Danna Staaf
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dannastaaf.bsky.social
Danna Staaf
@dannastaaf.bsky.social
1.8K followers 220 following 1.3K posts
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
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dannastaaf.bsky.social
Danna Staaf @dannastaaf.bsky.social · Jan 27
this may be the pinnacle of my science communication career
How to make a cephalopod. (With cartoony drawings) 1. Remove limbs. (Smiling human with dotted lines at shoulders and hips) 2. Attach to lips. (Human with flat mouth expression, just head and torso. Arms and legs are floating above with arrows pointing from them to lips) 3. See? It works. (Smiling human cephalopod with arms and legs around mouth. Drawing of an octopus shows anatomical similarity.)
dannastaaf.bsky.social
My cousin saw the trumpet-playing squid and requested a baritone-saxophone-playing squid, and I was happy to oblige! (My understanding of orchestral anatomy is not on par with that of biological anatomy; please forgive errors)
Ink and marker drawing of a purple squid playing a baritone saxophone. The squid is ventral-side up, giving a clear view of the instrument's mouthpiece in its siphon. It has a skin pattern that looks like a bow tie on its head.
February 3, 2026 at 1:45 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Did you know there's a searchable library of science stories about failure? It was truly an honor to contribute my story to Fail-Safe Science, "an initiative designed to normalize experiencing and overcoming challenges in science graduate programs." risecenter.asu.edu/fail-safe 🧪
Fail Safe Science | RISE Center
risecenter.asu.edu
January 30, 2026 at 11:54 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
I can't overrecommend this incredible paper about water skaters (genus Halobates). No one knows how they evolved. No one knows what they eat. They are superhydrophobic, which means water LITERALLY CANNOT WET THEM. Perhaps we should call them anti-water skaters? 🌊🧪
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Why did only one genus of insects, Halobates, take to the high seas?
Oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface and house a dizzying array of organisms, including five species of the peppercorn-sized ocean-skater Halobates, which live exclusively at the ocean surface...
journals.plos.org
January 30, 2026 at 10:17 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
In this liminal time between the gregorian new year and the lunar new year, I thought I'd share two old sketches of my blended zodiac sign (Pisces + Year of the Pig).
Which is best?
Pencil on paper drawing of a pig-fish hybrid. It has a cute pig head on a goldfish-esque body. Pencil on paper drawing of a fish-pig hybrid. It has a cheerful fish body on four stout pig legs.
January 26, 2026 at 7:16 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
In these trying times, may I offer squid emoji to express key emotional states:
- pretending to be happy so effectively it might manifest as truth
- trying your hardest to camouflage against an unnatural background
- fabricating a friend, enemy, or decoy from your own secretions
- sploosh. ink
The "laughing with tears" joy emoji has been modified to look like a squid, with mantle and fins emerging from the top of the head and four arms emerging from the chin. Black pupils in the blue tears make them the eyes of the squid. The face of the emoji itself is implied to be created by chromatophores on the squid's skin. A gray squid on top of a black and white checkerboard pattern matches its background with areas of light and dark gray on its skin. Its black eyes with white highlights stand out. Two squid shapes mirror each other, left and right. On the right is a red squid with spotty skin, squirting dark blue ink out of its funnel. The jet of ink connects to the squid on the left, which is a dark blue silhouette of a squid--a pseudomorph, or fake squid made of ink. The real squid is peering over at the fake squid with one large eye. A large splash of dark blue ink is in the foreground. It is being squirted from the funnel of a cute red squid whose body is partially obscured by the cloud of ink. Four squid arms are also visible, curved energetically.
January 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Doodled at the request of a musician/scientist friend
Drawing of a blue squid playing a yellow trumpet. Although cartoonishly stylized, both squid and trumpet are anatomically accurate. The squid is blowing into the mouthpiece with its siphon, and operating the valves with three arms wrapped around the trumpet. The other five arms are being used as legs for the squid to stand on.
January 9, 2026 at 5:06 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
In addition to making new art this year, I'm going to dust off and share old art! This one was inspired by the interesting colors of marine invertebrate eggs. Drawn during the Embryology course at Friday Harbor Lab in 2008--15 years before the publication of NURSERY EARTH! 🐡🦑
Illustrated text of a Dr. Seussian poem. The ilustrations are three brightly colored marine larvae (a yellow zoea or baby crab, a blue bipinnaria or baby sea star, and a yellow trochophore or baby snail/worm) and a clear bowl containing a small pile of green eggs and labeled with a piece of tape with a female symbol on it. Next to the bowl is a syringe labeled with a piece of tape with a male symbol on it. The text reads: "Would you? Could you? In the lab? Make an embryonic crab? Would you? Could you? On the ferry? Make a sea star bipinnari'? I would, I could make snail or worm! I only need . . . GREEN EGGS AND SPERM!" The letters of GREEN EGGS AND SPERM are written large and filled in green.
January 5, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
dochackenbush.bsky.social
I’ve had the words ‘POLLY WANNA KRAKEN’ running round my head for the last week and today I was finally able to exorcise them.
Illustration of a parrot riding on an octopus’s head surrounded by yellow text which reads ‘POLLY WANNA KRAKEN’
December 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
At last, the dicyemid life cycle for #InverteFest! These absolute weirdos infect ONLY cephalopod kidneys; they are worms of discerning taste. 🦑🌊🐙🧪🐡
A detailed comic panel illustrating the life cycle of dicyemid parasites. Top text: "Despite their simple bodies of just a few cells, dicyemids have incredibly complex life cycles." Below that, a long brownish worm labeled "rhombogen" and a short brownish blob labeled "vermiform" are connected by arrows. The arrow leading from the rhombogen to the vermiform is "1. Adults make babies asexually" and the arrow leading from the vermiform to the rhombogen is "2. which grow into more adults." A separate arrow leads from the vermiform to a different brownish worm shape labeled "nematogen" and this arrow is "3. Sometimes they grow into different adults." An arrow from the nematogen to eggs and sperm is "4. which make babies sexually." An arrow leads from the eggs and sperm to the absolute cutest part of the life cycle, a round blob that looks like it has huge headlight eyes, though they are not actually eyes. The blob is labeled "infusoriform." An arrow leading from the infusoriform to an octopus is, "5. These different babies go infect new hosts!" I'M SORRY IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT PARASITE LIFE CYCLES ARE SO STINKING COMPLICATED OKAY
December 27, 2025 at 7:22 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
My daughter made me an octopus who's upset about being anatomically incorrect 😭
A vivid purple octopus held in the palm of my hand. It's made of felt with white hand stitching and it has only three arms. A cute sad face is drawn onto it with marker. Same purple felt handmade octopus with three legs, flipped over. On the back in marker is written "HELP! I'm all wrong!"
December 25, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
chugachmtnblues.bsky.social
Hand pluteus drawn per @dannastaaf.bsky.social ’s instructions in _Nursery Earth_
December 19, 2025 at 8:36 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
For a second I thought this was a book cover, and got all hyped to read it. Fabulous design for a fascinating topic! (And maybe a future book...?)
sicb-dcb-dvm.bsky.social SICB DCB-DVM @sicb-dcb-dvm.bsky.social · Dec 19
Be sure to catch the symposium: Needle in the haystack: Finding tools to study puncture and injection mechanisms across biology on Wednesday Jan 7!

