Dr. Allison J. Gong
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allisongong.bsky.social
Dr. Allison J. Gong
@allisongong.bsky.social
110 followers 55 following 70 posts
Marine biologist who loves the invertebrates especially, biology professor, and all-around natural history geek. I blog about natural history at www.canaturalist.com

Owned and (mostly) managed by a tortie cat and a calico kitten.
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allisongong.bsky.social
Seen at work, or a scene at work.
White plastic tub filled with water, in a metal sink. Nine squid are arranged around the rim so that their tentacles and eyes are draped to the outside of the tub.
November 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Serendipity = lecturing on kelps and noting the morphology of bull kelp, then finding an intact one on the beach during the field trip!
#fieldtrip
#marinebiology
Long thin tubular structure stretched out over sand. Three people at far end looking down at it.
November 4, 2025 at 11:51 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
New month, new page in my calendar of #intertidal photos! July gets to show off Plocamium pacificum, one of the gorgeous red #algae we have in Northern California. It lives in the low intertidal in exposed rocky areas, and is one of my favorites.
#rhodophyta
#redalgae
#sanmateocounty
July 2, 2025 at 4:33 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Wow, Iceland is an amazing place to visit! Not only can you see the ocean ridge there, but they have puffins! These are Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) that breed on cliffs, especially along the south and west coasts. I also saw them in Scotland but from farther away.
#iceland
#puffin
#bird
Stocky bird with white front, red webbed feet, white face, and multi-colored beak, standing next to a burrow in the ground. Stocky bird with white front, red webbed feet, white face, and multi-colored beak, standing next to a burrow in the ground.
July 2, 2025 at 4:25 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Three years ago today, on 6 Mar 2022, I caught indisputable evidence that birds are dinosaurs. Shadows don't lie!
Western gull (Larus occidentalis)
Santa Cruz, CA
#birds
Duck-shaped bird with white head, neck, and belly. Back and wings are dark gray. Beak is yellow and feet/legs are pink. Bird's shadow on sand is dinosaur-shaped, with a long neck and rounded snout.
March 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
#MalabrigoMarch2025 means it's time to knit with some of my favorite yarns! These balls of #MalabrigoRios in the colorway Apple Green are going to be a cardigan for little old me. I salvaged them from some other project I don't even remember starting, and so far the yarn and I are both happy now.
11 balls of yarn of various sizes, in a bright green color, piled on a tablecloth decorated with fruits and flowers.
March 2, 2025 at 11:12 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Goodness knows I’ve needed a respite in the tidepools lately! Afternoon low tides aren’t my favorite, but there’s no denying the gorgeous light of the late afternoon. Really makes this moon flow anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) glow! #tidepools #seaanemone
Circular animal with translucent tentacles radiating out from a central disk. Tentacles are clear or reddish in color.
March 1, 2025 at 8:11 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
On this day when so many celebrate romantic/sexual love, it's good to remember that the animal kingdom features many ways of having sex. Banana slugs, like all terrestrial mollusks, are simultaneous hermaphrodites. I caught this pair copulating in 2019. Can't tell which is acting as male this time!
Two yellow slugs in a yin-yang formation.
February 14, 2025 at 7:58 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Happy SuperbOwl Sunday! This is a great horned owl I photographed at the San Luis Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in Central California on 2025-01-12.
#SuperbOwlSunday
#bird
#owl
Large bird with mottled brown feathers, ear tufts, and large yellow eyes perched in a tree
February 9, 2025 at 4:24 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
I'm lucky to be owned by a gang of 5 chickadees! They are year-round residents and are used to us, completely unfazed when I whip out the big lens and point it at them.
Chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) in California
#bird #songbird #backyardbirds
Small songbird perched on a twig. Head is a sooty black, with a white mask that is narrow behind the beak, extends just under the eye, and widens at the back of the head. Cinnamon-colored nape, gray-black wings and tail, and light gray belly.
January 25, 2025 at 9:54 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Achievement unlocked: Perfect symmetry! Well played, girls, well played indeed!

That's Lucie on the left and Maggie on the right.

#caturday #cats #calicocat #tortiecat
Two cats, a calico on the left and a tortie on the right, sleeping on a blanket. Cats are positioned so that they are mirror images of each other.
January 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
There were so many geese at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge in Central California last weekend! These are snow geese (Anser caerulescens), but there were also many greater white-fronted geese, as well as tundra swans.
#birds #birdwatching #birdphotography
Large white birds along the edge of a wetland.
January 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Got to watch this beautiful predator in action this afternoon!
#wildlife #california #wildlifephotography #nikon

www.canaturalist.com/spying-on-th...
Reddish-brown doglike animal with large ears standing on a hillside looking off to the right with the right foreleg slightly raised
January 16, 2025 at 4:24 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
I love how the black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) flies with its super long legs straight out back!
#birdphotography
#addBirder
Bird with white body, black wings, and long red legs in flight over water and plants. Legs are extended straight out behind the body.
January 14, 2025 at 1:27 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
I've visited this place several times but have never been able to photograph the owls that roost there. But yesterday I was lucky! These are great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) roosting in denuded trees at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge in Central California.
#wildlife #birdphotography #owls
Two large mottled brown birds with eyes closed, perched on tree branches Large mottled brown bird with one yellow eye open, perched on a thick tree branch
January 14, 2025 at 1:18 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#Books
#BookSky
💙📚
#BookChallenge
Day 8
November 23, 2024 at 8:51 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Every year I make a wall calendar from photos I've taken in the intertidal. It occurred that I'd better get started on the 2025 version! This is the photo I used for November 2024. Pisaster ochraceus, the ochre star.
#marineinvertebrate
#tidepools
Purplish-red star-shaped animal on sand, with reflection in the surface of the water
November 23, 2024 at 1:34 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#Books
#BookSky
💙📚
#BookChallenge
Day 6
November 22, 2024 at 9:41 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
A student club for which I am a faculty sponsor decided that they wanted to make a brochure of the 10 most common iNaturalist observations of native flora and fauna on campus. I was lucky and got to draw the California poppy, Eschscholzia californica!
November 22, 2024 at 1:05 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
Day 6
💙📚
#Books
#BookSky

#BookChallenge
November 21, 2024 at 5:18 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
One of my favorite animals is the staurozoan, Haliclystus. It looks sort of like a sea anemone polyp but is instead a stalked medusa! Strange beast. They are patchy in both space in time, at least where I see them in #NorCal. Always makes me happy to find them!
#staurozoa
#cnidaria
#addOcean
Golden brown trumpet-shaped animal with tufts of tentacles at the tips of 8 arms, against a background of green and dark red
November 21, 2024 at 5:17 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
Day 5
Book cover, title "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco.
November 20, 2024 at 4:23 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Awww, look at her ploofy paws! 🐾 🐱
#Maggie #cats #felineoverlord
4 cat paws
November 20, 2024 at 2:58 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Good morning! I was greeted by a lovely #sunrise this morning, before the first #atmosphericriver of the rain season is supposed to blow in. We need the rain, but 🤞🤞🤞 that it doesn’t cause catastrophic flooding.
Orange clouds seen through dark trees
November 20, 2024 at 2:50 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge
Day 4
November 19, 2024 at 3:37 PM