Susanne Bähr
@coralsandcrabs.bsky.social
Marine scientist 🪸PhD candidate based at Red Sea shores 🔬 studying coral-associated crustaceans 🦀 enthusiastic diver and uw photographer 🐠
Stoked to share the publication of another of my PhD chapters! This time we investigated the temporal dynamics of gall crab populations, representing the first data set of its kind for any coral-associated invert. (1) 🦀 🧪🪸
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Temporal Dynamics and Disturbance Responses in Coral‐Dwelling Decapods Provide a Novel Perspective on Their Ecological Role in Coral Reef Systems
Our study investigates the temporal dynamics and disturbance responses of coral-dwelling gall crabs (Cryptochiridae), an overlooked yet ecologically significant group of obligate coral symbionts. By ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Stoked to share the publication of another of my PhD chapters! This time we investigated the temporal dynamics of gall crab populations, representing the first data set of its kind for any coral-associated invert. (1) 🦀 🧪🪸
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Susanne Bähr
Read the story behind our new study published yesterday in Nature, unfiltered straight from the scientists: 🌊
theconversation.com/unprecedente...
theconversation.com/unprecedente...
Unprecedented heat in the North Atlantic Ocean kickstarted Europe’s hellish 2023 summer. Now we know what caused it
Parts of the Atlantic Ocean are again much warmer than normal, priming Europe for more extreme heat this summer.
theconversation.com
June 5, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Read the story behind our new study published yesterday in Nature, unfiltered straight from the scientists: 🌊
theconversation.com/unprecedente...
theconversation.com/unprecedente...
Super excited that my PhD research made it on the national news of my chosen home for the past four years! @royalsocietypublishing.org 🦀🧪🪸🌍
arab.news/bvtne
arab.news/bvtne
Saudi Arabia’s KAUST study finds gall crabs use fluorescence to blend into coral homes
JEDDAH: Marine researchers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have discovered that gall crabs use highly evolved fluorescence to help conceal themselves within coral hideouts....
arab.news
June 4, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Super excited that my PhD research made it on the national news of my chosen home for the past four years! @royalsocietypublishing.org 🦀🧪🪸🌍
arab.news/bvtne
arab.news/bvtne
What would a PhD be without a side quest? 🦀🪸
Super excited our study is out in Frontiers in Marine Science!
We tested if gall crabs affect coral algal symbionts using Imaging PAM fluorometry.
Turns out—these tiny tenants don’t stress out the algae.
🔗 doi.org/10.3389/fmar... (1)
Super excited our study is out in Frontiers in Marine Science!
We tested if gall crabs affect coral algal symbionts using Imaging PAM fluorometry.
Turns out—these tiny tenants don’t stress out the algae.
🔗 doi.org/10.3389/fmar... (1)
April 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
What would a PhD be without a side quest? 🦀🪸
Super excited our study is out in Frontiers in Marine Science!
We tested if gall crabs affect coral algal symbionts using Imaging PAM fluorometry.
Turns out—these tiny tenants don’t stress out the algae.
🔗 doi.org/10.3389/fmar... (1)
Super excited our study is out in Frontiers in Marine Science!
We tested if gall crabs affect coral algal symbionts using Imaging PAM fluorometry.
Turns out—these tiny tenants don’t stress out the algae.
🔗 doi.org/10.3389/fmar... (1)
Proud PhD Moment 🦀 My third PhD chapter is finally released to the world, and the cherry on the cake: My photo made the cover of the current #ProcB issue @royalsocietypublishing.org 🪸 check it out here: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
#CoralReefs #Biodiversity #Fluorescence #Symbiosis #Decapods
#CoralReefs #Biodiversity #Fluorescence #Symbiosis #Decapods
March 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Proud PhD Moment 🦀 My third PhD chapter is finally released to the world, and the cherry on the cake: My photo made the cover of the current #ProcB issue @royalsocietypublishing.org 🪸 check it out here: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
#CoralReefs #Biodiversity #Fluorescence #Symbiosis #Decapods
#CoralReefs #Biodiversity #Fluorescence #Symbiosis #Decapods
Reposted by Susanne Bähr
I started surveying the shallow reef flats in front of KAUST for my PhD in 2020. I was impressed that corals could live in such extreme conditions - the water hits 38ºC in the summer! However, heatwaves in '23 and '24 were too much even for these corals. Today's survey had nearly 100% mortality 😞 🌊🦑
December 15, 2024 at 10:53 AM
I started surveying the shallow reef flats in front of KAUST for my PhD in 2020. I was impressed that corals could live in such extreme conditions - the water hits 38ºC in the summer! However, heatwaves in '23 and '24 were too much even for these corals. Today's survey had nearly 100% mortality 😞 🌊🦑
Reposted by Susanne Bähr
I wrote about a delightful study about the secret dynamics of a coral, some seahorses, and oodles of tiny worms
defector.com/a-small-and-...
defector.com/a-small-and-...
A Small And Beautiful Seahorse Reveals An Even Smaller And Reclusive Worm | Defector
Years ago, as a student at the University of the Ryukyus in in Okinawa, Japan, Ai Takahata was researching the color patterns of a seahorse about the size of a shelled peanut. The pygmy seahorse Hippo...
defector.com
November 15, 2024 at 7:41 PM
I wrote about a delightful study about the secret dynamics of a coral, some seahorses, and oodles of tiny worms
defector.com/a-small-and-...
defector.com/a-small-and-...
Thank you #ECRS2024, had a great week with fellow coral enthusiasts in Napoli! Presented one of my PhD chapters and got awarded for best oral communication. Congrats also to all my KAUST collegues for their achievements! 🦀💙🧪
July 6, 2024 at 9:42 AM
Thank you #ECRS2024, had a great week with fellow coral enthusiasts in Napoli! Presented one of my PhD chapters and got awarded for best oral communication. Congrats also to all my KAUST collegues for their achievements! 🦀💙🧪
Reposted by Susanne Bähr
Just published: 🦀 Quick Guide to Coral Crabs! w @OsenbergLab in @CurrentBiology Take a crabtastic voyage into the fascinating world of Trapezia. Learn about their unique biology, habitat, and vital role in coral ecosystems. #MarineBiology www.cell.com/current-biol...
January 10, 2024 at 9:36 PM
Just published: 🦀 Quick Guide to Coral Crabs! w @OsenbergLab in @CurrentBiology Take a crabtastic voyage into the fascinating world of Trapezia. Learn about their unique biology, habitat, and vital role in coral ecosystems. #MarineBiology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Happy New Year to all of you! Celebrating with this festive looking nudibranch #MarineLife. Hope you are all excited for a new year filled with invert content (and maybe some fish) 🦑🪼🦀
January 4, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Happy New Year to all of you! Celebrating with this festive looking nudibranch #MarineLife. Hope you are all excited for a new year filled with invert content (and maybe some fish) 🦑🪼🦀
Waited a while to share the (literally) most exciting part of my PhD project… Behold the fantastic fluorescence of coral-dwelling gall crabs! Very Christmas-themed if you ask me 🎄Currently busy investigating the evolution and origin of this phenomenon in cryptochirids 🦀🧪✨🦑
December 22, 2023 at 7:18 PM
Waited a while to share the (literally) most exciting part of my PhD project… Behold the fantastic fluorescence of coral-dwelling gall crabs! Very Christmas-themed if you ask me 🎄Currently busy investigating the evolution and origin of this phenomenon in cryptochirids 🦀🧪✨🦑
Sharing this cute little Christmas ornament for some holiday vibes in your feed 🎄🐠 #MarineLife
December 21, 2023 at 12:34 PM
Sharing this cute little Christmas ornament for some holiday vibes in your feed 🎄🐠 #MarineLife
Reposted by Susanne Bähr
I'm back from the really good Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, and will now restart everyone's timeline cleanse with beautiful fish. Starting with one of my all-time favorites, a baby Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator). The species is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific.
December 7, 2023 at 6:27 PM
I'm back from the really good Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, and will now restart everyone's timeline cleanse with beautiful fish. Starting with one of my all-time favorites, a baby Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator). The species is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific.
🦋fish of todays fun dive. Have a great weekend everybody! 🦑🐠
December 1, 2023 at 4:46 PM
🦋fish of todays fun dive. Have a great weekend everybody! 🦑🐠
Don‘t they look like little galaxies?
Loved this colourful aggregation of tiny sap-sucking slugs (not nudibranchs) 🐌 #MarineLife
Loved this colourful aggregation of tiny sap-sucking slugs (not nudibranchs) 🐌 #MarineLife
November 27, 2023 at 6:57 PM
Don‘t they look like little galaxies?
Loved this colourful aggregation of tiny sap-sucking slugs (not nudibranchs) 🐌 #MarineLife
Loved this colourful aggregation of tiny sap-sucking slugs (not nudibranchs) 🐌 #MarineLife
Time for another symbiotic decapod living on a bigger invertebrate 🦐 Enjoy this bumble bee shrimp sitting on its sea cucumber host 🦀💙🦑
November 19, 2023 at 5:01 PM
Time for another symbiotic decapod living on a bigger invertebrate 🦐 Enjoy this bumble bee shrimp sitting on its sea cucumber host 🦀💙🦑
Thrilled to see my pet animals on a screen this big! Had a great time talking about my research at ICMERS-3 this morning 🦀🧪🦑
November 14, 2023 at 9:43 AM
Thrilled to see my pet animals on a screen this big! Had a great time talking about my research at ICMERS-3 this morning 🦀🧪🦑
ICMERS just started here at KAUST! Tomorrow, I‘ll be giving a talk about parts of my PhD work revealing that the gall crab communities in the Red Sea are much more dynamic than we expected. 🦀🧪🦑
November 13, 2023 at 10:34 AM
ICMERS just started here at KAUST! Tomorrow, I‘ll be giving a talk about parts of my PhD work revealing that the gall crab communities in the Red Sea are much more dynamic than we expected. 🦀🧪🦑
A new shrimp species just dropped right from our backyard here in the Red Sea 🧪🦐🦑 Great work by Arthur Anker and Aymere Assayie. Don't miss the etymology section with some special tribute to this critter's Arabic roots!
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
A further new species of Palaemonella Dana, 1852 from the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula (Mal...
mapress.com
November 12, 2023 at 10:33 AM
A new shrimp species just dropped right from our backyard here in the Red Sea 🧪🦐🦑 Great work by Arthur Anker and Aymere Assayie. Don't miss the etymology section with some special tribute to this critter's Arabic roots!
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com/zt/article/v...
Fish in pyjama! #MarineLife 🦑💙
November 10, 2023 at 11:23 AM
Fish in pyjama! #MarineLife 🦑💙
Taking a short (mental) break of gall crabs after an intense field session. Hope you are enjoying these shrimps hanging out on their whip coral home as much as I do #MarineLife🦐🦀🦑
November 6, 2023 at 6:03 PM
Taking a short (mental) break of gall crabs after an intense field session. Hope you are enjoying these shrimps hanging out on their whip coral home as much as I do #MarineLife🦐🦀🦑
Busy in the field with my favourite little critters at the moment. Just finished post-bleaching monitoring of my permanent transects to study the temporal variability of gall crab communities and how they are affected by stressors like marine heatwaves. Stay tuned for more field updates 🦀🧪🦑💙
October 29, 2023 at 5:50 PM
Busy in the field with my favourite little critters at the moment. Just finished post-bleaching monitoring of my permanent transects to study the temporal variability of gall crab communities and how they are affected by stressors like marine heatwaves. Stay tuned for more field updates 🦀🧪🦑💙
Throwback to diving pretty, turbid reefs with big tables in the Kisite Mpunguti Marine National Park in south Kenya. Stayed there while researching if coral guardian crabs (Trapezia) can deter the corallivorous Crown of Thorns Starfish for my Master thesis🧪🦑
October 20, 2023 at 6:44 PM
Throwback to diving pretty, turbid reefs with big tables in the Kisite Mpunguti Marine National Park in south Kenya. Stayed there while researching if coral guardian crabs (Trapezia) can deter the corallivorous Crown of Thorns Starfish for my Master thesis🧪🦑