Mai Bonomo

@maibonomo.bsky.social

Trying to find my way in this wide weird world of marine biology 🐙🧬 On the search for a PhD in marine molecular ecology/biology. Unrestrained foodie 🥯

When you start looking for a PhD position in the big wide world, nobody tells you how complex it's going to be. There's no one size fits all - every country has a slightly different system, expectations, funding models, etc. I'm continuing to collect data of my process applying!

Woooohooo it's out! 🥳 I'm happy to share my first scientific paper with you! "Non-Invasive Underwater DNA Sampling Illuminates Red Sea Echinoderm Diversity" presents a sampling method that is cheap, robust, and easy to use. Best of all: non-invasive! Enjoy! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Non‐Invasive Underwater DNA Sampling Illuminates Red Sea Echinoderm Diversity

Species-specific non-invasive underwater DNA sampling remains largely understudied for marine invertebrates despite its potential to revolutionise biodiversity assessment of vulnerable species or fra...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

I'm looking for some good resources to discuss AI and how it meets us grad students/researchers in the biological sciences, including the good, the bad, and the ugly - ethics, useful tools, considerations, etc. Please share if you've come across anything good!

This fantastic scientific group, the Transnational Red Sea Center, attempts to stimulate Red Sea reef research and promotes regional cooperation. I love what these guys do and have had the pleasure of working with them a bit! Great new video of their work in Aqaba, Jordan: vimeo.com/1110945817

A New Approach to Coral Reef Monitoring / Aqaba, Jordan - May 2025

This is "A New Approach to Coral Reef Monitoring / Aqaba, Jordan - May 2025" by TRSC on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

vimeo.com

A few weeks ago I went on a whale watching tour from Gloucester and we came across this beautiful male, Satula 🐋 He has a unique trait where he “purrs” before taking a dive - he is the only whale they’ve heard do it, and they don’t know why! Guesses? Volume up to hear the purr (and excitement lol)

Preparing to apply to PhDs in the US as an international student is… confusing. 😵‍💫 If anybody wants to share their academic CV or take a look at mine, let me know!

Sex on the reef! 😛 Video I captured a couple of weeks ago in the Red Sea. Every year, masses of these brown surgeonfish get together to spawn for a few weeks at sunset. Other fish love to join the party, like the Seargant Major fish here that immediately go for the egg and sperm.

Starting my search for a marine bio/eco/conservation/molecular PhD! 🫣 I'm planning to track how many emails/apps I send in, how many responses I get, how many interviews, etc., and see what the stats are like at the end. Obviously it's person-dependent, but fun to see. Let's gooooooo!

This documentary was such a difficult watch - but important! Bottom trawling doesn't just catch fish for consumption, it completely uplifts, disrupts, and destroys the local seafloor habitat and its benthic community, often catching much more than the intended catch.

spencer roberts 🦈@unpopularscience.bsky.social · last yr.

I will forever be haunted by this footage. Trawling has only been filmed underwater a few times in documentary history, and never with such clarity. What’s so heart-rending about these shots is watching how the animals don’t just get swept up — they swim for their lives. 🌎🦑🧪

I will forever be haunted by this footage. Trawling has only been filmed underwater a few times in documentary history, and never with such clarity. What’s so heart-rending about these shots is watching how the animals don’t just get swept up — they swim for their lives. 🌎🦑🧪