As SICB 2026 is getting closer, tune into DCB/DVM social media (here and @sicb.dcb.dvm on Instagram).
@sicbjournals.bsky.social @sicb.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
scalzi.com
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one:

whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...
How Translation Works, Book Title Edition
As any translator will tell you, translating a piece of fiction isn’t about simply transcribing words one-to-one from one language to another. It’s about capturing a vibe — making…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
drmirandafay.bsky.social
People who aspire to be academics: I wish to live a life of the mind

Actual academics:
bibliowingate.bsky.social Alex Wingate @bibliowingate.bsky.social · Dec 18
I have a weird question for the #bird people on here. Do you think someone could tell that a book was pooped on specifically by a sparrowhawk (or perhaps hawks generally) just from the feces? I'm looking at a 16th c. case where witnesses claim books were pooped on specifically by sparrowhawks!
December 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
chugachmtnblues.bsky.social
Reading _Nursery Earth_ by @dannastaaf.bsky.social about baby animals and its incredible—every chapter not only has WTF moment after wild WTF moment, but also insights that have changed my whole understanding of biology. Truly one of the great science communicators of this century.
December 17, 2025 at 7:14 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
🙌
harrysaddler.bsky.social Harry Saddler @harrysaddler.bsky.social · Dec 16
Are we not all, at one time or another, just a very smol squid looking out at the big wide world
December 16, 2025 at 10:57 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
A cool thing I learned at the cephalopod conference is that squid embryos actually look out of their capsules while they're developing and learn what prey will be available to hunt after they hatch. 🧪🐡🦑
A pencil sketch scanned from my notebook (handwritten notes are visible from the other side of the page) of a squid egg capsule. It's a lumpy elongate shape attached to the seafloor by a short stalk and containing about a dozen round eggs. Faint squid embryos are scribbled in all the eggs, but two are rendered in darker lines and more detail. One of these gazes hungrily to the left of the capsule, where a small shrimp in the water blows a raspberry back at the embryo. The words I'M GONNA EAT YOU fill the egg space around the embryo. The other rendered embryo stares angrily to the right of the capsule, where a tiny fish swims quickly in the other direction. The words YOU BETTER SWIM fill the egg space around this embryo, and its arms are coiled so it looks like it's shaking its fists.
December 16, 2025 at 10:20 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Some of the cutest images at the cephalopod conference were the dwarf cuttlefish of @tessamontague.bsky.social. I just had to try a quick sketch of one photo in which I swear the cuttlefish was doing this 👉👈
Scanned pencil sketch from my conference notes of a dwarf cuttlefish in three-quarters view. One large eye faces out. Most of its arms are held in a tidy bundle. Below them, two arms are touching their tips together. Below and to the right of the sketch, my very scribbly writing reads, "dwarf cuttlefish behavior seen in wild by Tessa Montague + al."
December 15, 2025 at 7:58 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
One of my fave cephalopod conference talks was Erica Vidal on baby squids and octos. Reminded me that everyone needs to see this 2023 paper from Erica and Liz Shea that shows how utterly unbothered hatchlings are about any preconceived notions of Correct Shape 🐙🧪: www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Frontiers | Cephalopod ontogeny and life cycle patterns
Life cycle definitions provide the background for conceptualizing meaningful questions to address the mechanisms that generate different life cycle patterns....
www.frontiersin.org
December 15, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Danna Staaf
brianmcl.com
I made a 4 page comic for Root & Stem about Gen-AI which is pretty funny, if I do say so.

The whole magazine is very cool, with a goal of making STEM available to remote and Indigenous communities.

Read the whole thing here:
rootandstem.ca/learn/always...
Two starfleet-like space suited individuals enter a hologram room and us 2024-gen A I to generate the holograms and it is very bad.
December 15, 2025 at 4:21 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
In Japanese, the common name for vampire squid is koumori-dako, or bat octopus. I illustrated it for this month's OctoPost: Bats and Jellies. 🐙🦑🐡
buttondown.com/dannastaaf/a...
Drawing of a vampire squid styled to look like the head and shoulders of Batman. The two fins are his pointy bat-ears; the arm web is his cape. The siphon is the beaklike nose of his mask. The blue eyes glare at the viewer intensely. Two thin yellow tendrils writhe into space on either side of the head. These are the feeding tendrils of the vampire squid and have no batman-equivalent.
December 8, 2025 at 10:32 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
the typo in this is killing me, but on the bright side "gelantious" is fun to say
dannastaaf.bsky.social Danna Staaf @dannastaaf.bsky.social · Dec 4
My new proposed common name for Haliphron atlanticus is the JELLY OCTOPUS (thx to @motthepaladin.bsky.social for asking!) because this species
✅ is very gelantious
✅ eats jellyfish
✅ may even use jellyfish as tools to capture other prey
However, it
❌ does not make tasty preserves
December 4, 2025 at 11:09 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
My new proposed common name for Haliphron atlanticus is the JELLY OCTOPUS (thx to @motthepaladin.bsky.social for asking!) because this species
✅ is very gelantious
✅ eats jellyfish
✅ may even use jellyfish as tools to capture other prey
However, it
❌ does not make tasty preserves
Silly drawing of a jam jar with a Haliphron atlanticus octopus crammed inside. The octopus is saying, "No."
December 4, 2025 at 10:17 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
One of the least-appreciated giant cephalopods, Haliphron atlanticus, is in the news! (thx @scsmith4.bsky.social for the heads up)
Unfortunately the common name seven-arm octopus
- only describes males
- actually doesn't even describe males
Can we think of a better one??
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Mystery as remains of seven-arm deep-sea octopus wash up on beach
Arms from the rarely-seen species were discovered at an Aberdeenshire national nature reserve.
www.bbc.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:42 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
me: I'm so happy about Scrivener's commitment not to include or train AI! I wonder how I can support them
spouse: you could buy their product
me: NOT MY FAULT IT'S FREE ON MY OS
Two-panel scribbly comic. First panel: A friend tells me "So I'm looking into Scrivener for writing my dissertation," and I respond, "Oh my gosh, I love Scrivener! Ask me anything." The friend asks, "Is it worth the cost?" Second panel: I am staring into the camera. I am labeled with text that says "has only ever used the free beta version for Linux." I say quietly, "anything but that."
December 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM