Dr. Caleb C. Butler 🦠🪸
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calebcbutler.com
Dr. Caleb C. Butler 🦠🪸
@calebcbutler.com
1.2K followers 360 following 270 posts
Marine ecologist, leftist, cat parent | Postdoc at Texas State University in the Fuess & González-Pech Labs | LaJeunesse Lab PhD & NSF GRFP Fellow Alum |
they/he 🏳️‍🌈🧪🦠🪸

tags: coral, ecology, psu, algae, phycology, enby
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calebcbutler.com
Out of town for a concert and the cat camera has fallen and/or been knocked down successfully 👍
Image of Wednesday, a domestic short hair cat with black fur, above the camera's POV and staring directly down at the camera. Image of Pete, a domestic long hair cat with a sort of grey mask on his face and various grey spots on his mostly white fur. Pete is loaded up a few feet away on the floor from the camera looking directly at it. Several cat toys like a banana and a ball are surrounding him since the cat's toy box is right there too.
August 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
calebcbutler.com
🚨 Wednesday has successfully yoinked Pete's blanket 🚨
Pete, my long hair domestic cat thats mostly white white some grey splotches looking very concerned inside a pet crate inside a car. There is a blue blanket underneath him. Behind him, with a separator in the crate, is my partner's cat, Wednesday, a black short hair domestic cat. She's just looking to the side, much less concerned than Pete. Now Wednesday has stolen Pete's blanket and sits on it while Pete is mostly now on the plastic crate bottom. Both have annoyed looks on their faces from the hours of car time.
August 1, 2025 at 1:42 AM
calebcbutler.com
"She's behind me isn't she" 🐱
Pete, my long hair domestic cat with white and grey splotches facing forward, sitting up, clueless and just casually staring at me taking the picture. Behind him is Wednesday, my partner's short hair domestic also in the same position staring forward. The two cats in the precious spots in the same positions but now Pete's ears have flaired like he senses something is amiss (Wednesday being behind him).
July 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
calebcbutler.com
They're basically besties
Pete, my long hair domestic cat with zigzagging white and grey hair, sits on the wooden floor with a carpet stretched out. Pete is watching Wednesday, my partner's short hair domestic cat that is all black. Wednesday is up close sniffing Pete's (historically) bad back foot he is very sensitive about. Pete and Wednesday are batting at each other after Pete wasn't happy with Wednesday sniffing Pete's bad foot. Pete is sitting up while Wednesday is a little lower, both cats have their ears up in attention. They are staring at each other. Wednesday is now loafing and Pete has turned back and is now facing towards me with his ears in full airplane position. No cats were harmed in these images, they were only just a little grumpy.
July 17, 2025 at 1:05 PM
calebcbutler.com
I defended!
Image of me in a tan suit wearing a bolo tie standing in front of my dissertation defense title screen, with an (unintentionally) smug face.
May 16, 2025 at 8:05 PM
calebcbutler.com
Anyways taking this as good vibes for my dissertation defense next week. I've never been more simultaneously anxious, stressed, and tired, but excited
Image of a long hair black and white cat curled up in a white cat bed holding an orange toy. There is a figure of a peacock mantis shrimp on top of him. He looks confused and or concerned.
May 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
calebcbutler.com
Been playing my favorite game Stardew Valley to cope with defense anxiety when I have the time. This is on PS5 unmodded and I got **THREE** ancient seeds my first week AND THEN the crop fairy visited after I planted them.

This is a <0.000000125% chance.
Image of Stardew Valley with a chest and inventory open. Two ancient seeds are visible, but the description is filled out on, indicating I've already donated a third one to the museum in game. The top right date is the 7th of Spring (end of first week in game). Image of Stardew Valley farm at night with the crop fairy appearing over my freshly planted ancient seeds. Image of Stardew Valley farm with three fully grown ancient seed crops (they take like 28 days to grow in game) but the top right date is the 9th of Spring (and of the game in the fresh save)
May 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
calebcbutler.com
@thermofishersci.bsky.social has made itself clear on where they stand with the current administration.

Only we scientists can hold these companies accountable.

If you buy from TF, please look into alternatives 🧪
LinkedIn Post from the CEO of ThermoFisher, Marc Casper: "Committed to our customers and advancing innovation in the U.S. I was honored to represent Thermo Fisher Scientific at the White House where President Trump recognized an investment our company is making to advance science and innovation in the United States. Thermo Fisher has announced that we are investing an additional $2 billion over the next four years to strengthen our capabilities in the U.S. We made this commitment so we can be an even stronger partner for our customers. Ultimately, these investments will help to strengthen American innovation, manufacturing and economic competitiveness in the life sciences sector. It is my greatest honor to represent our company when meeting with world leaders. I always lead with our purpose - our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. The work we do every day helps to improve lives and make the world a better place. So, we'll keep building our capabilities to advance our Mission and create an even brighter future for all. Thank you to our colleagues all over the world for making this possible."
May 5, 2025 at 4:36 PM
calebcbutler.com
Friend sent me this from Reddit. Why is @zymoresearch.bsky.social financially supporting the people breaking down our whole academic system? Very disappointing. 🧪
Image of a yellow cybertruk parked with the words "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple" with Zymo's logo in the bottom right.
May 2, 2025 at 9:22 PM
calebcbutler.com
Also a big fan of how my Microsoft Word will randomly switch my identities from myself... to myself, even when editing in the same instance (this ones funny, keep this one in Microsoft)
Screenshot of edits pane from Microsoft Word. Top edit is in blue and has my name formatted as "Butler, Caleb" and Bottom edit is in red and has my name formatted as "Caleb Butler".
April 1, 2025 at 2:05 PM
calebcbutler.com
Incredible auto-formatting happening in Microsoft Outlook recently
Screenshot of text "May 16th" but the 6t and superscript, when you'd typically expect dates to formatting with the "th" as the superscript (as it should be). Thanks Microsoft Outlook.
April 1, 2025 at 12:56 PM
calebcbutler.com
Unsure how to ask to use someone's image? Here's an email template. Not once have I ever had someone say "no".
Image of a placebo email to a fake email "PersonWithCoolImage@someemail.com" Subject: Image Use? Body: Hello PersonWithCoolImage, I saw your cool image and thought it would work well for my presentation/article/post/class/other. Would you be comfortable if I used it? I will of course give credit. Thank you, Caleb Butler
March 18, 2025 at 1:35 PM
calebcbutler.com
Did I win?

(not graphic, just used for spoiler purposes)
Zoomed in pic with a red circle on top of a lightly outlined, slightly more purple blob than the surroundings.
March 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
calebcbutler.com
I have another one created in plotly (R) that's interactive, but since it doesn't support producing vectorized graphics I searched for other options, and the one above is created with scatterplot3d (R).
Image of my other 3D Plot. Dots are bigger and uniform now. Similar angle and results as previous 3D plot.
March 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
calebcbutler.com
Dear sci-friends. I am preparing a 3D PCA that given context makes a lot of sense. The issue is that 3D scatterplots always are difficult to read.

Can anyone send me 3D scatterplots they find intuitive? Or reccs on how to make them easier to read? Here's what I'm working with (2D v 3D). 🧪
Image of a 2D PCA Plot with various colors. There are 8 individual groups, forming two clusters. PC1 is 13.4% and PC2 is 9%. My 3D PCA scatterplot. Now there is a third PC being presented, one of the grouped up clusters has now spread out more, while the other is still relatively clustered together.
March 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
calebcbutler.com
I'm losing my mind here with PowerPoint.

Does anyone know why PPT when saving, closing, and then opening again, butchers the quality and transparency of certain assets? There is no discernible pattern because all are imported the same from the same file format. All my assets are saved as .pdf 🧪
A screenshot from my powerpoint. There are two ovals, one purple, one pinkish-orange. Inside each are two more ovals here, green in the purple, yellow in the pinkish-orange, but the two yellow and one green have lost their transparency so there are white boxes around them. A map of the Indo-Pacific, with certain areas highlighted with shapes and white circles to display an organisms range. The quality of the map has been terribly butchered.
February 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
calebcbutler.com
Hear me out: academic talk but Wes Anderson 🧪🦑
An image of a coral reef surrounded by a light yellow border. The reef is slanted from down to up from left to right. There are multiple soft corals and hard corals visible. Notably in the center are two Sarcophytidae (that resemble your standard Sarcophyton, but I've done the genetics, it's a cryptic group!), one with its polyps out with a light brown hue, and another one beside it with its polyps retracted looking light blue. There is another soft coral below them that resembles a Lobophytum with its polyps out. You can make out a few hard corals, some encrusting Pachyseris, a bouldering Porites, and another bouldering Favites (maybe). A few small fish are visible in the background. In the top left is bold all-caps text "BIOLOGY IS ROOTED IN" in yellow and in the bottom right similarly, but marginally larger, "SPECIFICITY" in a coral pink.
February 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM
calebcbutler.com
This neat coral is found across the Indo-Pacifc, including the Red Sea, Palau, the GBR, parts of the South China Sea, and a lot more places. One recent study focusing on P. speciosa found significant genetic differentiation based off of depth and location, with no correlation to morphology
Figure from Bongaerts et al. 2021. split into multiple parts. Figure caption below. A.) shows an underwater colony of more plate-like Pachyseris speciosa. B.) shows the range of the species and the five sampling regions un the study (Gulf of Aqaba, Okinawa, Papua New Guinea, Western Coral Sea, and the Great Barrier Reef). C.) shows the different sampling depths done from 10m-60m. D.) includes assembly summary statistics for the genome (Size: 984 Mb, Predicted size: 886 Mb, Predicted genes: 39,160, Completeness: 90.5% BUSCO, E.) Includes a circular phylogenetic seeing differentation by site and partitioning into four major lineages. F.) Is an admixture analysis based off of the whole genome sequencing of the organisms, but only of representative samples from the GBR, finding decent homogeneity across sites, but differs more when examining depth in G). Figure 1. Overview of the study system and sequencing/genotyping approach (A) Pachyseris speciosa colonies at 40 m depth (Western Coral Sea). (B) Predicted geographic distribution38 of Pachyseris speciosa sensu lato and the five sampling regions. (C) Sampled habitats and their corresponding water depths (±3 m). (D) Genome assembly summary statistics. (E) Circular phylogenetic tree summarizing the reduced-representation sequencing data (nextRAD; 8,536 SNPs) and showing the partitioning into four major lineages. Sample region is indicated in the inner surrounding circle and sample selection for whole-genome sequencing is indicated in the outer surrounding circle. (F) Admixture proportion (PCAngsd) based on whole-genome resequencing (WGS; ~37M SNPs) of representative samples from the three lineages occurring on the Great Barrier Reef. (G) Geographic and ecological distribution of the lineages across habitats and regions (excluding Israel) based on the CAPS genotyping assay (1–3 markers per sample) merged with the nextRAD data (note that assignments for Okinawa are based exclusively on nextRAD data).
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
In their study, Quek et al. (2023) used a hybrid-capture approach to collect as much genetic information as possible for lots of target hard corals.

This approach confirmed and agreed with Kirahara et al. 2012: Pachyseris was more closely related to Euphyllidae than Agariciidae.
A select screenshot from Quek et al. 2023, focusing on the hard coral families Rhizangiidae, Agariciidae, Pachyseridae, and Euphyllidae. Pachyseridae is between Agariciidae and Euphyllidae, but noticably divergent from both, supporting that Pachyseris deserves its own family.
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
Kitahara et al. 2012 used a multi-marker approach (always good) to delineate and study family Agariciidae. Though they only had one marker for a Pachyseris (P. speciosa, different species!), they found it was rather distantly related from the other Agariciids, and more related to Euphyllidae
A figure with three unrooted maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees. Among the three trees, there are extensions from each one that are all encircled in one circle, representing family Agariicidae. The trees are from the 28s ribosomal large subunit, the 16s ribosomal small subunit, and a mitochondrial gene, the CO1. On each tree there are also other circles, representing another taxonomic group colloquially referred to as "robust corals" (story for another day). Highlighted, I have P. speciosa, which is notably, not in the circle with the other Agariciids on the CO1 tree. Figure caption below: "Fig. 1. Unrooted most likely trees derived from maximum likelihood analysis of partial 16S rDNA, partial CO1, and partial 28S rDNA nucleotide sequences. Values near each node indicate the maximum likelihood (ML) Shimodaira–Hasegawa-like statistical support followed by bootstrap (100 replicate) analyses, and Bayesian Inference (BI) posterior probability (7500 topologies). An asterisk (*) in the CO1 reconstruction indicates discrepancy between the ML and BI (different branching from BI is indicated in red). Dark shaded area indicates Agariciidae clade and light shaded areas indicate the ‘Robust’ coral clades. Dashed lines bridge the end of each branch and its respective species name."
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
As older taxonomic systems go as you look through them, there were many different descriptions of P. rugosa based off of differing morphologies, that were later reconciled into one species with genetic methods. Some of these other names include P. carinata, P. monticulosa, P., and P. valenciennesia.
Image from Veron's Scleractinia of Eastern Australia (Part III). It shows four different P. rugosa skeletons of different morphologies, each with a label accompanying them. The skeletons are white on black background. The two of them have branching morphologies, similar to mentioned earlier, and another has a more columnar morphology. Finally the fourth one has more of a "fan" morphology, probably related to the original "lettuce" description of these colonies. Original image caption: Figs. 131-134 Pachyseris rugosa (x 0.5). Fig. 131 From Butterfly Bay, Hook Island, Whitsunday Islands, collecting station 98. Fig. 132 From Cateran Bay, Border Island, Whitsunday Islands, collecting station 101, showing close similarity with the holotype of P. torresiana. [My note: P. torresiana was reconciled under P. rugosa later too.] Figs. 133, 134 From Sue Island, collecting station 17. Close-up of P. rugosa skeleton, showing a lot of the ridges of the "corallite" that isn't necessarily star-shaped, but still has plenty of septa. Almost "snake"-like morphology, perhaps lending to why it was also once called the "serpent coral". IC: Wells JW (1954).
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
In 1849, Milne and Edwards first described the genus Pachyseris, meaning "thick lettuce" in Greek. While I'm unsure what lettuce Milne and Edwards were eating (jk), they moved A. rugosa into Pachyseris as the type specimen, creating the P. rugosa we know of today.
Image of a more encrusting/massive P. rugosa, still with its trippy undulating lines and large ridges and septa. This colony is more of a white than the previous orange ones. IC: Emre Turak and Lyndon DeVantier A zoomed out image of an extensively large colony of P. rugosa, this one of the more columnar morphology I talked about earlier. This large colony goes on as far as you can see in the image. IC: Ed Lovell
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
In this description, Lamarck makes an important point here, "the stars are not visible". In this case, Lamarck is referring to a star-like structure that coral polyps are housed in, within the skeleton. These are what we refer to as "corallites".

Notice them missing on this P. rugosa skeleton?
Diagram of a hexacoral (hard coral) corallite. It is circular and divided into six-fold symmetry with six large primary septa that divide up the circular corallite, and then divided further by secondary and tertiary septa. In between these septa is the theca, and the center, where the main mouth-hole is, is the columella. IC: NOAA Image of a Pachyseris skeleton, of the one I got a tattoo of earlier in the thread. Since this is the skeleton, it is wholly white. There is a hole where some worm or other organism may have burrowed in when it was alive. Again, looks oddly like a biological heart, but maybe that's just me! Noticeably, it still has all the ridges, and no noticeable corallites. IC: me
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
Now the WOrld Register of Marine Species (WORMS) lists good ol' Lamarck (the giraffe reaches for high tree so neck get longer guy) as the person to first describe Pachyseries rugosa, but as Agaricia rugosa 1801 (it actually was described in his follow-up book in 1816 as below)
Screenshot from Lamarck's 1816 Histoire naturelle des animeux sans vertébras, scanned on yellowed paperment. Original text in French: 3. Agarice ridée. Agaricia rugosa. A. frondibus brevibus, undato-contortis, rugosissimis; rugis confertis, elevatis, irregularibus, lamelloso-striatis. Mus. n.o Habite les mers australes. Péron et le Sueur. Elle est sin- gulièrement ridée en dessus, et ses rides sont élevées, ser- rées les unes contre les autres, inégales, contournées, et transversalement striées par de petites lames. Le dessous de ses expansions est nu, avec des stries fines vers les bords; mais ces expansions se contournent et souvent se replient de manière que leur surface supérieure est la seule apparente. Les étoiles ne paraissent point. Google Translation (sorry French speakers if this is astoundingly wrong): 3. Wrinkled agarice. Agaricia rugosa. A. frondibus brevibus, undato-contortis, rugosissimis; rugis confertis, elevatis, irregularibus, lamelloso-striatis. Mus. n.o Inhabits the southern seas. Péron and Le Sueur. It is singularly wrinkled above, and its wrinkles are high, pressed against each other, unequal, contoured, and transversely streaked by small blades. The underside of its expansions is bare, with fine streaks towards the edges; but these expansions go around and often fold back so that their upper surface is the only one visible. The stars do not appear. (My note: the stars here refer to the polyps/mouths) Another image of a live Pachyseris reguosa colony, this time with the tag "52" by zip-tie on the colony. This one seems to have more, but thinner branches than the previous, almost creating a more uniform colony, but still with all the undulation and heterogeneity great for bouncing of light. IC: Dr. Allison Lewis
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
calebcbutler.com
The world: 🔥🔥🔥

Me: let's dissociate and talk about the hard coral genus, Pachyseris, which includes the "Elephant Skin" coral, Pachyersis rugosa (which I got tattoo'd on my leg recently)

🦑🪸🧪 #CoralReefs
An image of an underwater colony of Pachyseris rugosa, the elephant skin coral. There is a large nail put through a tag onto some bare rock between the coral labelled "45". The colony itself is composed of many column-like projections that come up to a peak. The texture of the coral's ridges/septa is very unique and undulating, seemingly following no pattern, almost resembling the crest and ridges of skin, or in this case, elephants skin. It's very mesmerizing to following the lines. IC: Dr. Allison Lewis (collaborator) An image of a pale, white leg shaved in the middle for tattoo of a Pachyseris rugosa with fine ink lines following the undulating patterning of the coral. It ranges from orange-yellow at the top down into a teal-ish blue at the bottom. Overall, it almost resembles a biological heart, which is based off of a skeleton we have in our lab.
February 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM