Chris Mah
@echinoblog.bsky.social
The "starfish guy"(but also a little about a lot of marine invertebrates, #echinoday #echinoderms. Kaiju, comics enthusiast. Marine scientist, taxonomist, deep-sea researcher. Statements/posts made here are my own & DO NOT REPRESENT HOST organizations
Pinned
Chris Mah
@echinoblog.bsky.social
· Nov 17
New Antarctic Starfish Are Doting Parents and Vicious Predators (Published 2023)
A close examination of a collection of starfish in the Smithsonian revealed even more starfish inside those starfish.
www.nytimes.com
A recent account of my research in the NYT! by @megadarren.bsky.social ! #echinoday www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/s...
Reposted by Chris Mah
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
Reposted by Chris Mah
Today’s nudi:Chromodoris luterosea. Lovely purple and yellow blob. I used mostly watercolor with a little colored pencil and a little gouache.
#nudibranch #nudivember #sciart #chromodoris #oceanart #marinebiology
#nudibranch #nudivember #sciart #chromodoris #oceanart #marinebiology
November 10, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Today’s nudi:Chromodoris luterosea. Lovely purple and yellow blob. I used mostly watercolor with a little colored pencil and a little gouache.
#nudibranch #nudivember #sciart #chromodoris #oceanart #marinebiology
#nudibranch #nudivember #sciart #chromodoris #oceanart #marinebiology
Reposted by Chris Mah
My first third of #Nudivember paintings, all done in watercolor and ink and a touch of white gauche.
#TradArt
#TradArt
November 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
My first third of #Nudivember paintings, all done in watercolor and ink and a touch of white gauche.
#TradArt
#TradArt
Reposted by Chris Mah
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
November 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
Reposted by Chris Mah
Reposted by Chris Mah
A bunch of yellow-tipped phyllodesmium (Phyllodesmium briareum), an aeolid nudibranch. I have no idea why there were so many of them gathered together.
#Nudivember #MarineLife 🌿 #Invertebrate
#Nudivember #MarineLife 🌿 #Invertebrate
November 11, 2025 at 3:03 AM
A bunch of yellow-tipped phyllodesmium (Phyllodesmium briareum), an aeolid nudibranch. I have no idea why there were so many of them gathered together.
#Nudivember #MarineLife 🌿 #Invertebrate
#Nudivember #MarineLife 🌿 #Invertebrate
Reposted by Chris Mah
#Nudivember day 10: Felimida luteorosea, which was probably conjured into existence by clown wizards
#nudibranch #seaslug #polkadots #art
#nudibranch #seaslug #polkadots #art
November 11, 2025 at 2:44 AM
#Nudivember day 10: Felimida luteorosea, which was probably conjured into existence by clown wizards
#nudibranch #seaslug #polkadots #art
#nudibranch #seaslug #polkadots #art
Reposted by Chris Mah
A lovely chain of Lauderia annulata diatoms.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
November 10, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A lovely chain of Lauderia annulata diatoms.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Chris Mah
In 2022, the Australian Institute of Marine Science reported the highest levels of coral cover across two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef in decades. So why aren't scientists celebrating?
📲Find out through the WHOI Ocean Learning Hub: go.whoi.edu/GBR2
📲Find out through the WHOI Ocean Learning Hub: go.whoi.edu/GBR2
November 10, 2025 at 8:58 PM
In 2022, the Australian Institute of Marine Science reported the highest levels of coral cover across two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef in decades. So why aren't scientists celebrating?
📲Find out through the WHOI Ocean Learning Hub: go.whoi.edu/GBR2
📲Find out through the WHOI Ocean Learning Hub: go.whoi.edu/GBR2
Reposted by Chris Mah
November 10, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Chris Mah
November 10, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Chris Mah
As today is #MolluscMonday and the 173rd anniversary of the death of Sussex palaeontologist Gideon Mantell, here's the Cretaceous ammonite Mantelliceras mantelli described (as Ammonites mantelli) by James Sowerby in his Mineral Conchology in 1814 from a specimen from Lewes sent to him by Mantell.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM
As today is #MolluscMonday and the 173rd anniversary of the death of Sussex palaeontologist Gideon Mantell, here's the Cretaceous ammonite Mantelliceras mantelli described (as Ammonites mantelli) by James Sowerby in his Mineral Conchology in 1814 from a specimen from Lewes sent to him by Mantell.
Reposted by Chris Mah
This little bivalve larva is having a rummage about, using its foot to pull itself along.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 AM
This little bivalve larva is having a rummage about, using its foot to pull itself along.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Chris Mah
Stunner: Kwakwaka’wakw-style “Urchin Mask” by artist Tim Alfred @vanartgallery.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Stunner: Kwakwaka’wakw-style “Urchin Mask” by artist Tim Alfred @vanartgallery.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Mah
Have you heard about this?
"As the govt shutdown drags on, buildings at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (HQ for the Webb telescope among other missions) are being emptied without notice. Highly specialized equipment is at risk of being thrown away like trash."
h/t @climatebrad.hillheat.com
"As the govt shutdown drags on, buildings at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (HQ for the Webb telescope among other missions) are being emptied without notice. Highly specialized equipment is at risk of being thrown away like trash."
h/t @climatebrad.hillheat.com
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear | CNN
Buildings at Goddard’s Maryland campus are being emptied and padlocked, sources say. NASA leadership has pushed back against the concerns.
www.cnn.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Have you heard about this?
"As the govt shutdown drags on, buildings at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (HQ for the Webb telescope among other missions) are being emptied without notice. Highly specialized equipment is at risk of being thrown away like trash."
h/t @climatebrad.hillheat.com
"As the govt shutdown drags on, buildings at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (HQ for the Webb telescope among other missions) are being emptied without notice. Highly specialized equipment is at risk of being thrown away like trash."
h/t @climatebrad.hillheat.com
Reposted by Chris Mah
Reposted by Chris Mah
snailposting!
(a snail I met in Borneo)
(a snail I met in Borneo)
November 9, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Lovely video closeup of Toxopneustes! A sea urchin with potent venomous pedicellariae! youtube.com/shorts/PTEFZ...
アジサイの毒爪 #水中映像 #海の生き物 #ウニ #有毒
YouTube video by aquatic pro
youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Lovely video closeup of Toxopneustes! A sea urchin with potent venomous pedicellariae! youtube.com/shorts/PTEFZ...
Reposted by Chris Mah
November 8, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Chris Mah
I thought today's #Nudivember would be more fun, but I spent so much time on it I don't even want to look at it anymore.
November 8, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I thought today's #Nudivember would be more fun, but I spent so much time on it I don't even want to look at it anymore.
Reposted by Chris Mah
#Nudivember Day 7: the starry night nudibranch!
I had to use my Van Gogh paper for the background of the collage
I had to use my Van Gogh paper for the background of the collage
November 8, 2025 at 10:11 PM
#Nudivember Day 7: the starry night nudibranch!
I had to use my Van Gogh paper for the background of the collage
I had to use my Van Gogh paper for the background of the collage
Reposted by Chris Mah
Let's jelly-brate #WorldJellyfishDay
YouTube video by WWF-Canada
youtu.be
November 8, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Chris Mah
Day 8 of #nudivember is Cerberilla ambonensis. A treat for me, another Cerberilla species with stripy cerata.
November 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Day 8 of #nudivember is Cerberilla ambonensis. A treat for me, another Cerberilla species with stripy cerata.
Reposted by Chris Mah
November 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM