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abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
Ryan Howard
@abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
420 followers 54 following 180 posts
PhD Candidate at the Auckland University of Technology studying the vision of deep-sea squids.
Teuthologist 🦑 | Nerd 👾| Science Fiend 🔭|
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abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
Ryan Howard @abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social · Nov 28
Hello Bluesky!

I’m Ryan, a squid biologist and deep sea ecologist working on my PhD in New Zealand.

Check out my sporadic posts if you want to see some pictures, videos, and presentations on deep sea research.
Trying on an immersion suit for our safety induction prior to a research voyage. These are used in case we have to abandon ship. The large tooth of a Megalodon, an extinct species of shark that was likely the length of two buses. Much of my current work is in specimens collected from fishers, or fishery surveys. This is Histioteuthis miranda, also known as a cockeyed squid. They have dimorphic eyes- one large and one small - which are used to scan above and below (respectively) them in the water column to look for potential prey and predators. The large eye of Histioteuthis miranda, a cockeyed squid. The large eye is usually fixated above the squid, trying to see the silhouettes of other marine fauna above them that are created by the downwelling light. Many marine species have counterilluminating photophores to blend into the light and disrupt their silhouette. Histios have evolved a yellow lens which counteracts that illumination and allows them to discriminate between then photophores and the downwelling light.
Reposted by Ryan Howard
cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social
Brachioteuthis squids have these extremely long necks as paralarva, which give them a very goofy appearance.
A photo of a Brachioteuthis paralarva at night. It is transparent and blue, and it has a long neck. There are some orange chromatophores on the squid. A blackwater photo of a Brachioteuthis paralarva. It is transparent and blue, and it has a long neck. There are some orange chromatophores on the squid. A photo of a Brachioteuthis paralarva at night. It is transparent and blue, and it has a long neck. There are some orange chromatophores on the squid. A blackwater photo of a Brachioteuthis paralarva. It is transparent and blue, and it has a long neck. There are some orange chromatophores on the squid.
January 3, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
autsquidsquad.bsky.social
And this was the #SQXmas2024 present we got most excited about at NIWA—a young Cycloteuthis, with ‘sun and moon’ photophores on the viscera in a configuration I’d never seen before. That’s a wrap for 2024—sending best fishes and squid tidings for the New Year!
A small deep-sea squid with bright white light organs in the mantle, one round and one shaped like a crescent moon
December 26, 2024 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
jethroreading32.bsky.social
You didn't think we'd get through the last week of #25DaysOfFishmas without one more anglerfish could you? But with 170+ species, how do you pick? Well, you just go with the weirdest one - today we're discussing Thaumatichthys, the wolftrap angler.
10 different deep sea anglerfish, from different families. On the left - Centrophryne, Cryptopsaras, Himantolophus, Diceratias, Bufoceratias. On the right - Bufoceratias, Melanocetus, Lasiognathus, Thaumatichthys, and Chaenophryne. The fishes share little in common, save large mouths and a bioluminescent lure, mounted on a "rod" extending from the forehead - the length of this rod varies, though, as does the complexity of the light organ at its tip. Some light organs are plain and bulbous, others very complex and covered with tassels. Credit: Miya, M., Pietsch, T.W., Orr, J.W., Arnold, R.J., Satoh, T.P., Shedlock, A.M., Ho, H.C., Shimazaki, M., Yabe, M. and Nishida, M., 2010. Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 10, pp.1-27.
December 23, 2024 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
All kinds of life happening here! Octo with leeches, polychaete, sea star, demosponges, kelp?, & i think I see a wee psolus along w/ a lot of other critters. They're currently trying to avoid an iceberg, which is fascinating the hell out of me. #SchmidtOcean dive 767 #IntoSouthernOcean #MarineLife
December 21, 2024 at 4:39 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
Lovely swimming crinoid. #SchmidtOcean dive 767 #IntoSouthernOcean #MarineLife
December 21, 2024 at 4:53 AM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
Ah, histioteuthidae , easily one of my favorite families of squids. They have many names, one being strawberry squids.

Strawberry, because their bodies are covered in photophores, which resemble the seeds of a strawberry. Plus their mantle is kinda strawberry shaped.

🦑 🧪 #Inverts
The full body of a Histioteuthid squid. The large eye is always located on the left side of the squid (from the squids perspective, so on the right in this picture). They’re covered in photophores which can help to distinguish the specie, and usually have photophores at the tips of their arms, likely to help catch prey.
December 23, 2024 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
franzanth.bsky.social
The party begins on Wednesday!
franzanth.bsky.social franz @franzanth.bsky.social · Dec 12
Greetings, chordate comrades. #InverteFest is upon us.

tl;dr: Over the last 7 days every April, August, and December, we invite you to show the internet your coolest bugs & slugs.

