Elizabeth Beston
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elizabethbeston.bsky.social
Elizabeth Beston
@elizabethbeston.bsky.social
Marine plankton, home educator, biology undergrad, autistic, non binary. Norfolk UK. Runs The Plankton Project
linktr.ee/elizabethbeston
A big chunk of plastic fibres in my sample this week. Striking colour!
#marineplankton 🦑
December 9, 2025 at 5:55 PM
And purely by chance, 115 nematodes added today too! #marineplankton 🦑
December 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Phew! 155 examples of the genus Bellerochea, covering B. horologicalis, B. malleus, and B. malleus f. biangulata, renamed and logged for the Norfolk Plankton Image Library. #marineplankton 🦑
December 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
There have been so many of these little Cyclopoida copepods in my samples the last few months. I’d love to know the species, if anyone has any idea?
#marineplankton 🦑
December 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Sample day! #marineplankton 🦑
December 8, 2025 at 9:01 AM
The smallest Squishmallow ever! I think this is a Capitellidae larva (Polychaete - bristle worm) and it’s super squishy!
#marineplankton 🦑
December 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Right. Back to it. 89 Acartia discaudata copepods and 115 colonies of Bacillaria paxillifera logged and in the NPIL database. 💪 #marineplankton 🦑
December 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
You know when you spend 2 days socialising and the next day you feel so overwhelmed and want to cry all the time, and then your first real Christmas tree falls down and all the water comes out the reservoir and utterly soaks your kids presents? That.
December 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
You beautiful, slinky worm, you! A Xenacoela - I don’t know much about these guys, but I think this one is gorgeous! Thanks @microbe_guru for the ID.
#marineplankton 🦑
December 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I’m looking forward to getting stuck into this! ‘Atlas of Marine Invertebrate Larvae’ eds M.Boyle, C.Young and M.Sewell
December 5, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Can anyone confirm that this is an N5 of Sacculina carcini? #marineplankton #crustacean 🦑
December 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I’m FABULOUS, says this polychaete (bristle worm) larva!

#marineplankton 🦑
December 4, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Beston
Lit and loving it! Like a Comb Jelly

Advent Day 4️⃣

By Loreto Gestoso Suarez

#FestiveOceanArt
December 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
It’s a baby! This copepod nauplius has just hatched and swims its first strokes 🥹.
#marineplankton 🦑
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 PM
It’s only now I’m realising how many images I’ve accrued- I’ve photographed 118 individual Acartia clausi copepods! #marineplankton 🦑
December 3, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Ok, I’m going in. Copepod files here I come!
a woman in a car with the words let 's do this on the bottom
ALT: a woman in a car with the words let 's do this on the bottom
media.tenor.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Beston
Advent Day3️⃣

Whale... would you look at this Christmas fit! A lovely festive drawing by Kirsty Springett

#FestiveOceanArt
December 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Oooh I’m on a roll! Diatom Attheya armata is also done! Added to the NPIL database. #marineplankton 🦑
December 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Halacaridae mites are DONE. Images and videos of 42 different specimens ready for the Norfolk Plankton Image Library #marineplankton 🦑
December 3, 2025 at 10:36 AM
A lovely Thalassiosira hendeyi from a recent sample. #marineplankton 🦑
December 2, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I have photographed 110 individual Asterionellopsis glacialis colonies over the last 3 years. And now they’re all ready for the Norfolk Plankton Image Library! #marineplankton 🦑
December 2, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Beston
Join MBA Senior Research Fellow Dr Clare Ostle at The Royal Society for: Warming-driven Shifts in North Atlantic Plankton

📅 Monday 8th December | 🕑 14:15 – 14:45
📍 The Royal Society | Free to attend in person or online

👉 royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2025/12/marine-biodiversity/
December 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Elizabeth Beston
Meet the veliger larva - a tiny ocean drifter with a delicate shell and two ciliated “velums” that look like fluttering ears. These velums help it swim through plankton and capture food.

🎥 Video by @elizabethbeston.bsky.social

#MarineBiology
December 2, 2025 at 2:32 PM
This Tintinnina ciliate is having a good stretch out of its lorica (its little ‘cup’)!
#marineplankton 🦑
December 2, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Elizabeth Beston
New vacancy - Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Physiology of Calcification in phytoplankton

More information and apply:
Job Details
my.corehr.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM