Sophie W
@biologizing.bsky.social
Thirt(ies) and feeling invert-y 🐙 MSc studying Arctic and North Atlantic deep-sea weirdos ❄️ Ex-professional jellyfish mom ♨️ she/her 🇨🇦
Pinned
Sophie W
@biologizing.bsky.social
· Oct 15
Tfw you are a small rock crab and some kind of delicious worm sausage thing is right there but it knows invisible shield magic
This has now become my most popular post on here, I can't believe that for a second time it is once again an eel post that I will be known for
If you ever wonder why people say "slippery as an eel" I can confirm that one time we had to hold an eel for a vet to do a blood draw and that eel ended up on the floor 47 times out of 48 attempts
November 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
This has now become my most popular post on here, I can't believe that for a second time it is once again an eel post that I will be known for
Reposted by Sophie W
It's axiomatic! You have to hold them by the head!
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
If you ever wonder why people say "slippery as an eel" I can confirm that one time we had to hold an eel for a vet to do a blood draw and that eel ended up on the floor 47 times out of 48 attempts
November 26, 2025 at 12:12 AM
It's axiomatic! You have to hold them by the head!
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
In pre-modern England, the expression, "Holding an eel by the tail" meant that you were doing something the wrong way. Like...did you just buy a cyber truck so that you could look cool and pick up women? You, sir, are holding an eel by the tail.
Pro tip if you ever need to carry a lamprey
My only experience is with senescent lampreys and you can slap those fellas right onto your palm sucker-first and then carry them around with their built-in attachment point no problem (I suspect the senescent-and-therefore-no-longer-actively-feeding part is extremely important in this strategy)
November 25, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Pro tip if you ever need to carry a lamprey
If you ever wonder why people say "slippery as an eel" I can confirm that one time we had to hold an eel for a vet to do a blood draw and that eel ended up on the floor 47 times out of 48 attempts
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
If you ever wonder why people say "slippery as an eel" I can confirm that one time we had to hold an eel for a vet to do a blood draw and that eel ended up on the floor 47 times out of 48 attempts
I'm at an archaeology talk tonight about the history of a specific fishing settlement and there is an entire gaggle of archeologists associated with the speaker here and they are all wearing matching shirts that say "𝗡𝗼, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗿𝘀"
November 24, 2025 at 11:08 PM
I'm at an archaeology talk tonight about the history of a specific fishing settlement and there is an entire gaggle of archeologists associated with the speaker here and they are all wearing matching shirts that say "𝗡𝗼, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗿𝘀"
There is a deep-sea red tree coral (Primnoa resedaeformis) in the North Atlantic that is an ecological engineer and a keystone species creating habitats for all sorts of other animals and it smells like watermelon cucumber
November 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
There is a deep-sea red tree coral (Primnoa resedaeformis) in the North Atlantic that is an ecological engineer and a keystone species creating habitats for all sorts of other animals and it smells like watermelon cucumber
Reposted by Sophie W
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
Me, leaning flirtatiously on the wall at the gym: is that a sandpiper sticker on your water bottle? because I also like sandpipers and- *misses wall, falls over* -underappreciated by the general population and deserve more promotional material and if you could tell me where you got that sticker-
November 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Me, leaning flirtatiously on the wall at the gym: is that a sandpiper sticker on your water bottle? because I also like sandpipers and- *misses wall, falls over* -underappreciated by the general population and deserve more promotional material and if you could tell me where you got that sticker-
Sometimes I like to go into iNaturalist at the Kingdom level to try and help people who are truly baffled, and I like that the most baffling items are just fungus, fungus, fungus, fungus, ctenophore, fungus, fungus, jellyfish, fungus, fungus, fungus,,,
November 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Sometimes I like to go into iNaturalist at the Kingdom level to try and help people who are truly baffled, and I like that the most baffling items are just fungus, fungus, fungus, fungus, ctenophore, fungus, fungus, jellyfish, fungus, fungus, fungus,,,
Reposted by Sophie W
parents freed a hummingbird from a skylight with a coleus flower attached to a pole
November 9, 2025 at 12:05 AM
parents freed a hummingbird from a skylight with a coleus flower attached to a pole
I love fall, when the leaves change colour and *checks notes* dozens of fungal fruiting bodies burst the earth apart to disperse spores into the air
November 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I love fall, when the leaves change colour and *checks notes* dozens of fungal fruiting bodies burst the earth apart to disperse spores into the air
Reposted by Sophie W
Reposted by Sophie W
as far as I know, the species isn't even named. there are literal glowing shrimp just chilling in puddles in rural Argentina and somehow they're not even printed on their money yet
November 12, 2025 at 5:26 PM
as far as I know, the species isn't even named. there are literal glowing shrimp just chilling in puddles in rural Argentina and somehow they're not even printed on their money yet
I have a shared folder full of R code for a publication I'm working on with my very offline previous manager and I am mortally tempted to spend way too much time to find-and-replace every dplyr verb with these just to see what they say
November 11, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I have a shared folder full of R code for a publication I'm working on with my very offline previous manager and I am mortally tempted to spend way too much time to find-and-replace every dplyr verb with these just to see what they say
Bold of you to show your face around here bud, everybody's pretty disappointed in you tbh
November 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Bold of you to show your face around here bud, everybody's pretty disappointed in you tbh
Me 🤝 bugs
Piles of
fallen leaves
Piles of
fallen leaves
November 5, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Me 🤝 bugs
Piles of
fallen leaves
Piles of
fallen leaves
I was at a Halloween party last night wearing a lobster onesie and I am not exaggerating even slightly when I say that TWO different people just walked away from me while I was literally mid-sentence telling them a lobster fact
November 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I was at a Halloween party last night wearing a lobster onesie and I am not exaggerating even slightly when I say that TWO different people just walked away from me while I was literally mid-sentence telling them a lobster fact
I took a wrong turn during a hike last week and ended up on the mountain biking route, on which I found this plank of wood with a handwritten Macbeth quote nailed to a tree (?????)
October 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I took a wrong turn during a hike last week and ended up on the mountain biking route, on which I found this plank of wood with a handwritten Macbeth quote nailed to a tree (?????)
Them: Ready to go! Should we take your car or mine?
Me: Can we take yours? Mine has a spider on it.
Them: Ha ha ha, for sure, I get it
Me, thinking about how I drove the entire way home at 20km/hr that morning with my hand cupped over the spiderweb and spider on my side mirror: I'm not sure you do
Me: Can we take yours? Mine has a spider on it.
Them: Ha ha ha, for sure, I get it
Me, thinking about how I drove the entire way home at 20km/hr that morning with my hand cupped over the spiderweb and spider on my side mirror: I'm not sure you do
October 27, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Them: Ready to go! Should we take your car or mine?
Me: Can we take yours? Mine has a spider on it.
Them: Ha ha ha, for sure, I get it
Me, thinking about how I drove the entire way home at 20km/hr that morning with my hand cupped over the spiderweb and spider on my side mirror: I'm not sure you do
Me: Can we take yours? Mine has a spider on it.
Them: Ha ha ha, for sure, I get it
Me, thinking about how I drove the entire way home at 20km/hr that morning with my hand cupped over the spiderweb and spider on my side mirror: I'm not sure you do
I accidentally stayed up until 3am reading and I'm now beefing with the entire local starling population because apparently every single individual inhabiting Newfoundland AND Labrador was posted outside MY window this morning boopling and burbling and SCREAMING
October 23, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I accidentally stayed up until 3am reading and I'm now beefing with the entire local starling population because apparently every single individual inhabiting Newfoundland AND Labrador was posted outside MY window this morning boopling and burbling and SCREAMING
Reposted by Sophie W
was randomly browsing r/megalophobia earlier only to see an image of stygiomedusa with a snorkeler at the surface, which is bonkers since it's a deep sea jelly. 🦑🧪
after a little digging, it came from this paper: doi.org/10.1590/S198...
about this observation:
www.instagram.com/p/BzlnDMxht0y
after a little digging, it came from this paper: doi.org/10.1590/S198...
about this observation:
www.instagram.com/p/BzlnDMxht0y
October 20, 2025 at 7:54 PM
was randomly browsing r/megalophobia earlier only to see an image of stygiomedusa with a snorkeler at the surface, which is bonkers since it's a deep sea jelly. 🦑🧪
after a little digging, it came from this paper: doi.org/10.1590/S198...
about this observation:
www.instagram.com/p/BzlnDMxht0y
after a little digging, it came from this paper: doi.org/10.1590/S198...
about this observation:
www.instagram.com/p/BzlnDMxht0y
Not to brag or anything but I saw a pretty cool spider on a walk yesterday
October 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Not to brag or anything but I saw a pretty cool spider on a walk yesterday
The autumn colours here have been SPECTACULAR (in between the near-constant RDF), so please enjoy this view of Quidi Vidi and Signal Hill with me
October 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The autumn colours here have been SPECTACULAR (in between the near-constant RDF), so please enjoy this view of Quidi Vidi and Signal Hill with me
Reposted by Sophie W
Heard about the Louvre jewel heist and my first thought was “finally, some good old fashioned normal crime”
October 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Heard about the Louvre jewel heist and my first thought was “finally, some good old fashioned normal crime”
It's the last day of my contract today and I'm debating if anyone will notice if I pack up my things and also the decorative fish earbones and seal skull that were already in my cubicle when I arrived
October 15, 2025 at 12:46 PM
It's the last day of my contract today and I'm debating if anyone will notice if I pack up my things and also the decorative fish earbones and seal skull that were already in my cubicle when I arrived