Go find critters, post your art, write wikipedia pages, do whatever you like to celebrate invertebrates with us!
What is #InverteFest? It’s a periodic event where we invite you to celebrate the overlooked invertebrate fauna around you and share the joys of discovery online. #InverteFest takes place every April, August, and December over the last 7 days of the month. Going out? 1. Find invertebrates 2. Share observations online using the hashtag #InverteFest 3. Interact with others who are celebrating the event BONUS: Join our iNaturalist project to contribute to community science NOT Going out? • Post your squid painting • Stream a game where you play as a crab with a knife • Selfie with your 27 beetle enamel pins • Write wikipedia pages QUESTIONS? ask franzanth / maureenbug / kellybrenner on iNaturalist / twitter / tumblr / instagram / bluesky MORE INFO AND IDEAS ON: invertefest.com
December 21, 2024 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social
Opalescent Inshore Squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) lay their eggs in these large "mops" of eggs, which contain a bunch of egg capsules.

Each capsule can contain a couple hundred squid eggs, which seems like a lot until you see how big the squids are when they hatch!
Many Opalescent Inshore Squids (Doryteuthis opalescens) around a large mop of squid eggs. The squid are long squid shaped squids with their mantle making the majority of their length. They are somewhat silver and big eyes that almost look like googly eyes. Several squid are dead on the sea floor near the eggs. The mops are made up of many white egg capsules that resemble sausages with more tapered ends. They are almost completely a slightly translucent white, although there is a tiny brownish bit on many of their ends. Each capsule contains many eggs, upwards of 300 eggs. The mop takes up most of the frame. A recently hatched Opalescent Inshore Squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) next to a person's finger. It is very small and is completely dwarfed by the persons finger. It appears to be only a couple of millimetres long. It is mostly transparent, with some orangish red chromatophores.
December 22, 2024 at 5:52 PM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
This is a pale toadfish, Ambophthalmos angustus. You might have seen pictures of a deep sea blob fish that was popular a few years ago on the internet.

That species, and this fish, are both part of the Psychrolutidae family.

#MarineLife 🧪
A more dorsal view of the pale toadfish laying on a flat surface. It’s a purple-brownish color with brown mottling all over.
December 22, 2024 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
jopabinia.bsky.social
Every night, some crustaceans migrate upwards, up to 1000m from the twilight zone, to feed. They poop on the way down, transferring nutrients to deeper waters.

Other species or larval stages maintain depth in the water column by riding gelatinous zooplankton!

#Crustmas 🧪🦑
Phyllosoma (larval stage of a spiny or slipper lobster) riding a jellyfish in Kona, Hawaii. It is transparent with a broad flat head shield, and long long limbs (neither of which are so extreme in the adult). Photo by Steven Kovacs https://twitter.com/ngfl3333/status/1567251570454151170 Copepod Calanus finmarchicus, seen in lateral view. It's a bit blobby and transparent, with long antennulae posed under the body. The abdomen (urosome) is pointed upwards and looks red. https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2019/04/09/Norwegian-plankton-developer-braced-for-growth Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. In natural hovering position - the red organs produce the bioluminescence - the hepatopancreas is filled with green phytoplankton, the food of krill, the straight gut in the back is filled with the empty shells of phytoplankton - in the front you see the compound eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill#/media/File:Antarctic_krill_(Euphausia_superba).jpg
December 20, 2023 at 5:11 PM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
Do you know how sea stars crawl around on the sea floor?

On the aboral (top) side of sea stars there’s a light colored opening called a madreporite. It looks like a stone coral, or madrepore, which is where its name is derived.

#MarineLife #Inverts 🧪
An orange five-armed sea star laying on a flat surface. The same 5-armed sea star, but zoomed in to showcase the madreporite, which is circled in black.
December 20, 2024 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
briangweber.com
🦑📷🪱
briangweber.com Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · Dec 19
I found this fifteen-scaled worm at Canoe Beach in Nahant, Massachusetts this week. This one appeared to be hunting amphipods on the rock (there are two out of focus in the foreground)

#worm #underwaterPhotography #macroPhotography #photography #rock #NewEngland #coldWater #scubaDiving #olympus
Subject: Fifteen-scaled worm. This worm is red-brown in color and has fuzzy protrusions that look like legs. Its body is covered in fifteen pairs of oval-shaped plates. The creatures antennas are pointed forward as it hunts for amphipods on this algae-covered rock. There are two amphipods out of focus in the foreground.
December 19, 2024 at 11:15 PM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
It’s amazing the designs evolution stumbles upon. This is a prickly king crab, endemic to New Zealand.

Paralomis zealandica, is a member of the family Lithodidae, or deep-sea “crabs.”

“Crabs” because they’re not true crabs. They’re more closely related to hermit crabs.

#MarineLife #Inverts 🧪
A damaged prickly king crab sits on the sorting belt of a fisheries research vessel. It’s exoskeleton covered in many long spikes. The carapace of the prickly king crab, which is a radiant orange, but this one is unfortunately a bit broken. The right claw of the prickly king crab. Even its pincers have small spikes
December 20, 2024 at 1:34 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
daryllmarie.bsky.social
📌 peep my feeds for critters!

🦊 Mammals: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🦉 Birds: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🦑 Marine Life: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🐍 Herps: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🐯 Zoosky: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🐋🦭 Marine Mammalogy: bsky.app/profile/did:...
🦇🔊 Bioacoustics: bsky.app/profile/did:...
December 19, 2024 at 8:09 AM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
You gatta love these little guys.
They come up in most trawls, and I’ve seen them on every expedition I’ve done in NZ.

They’re aquatic isopods. That means they’re crustaceans (like lobsters & crabs) and are in the same group as terrestrial pill bugs/sow bugs/ rollie pollies.
#MarineLife 🧪 #Inverts
A front view of a pale aquatic isopod on a blue glove. A side view of the same isopod.
December 19, 2024 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
arielwaldman.com
So cool! This is near where I work in Antarctica.

“Scientists estimate that [glass sponges] can live for more than 10,000 years, possibly 15,000 years maximum. One glass sponge observed by researchers in the Ross Sea, a bay of Antarctica, is thought to be the oldest living animal on the planet.”
drcraigmc.bsky.social Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · Dec 18
A glass sponge observed in the Ross Sea, a bay of Antarctica, is thought to be the oldest living animal on the planet. Glass sponges are very slow growing, and a one meter tall sponge may be 220 years old. www.ifaw.org/journal/anim....
Animals with the longest lifespans
Some turtles, tortoises, sharks, and elephants live long, but the true top contenders for the title of animal with the longest lifespan might surprise you.
www.ifaw.org
December 18, 2024 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
I think this one is a bathyteuthis
December 7, 2024 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
Mardi Gras squid (Planctoteuthis)!
From what I've gathered from the squid folks is the tail could be used to mimic a siphonophore so that a predator chomps the tail & not the body? I do believe the tail eventually falls off, but def look that up yourself. 😉
December 7, 2024 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
Forgot to add #MarineLife
tuexplorer1.bsky.social Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · Dec 15
This was a neat squid encounter from an old Okeanos dive. I'll share the dive link ⬇️. That page has most, if not all, of the past Okeanos Explorer dive footage. Histioteuthis, maybe?
December 15, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
tuexplorer1.bsky.social
Megalocranchia (maybe). #MarineLife
#SchmidtOcean Dive 337 Cape Range Canyon #NingalooCanyons​ #OzOceans2020
December 16, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · Dec 17
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 🧪🌊🌿🦑🐙
December 18, 2024 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
whysharksmatter.bsky.social
Also for American Scientist, I wrote about a new citizen citizen video game that helps us process ocean data, interviewing @kakanikatija.bsky.social

www.americanscientist.org/blog/science...
Help Scientists Study the Ocean with FathomVerse
A new game involving videos of ocean life joins citizen science with AI.
www.americanscientist.org
December 16, 2024 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
mikesidkelly.bsky.social
A cluster of goose barnacles in a #Humboldt tide pool for #Crustmas. 🤿
A cluster of about 40 stalked barnacles. Each barnacle is made up of triangular white plates of varying sizes. The opening of each barnacle looks like vertical bright red lips. From inside of each barnacle a series of long thin banded brown and white projections reach out like fingers attempting to grab food. The stalks, which are mostly not visible, are leathery looking with a fine texture resembling sandpaper.
December 18, 2024 at 2:51 AM
abyssalaquanaut.bsky.social
Though it’s kind of hard to tell, this a vampire squid, which is a misnomer because this species of cephalopod is neither squid, nor is it an octopus.

They sit in their own order called Vampyromorphida, and are genetically closer to octopuses than squids.

🦑🧪 #Invert
Vampyroteuthis infernalis lays on a flat surface with its beak showing and mantle fins spread, which are used for its main mode of locomotion.
December 18, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Reposted by Ryan Howard
cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social
Southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) lay large eggs masses that look like cat's eye marbles. They are on average a metre in diameter, which is pretty impressive given that the female squids are usually only 25-27 cm in mantle length.
A large egg mass of a southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) floating in the ocean. It is roughly spherical shape. It is mostly transparent, except for a light brown twisty mass inside, that makes it resemble a cat's eye marble. A diver swims nearby, flashing a light on the egg mass. The egg mass is larger than average, about as big as the diver. A large egg mass of a southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) floating in the ocean. It is roughly spherical shape. It is mostly transparent, except for a light brown twisty mass inside, that makes it resemble a cat's eye marble. A diver swims nearby, flashing a light on the egg mass. The egg mass is larger than average, about as big as the diver. A large egg mass of a southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) floating in the ocean. It is roughly spherical shape. It is mostly transparent, except for a light brown twisty mass inside, that makes it resemble a cat's eye marble. The egg mass is being illuminated by a diver outside of the frame. You can see little unidentified things on the outside of the egg mass that resemble pine needles or grains of rice. A large egg mass of a southern shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) floating in the ocean. It is roughly spherical shape, although there is an extra blob shaped bit sticking out to the side. It is mostly transparent, except for a light brown twisty mass inside, that makes it resemble a cat's eye marble. The egg mass is being illuminated by a diver outside of the frame, and another diver is visible on the other side. You can see little unidentified things on the outside of the egg mass that resemble pine needles or grains of rice.
December 17, 2024 at 4:33 AM