MBA Library
@nmbluk.bsky.social
National Marine Biological Library, based @thembauk.bsky.social. A place to access our electronic and printed collections, to ask for help, or just to work in peace
https://www.mba.ac.uk/our-facilities/library/
https://www.mba.ac.uk/our-facilities/library/
Thanks to @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social we have discovered today is #WorldWalrusDay!
Our illustration from Millais' 'The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland' 1904 might not be as expressive but we think it's just as majestic
📖BL.95/M
Our illustration from Millais' 'The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland' 1904 might not be as expressive but we think it's just as majestic
📖BL.95/M
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Thanks to @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social we have discovered today is #WorldWalrusDay!
Our illustration from Millais' 'The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland' 1904 might not be as expressive but we think it's just as majestic
📖BL.95/M
Our illustration from Millais' 'The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland' 1904 might not be as expressive but we think it's just as majestic
📖BL.95/M
#OTD in 1859 'On the Origin of Species' was published. We have a few different editions in the library @thembauk.bsky.social but we are privileged to be custodians of an early edition gifted to (a mystery) someone by Charles #Darwin himself
📖BS.15/D
📖BS.15/D
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 AM
#OTD in 1859 'On the Origin of Species' was published. We have a few different editions in the library @thembauk.bsky.social but we are privileged to be custodians of an early edition gifted to (a mystery) someone by Charles #Darwin himself
📖BS.15/D
📖BS.15/D
Who else loves a crisp, wintery feeling morning? We certainly do, but we're also very glad the library has heating!
#PlymouthSound #Devon
#PlymouthSound #Devon
November 21, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Who else loves a crisp, wintery feeling morning? We certainly do, but we're also very glad the library has heating!
#PlymouthSound #Devon
#PlymouthSound #Devon
Did you know that the original logo of @thembauk.bsky.social was inspired by the inlay on the library's main staircase.
The logo may have undergone an update in recent years, but it still retains the iconic seahorse as its focal point
The logo may have undergone an update in recent years, but it still retains the iconic seahorse as its focal point
November 17, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Did you know that the original logo of @thembauk.bsky.social was inspired by the inlay on the library's main staircase.
The logo may have undergone an update in recent years, but it still retains the iconic seahorse as its focal point
The logo may have undergone an update in recent years, but it still retains the iconic seahorse as its focal point
Thank you to @swrls.bsky.social for an insightful and educational visit to Exeter for the SWRLS event with AGM
We got so caught up in the cathedral archive and library tour we forgot to take pictures of the books! www.swrls.org.uk/post/swrls-a...
We got so caught up in the cathedral archive and library tour we forgot to take pictures of the books! www.swrls.org.uk/post/swrls-a...
November 14, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Thank you to @swrls.bsky.social for an insightful and educational visit to Exeter for the SWRLS event with AGM
We got so caught up in the cathedral archive and library tour we forgot to take pictures of the books! www.swrls.org.uk/post/swrls-a...
We got so caught up in the cathedral archive and library tour we forgot to take pictures of the books! www.swrls.org.uk/post/swrls-a...
We did not know! We don't have any real life axolotls in the library but we have the next best thing:
📖The Cambridge Natural History. Volume 8. Amphibia and Reptiles by Harmer, S.F and Shipley, A.E. 1901
😎
📖The Cambridge Natural History. Volume 8. Amphibia and Reptiles by Harmer, S.F and Shipley, A.E. 1901
😎
November 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
We did not know! We don't have any real life axolotls in the library but we have the next best thing:
📖The Cambridge Natural History. Volume 8. Amphibia and Reptiles by Harmer, S.F and Shipley, A.E. 1901
😎
📖The Cambridge Natural History. Volume 8. Amphibia and Reptiles by Harmer, S.F and Shipley, A.E. 1901
😎
New book alert 🚨
We've just received a kind donation of this new limited run publication from Professor Geoff Moore, Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology at the University of London, and long term Member of @thembauk.bsky.social
We have to say, our curiosity is piqued
We've just received a kind donation of this new limited run publication from Professor Geoff Moore, Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology at the University of London, and long term Member of @thembauk.bsky.social
We have to say, our curiosity is piqued
November 10, 2025 at 12:13 PM
New book alert 🚨
We've just received a kind donation of this new limited run publication from Professor Geoff Moore, Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology at the University of London, and long term Member of @thembauk.bsky.social
We have to say, our curiosity is piqued
We've just received a kind donation of this new limited run publication from Professor Geoff Moore, Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology at the University of London, and long term Member of @thembauk.bsky.social
We have to say, our curiosity is piqued
#OTD in 1787 Sir John Richardson was born. A surgeon, explorer and naturalist, Richardson was involved in preparing the 3rd edition of William Yarrell's 'A History of British Fishes'. We have a large volume of illustrations and plates from this work in the archive @thembauk.bsky.social 📖 ref PRN1
November 5, 2025 at 9:28 AM
#OTD in 1787 Sir John Richardson was born. A surgeon, explorer and naturalist, Richardson was involved in preparing the 3rd edition of William Yarrell's 'A History of British Fishes'. We have a large volume of illustrations and plates from this work in the archive @thembauk.bsky.social 📖 ref PRN1
Today is also #WorldBaskingShark day! To celebrate these graceful oceanic grazers we have this illustration from volume 1 of 'A History of the Fishes of the British Isles' by Jonathan Couch, 1862 📖 BL.65/C
November 3, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Today is also #WorldBaskingShark day! To celebrate these graceful oceanic grazers we have this illustration from volume 1 of 'A History of the Fishes of the British Isles' by Jonathan Couch, 1862 📖 BL.65/C
Not only is it #WorldJellyfishDay but #OTD in 1897 Sir Frederick Stratten Russell was born. Russell, a former Director of @thembauk.bsky.social spent much of his career studying medusae, so we've included some of his original illustrations that are stored in the archive 📷 PRU64
November 3, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Not only is it #WorldJellyfishDay but #OTD in 1897 Sir Frederick Stratten Russell was born. Russell, a former Director of @thembauk.bsky.social spent much of his career studying medusae, so we've included some of his original illustrations that are stored in the archive 📷 PRU64
Happy #Halloween 🎃Since this fellow was so popular we are once again sharing spooktacular illustrations of Vampyroteuthis. The 'vampire squid from hell' is neither squid nor vampire, using sticky filaments to feed on marine snow
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
October 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Happy #Halloween 🎃Since this fellow was so popular we are once again sharing spooktacular illustrations of Vampyroteuthis. The 'vampire squid from hell' is neither squid nor vampire, using sticky filaments to feed on marine snow
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
📖 Reports from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899
Found! This #TrickyTaxonThursday an illustration of Scorpaena scrofa from 'A History of the Fishes of Madeira' by Richard Thomas Lowe, 1843-1860 📖BL.70/L
October 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Found! This #TrickyTaxonThursday an illustration of Scorpaena scrofa from 'A History of the Fishes of Madeira' by Richard Thomas Lowe, 1843-1860 📖BL.70/L
Illustrations of non living specimens (from trawls, dredges, museums etc) would have been widely used to learn about deep sea fauna before the advent of in-situ video recording. Not the earliest depiction, this image is from 'Creatures of the Deep Sea’ by Gunther and Deckert, 1956 📖BE.30/G
October 30, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Illustrations of non living specimens (from trawls, dredges, museums etc) would have been widely used to learn about deep sea fauna before the advent of in-situ video recording. Not the earliest depiction, this image is from 'Creatures of the Deep Sea’ by Gunther and Deckert, 1956 📖BE.30/G
It's #SeaSlugDay! To celebrate we have selected these beautiful illustrations from 'A Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca' volume 1, published by @raysocietybooks.bsky.social. You can find two copies in the rare books room @thembauk.bsky.social 📖 BL.48/A
October 29, 2025 at 9:30 AM
It's #SeaSlugDay! To celebrate we have selected these beautiful illustrations from 'A Monograph of the British Nudibranchiate Mollusca' volume 1, published by @raysocietybooks.bsky.social. You can find two copies in the rare books room @thembauk.bsky.social 📖 BL.48/A
Drop your guesses to @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social if you know the 🦀 in their species spotlight
October 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Drop your guesses to @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social if you know the 🦀 in their species spotlight
We've made it to 400 followers 🥳 thank you to everyone that has followed, liked and shared - we really appreciate you all 😀
Let us know how we're doing and if there's anything you'd like to see more of - rare books, archive material, behind the scenes or anything else we've missed.
Let us know how we're doing and if there's anything you'd like to see more of - rare books, archive material, behind the scenes or anything else we've missed.
October 20, 2025 at 9:11 AM
We've made it to 400 followers 🥳 thank you to everyone that has followed, liked and shared - we really appreciate you all 😀
Let us know how we're doing and if there's anything you'd like to see more of - rare books, archive material, behind the scenes or anything else we've missed.
Let us know how we're doing and if there's anything you'd like to see more of - rare books, archive material, behind the scenes or anything else we've missed.
Time for another #TrickyTaxonThursday and this time we found an illustration of the common octopus from the plate volume of 'Histoire naturelle generale et particuliere des cephalopodes acetabuliferes vivants et fossiles' by A de Ferussac, 1835-1848 🐙
October 16, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Time for another #TrickyTaxonThursday and this time we found an illustration of the common octopus from the plate volume of 'Histoire naturelle generale et particuliere des cephalopodes acetabuliferes vivants et fossiles' by A de Ferussac, 1835-1848 🐙
Happy #HagfishDay! To celebrate these slippery ocean dwellers, we found this lovely illustration (1 on the plate image) of Myxine glutinosa, or the 'Glutinous Hag', taken from 'The Naturalist's Library. volume 37. Ichthyology. British Fishes Part 2 by R. Hamilton, 1854 📖BL.65/J
October 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Happy #HagfishDay! To celebrate these slippery ocean dwellers, we found this lovely illustration (1 on the plate image) of Myxine glutinosa, or the 'Glutinous Hag', taken from 'The Naturalist's Library. volume 37. Ichthyology. British Fishes Part 2 by R. Hamilton, 1854 📖BL.65/J
Time to celebrate our photosynthetic pals as today is #WorldAlgaeDay! You can find out more about the work @thembauk.bsky.social is doing to understand and protect our algal allies at buff.ly/grsdnhj
October 12, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Time to celebrate our photosynthetic pals as today is #WorldAlgaeDay! You can find out more about the work @thembauk.bsky.social is doing to understand and protect our algal allies at buff.ly/grsdnhj
Finishing up our #cephalopod celebrations we have #SquidAndCuttlefish day! Here we have a colour illustration of Sepia officinalis from ' A History of British Mollusca and their shells' and a large fold out illustration of Histioteuthis bonnellii from the Valdivia expedition reports 🦑
October 10, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Finishing up our #cephalopod celebrations we have #SquidAndCuttlefish day! Here we have a colour illustration of Sepia officinalis from ' A History of British Mollusca and their shells' and a large fold out illustration of Histioteuthis bonnellii from the Valdivia expedition reports 🦑
It's #NautilusNight!
To shell-ebrate we have this beautiful illustration of the shell of the chambered nautilus, taken from an 18th Century book on shells by GW Knorr
To shell-ebrate we have this beautiful illustration of the shell of the chambered nautilus, taken from an 18th Century book on shells by GW Knorr
October 9, 2025 at 8:51 AM
It's #NautilusNight!
To shell-ebrate we have this beautiful illustration of the shell of the chambered nautilus, taken from an 18th Century book on shells by GW Knorr
To shell-ebrate we have this beautiful illustration of the shell of the chambered nautilus, taken from an 18th Century book on shells by GW Knorr
Time for another #cephalopod as today is #WorldOctopusDay! To celebrate our eight armed friends, our Library Assistant has chosen one of her favourite illustrations - Muusoctopus levis from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899 🐙
October 8, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Time for another #cephalopod as today is #WorldOctopusDay! To celebrate our eight armed friends, our Library Assistant has chosen one of her favourite illustrations - Muusoctopus levis from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899 🐙
From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters
October 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters
While looking through our rare books collection for an illustration of a polychaete worm - as you do - we came across this delightful pressed leaf from a folio of polychaete illustrations by Elsie Sexton c. 1914 🍁
September 18, 2025 at 1:52 PM
While looking through our rare books collection for an illustration of a polychaete worm - as you do - we came across this delightful pressed leaf from a folio of polychaete illustrations by Elsie Sexton c. 1914 🍁