Hyalinea balthica (Schröter, 1783) x 200 (v small, usually larger) from Loch Sunart. This planispiral evolute #foraminifera is easily distinguished by its thick glassy walls separating the chambers & thick glassy periphery. Likes organic rich seds & cooler waters. (Nearly!) #ForamFriday.

Hi folks! If you are willing & able, please subscribe to my son's #volleyball Youtube channel!! We need 50+ subscribers before we can livestream games. Really useful for those who can't attend (like me sometimes!) and to keep a recording for his profile! Thanks! 😍🏐 www.youtube.com/@JamesMCVoll...

Beautiful views with the cold weather in #newcastleunderlyme #staffordshire. 😍🌨 Doggo is enjoying it too!

One for @janeearland.bsky.social!

Like the intricate ice crystals in our sub-zero temperatures here in Staffordshire, here is the delicate Textularia earlandi Parker, 1952 (x 130) from Loch Sunart. I love this fragile, little agglutinated benthic #foraminifera. #ForamFriday

A pretty bauble for the Christmas tree! Favulina hexagona (Williamson, 1848) (x160) from Loch Sunart, NW Scotland, UK. (Used to be Oolina hexagona). #ForamFriday #Festivefossils

This benthic #foraminifera always reminds me of an upside down Christmas tree! Bulimina marginata d'Orbigny, 1826 (x 100, shown aperture down for tree-ness!) from Loch Sunart. Found in stratified waters in Sunart. Also linked to high organic matter. #ForamFriday #Seasonsgreetings!

Spiroplectinella wrightii (Silvestri, 1903) x 90 from Loch Sunart. Funny angle but shows aperture. Not great images tbh! But it's nearly Christmas!🎄 #ForamFriday

It's nearly time! Christmas tree candidate #1! Spiroplectinella wrightii (Silvestri, 1903) (was Spiroplectammina wrightii) x 55 from Loch Sunart. A common UK shelf benthic #foraminifera species; groups with other taxa that suggest saline waters & higher energy environments. #ForamFriday

#ForamFriday: continuing with how amazing agglutinated #foraminifera are & how they are very particular when it comes to grains used to build their test... here is Ammoscalaria runiana (Heron-Allen & Earland, 1916) x 80 from Loch Sunart, Scotland. This #foram likes them chunky!

One of my fave agglutinated #foraminifera Recurvoidella bradyi (Robertson, 1891; superseded Haplophragmoides bradyi) x180 from Loch Sunart, Scotland. Amazes me how #forams are so particular about grain mineralogy & size. This one has a smooth, shiny test of tiny grains & is usually a browny-orange.

They are heading out of the weather now, but yesterday my PhD student, Ally, was in the middle of the Celtic Sea on RV Tom Crean with Dr Mark Coughlan (UCD) and his team, collecting samples and data for #bluecarbon studies in shelf seas. What a great experience for him! Thanks Mark & team!

Recurvoides trochamminiformis Höglund, 1947 (x 200) from Loch Sunart, NW Scotland. I like the way agglutinated #foraminifera can select different grain sizes - here the grain size is much finer around the aperture, giving a distinct edge/lip. #ForamFriday (Ignore the '10' - that's from my plate!)

I've not posted here for a while but here is a late #ForamFriday! Cassidulina obtusa Williamson, 1858. x250. Loch Sunart, Scotland. Usually found in more temperate waters. Signature characteristic - that little indent at the top of the aperture.

No #ForamFriday from me because I was busy getting my lad ready for this! Super proud of my boy, and of the hard work & commitment these kids & their coaches at #Volleyball England and club level have put in to make this happen! What a fantastic set of boys and girls too! Enjoy yourselves! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏐💪😍

For #ForamFriday: Revisiting our TMS JM paper which aims to help #foraminifera workers identify tricky, similar-looking species of Cassidulina, Paracassidulina & Islandiella more easily using figures, descriptions and a decision tree. Find it here -
jm.copernicus.org/articles/40/...

Revisiting previous 🐦 posts to share the #foraminifera love here and on 🟦! Melonis affinis (Reuss, 1851) x 80 from Loch Sunart, Scotland. Loves food! Was Melonis barleeanum in my PhD thesis. Species name checked in marinespecies.org/index.php - are really useful resource! #ForamFriday

Last year, I thought this might be my last #ForamFriday Twitter post, so happy to have it here as my 1st 🟦!
Eggerelloides scabrum (Williamson, 1858) - a dominant #agglutinated #foraminifera in the inner basin of Loch Sunart. x85 for both images. Images show microspheric and megalospheric growth.