. Don't tell me I'm gonna look it up.

Was trying to think of a tie-in post between clams and soccer and honestly folks, I got nothin

🚨 New paper! 🦪 Is our archaeological data skewed by taphonomic process? 🦪 How do we move towards more nuanced approaches to morphometric studies? 🦪How can archaeologists make our studies relevant to modern socioecological research? Have a read! 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For me it was realizing on a night dive that the car-sized rock next to me was, in fact, a loggerhead turtle.

Me when I saw my first Venus Girdle (Cestum veneris) ctenophore, on my first blue-water dive in the Gulf of Mexico as a new grad student. I'd seen pictures but never the real thing.

Me and Paguritta (coral hole hermit crab)! But my buddy, a fish biologist, at least figured out I was frantically pointing at some kind of crab lol Also my reaction to coconut crab (see profile pic) but that was not even in the wild. And Lomis hirta, which I immediately had to capture...

Dr. Grant's reaction parallels my reaction when I first saw Tridacna squamosina in the Red Sea after reading about them for years, except for me there was a lot more bubbles and I could not dramatically remove my goggles without defeating the purpose

Sam Lloyd@llamsoyd.bsky.social · 3w ago

Jurassic Park doesn’t work without Sam Neill‘s note-perfect performance in the scene where they first see the Brachiosaurus. you completely forget that he’s looking off-screen at nothing real, that man 100% convinces you he’s witnessing a live dinosaur and that all of his dreams are coming true.

It's algae's world and we're just living in it Darth

darth™️@darthbluesky.bsky.social · last mo.

please tell me algae is not still a news story

The ‘Surprisingly Sophisticated’ Way Scallops See This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think www.scubadiving.com/marinelife/s...

This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think

In this edition of The Little-Known Reef, we explain how scallops use their eyes in a unique way. This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think.

scubadiving.com

Yes www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is the US trying to make scientists’ work so difficult that they simply give up? | Daniel Malinsky

New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It’s death by a thousand cuts

theguardian.com

Before you vote for Gavin Newsom in any future election, ask any state employees you know what they think about him.

Paraspirifer #paleoart #brachiopod #3danimation #Blender3D #SciArt

we got it through. never tell me the odds.

One does not simply email your colleagues at this time of year without being bombarded by out of office messages

How can one be a scientist in this world and not be an activist?

The Trump regime wants to destroy American science. One big step to maintain our strong science just happened, as Dr. Neil Shubin became President of the US National Academy of Sciences. Shubin is an important paleontologist and an equally important interpreter of science for the lay public.

Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer)

The Trump regime is working hard to destroy American science, corrupt our science institutions, steal our natural resources, and drag medicine back by a century or more. The good news is that American...

substack.com

I'm an honorary prof in sweet potato eating

Chenxin Li, PhD@chenxinli2.bsky.social · last mo.

Assistant Professor for Sweetpotato Breeding and Genetics at NCSU: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/231... #PlantScience

Hoverfly feetsies

franz@franzanth.bsky.social · last mo.

Bug feet train, quote with some bug feetsies