I think I lived an entire lifetime the past decade, honestly.

@oceanemily.bsky.social found a color-image of this Doliolida nurse 'morph' (taxa?) captured by a blackwater dive photographer. I wish it answered any of my questions!!! Absolutely stunning photo that creates more questions.

I wish I had the ability to sit back and just observe. Maybe with more age it will come.

It blew my mind to meet (seemingly) every single person that wrote a manuscript I found inspirational.

Contacted a few 'doliolid/image experts' and they are also perplexed. A cordycep-like fungus, because doliolid is still moving (in the water column) but also has long filaments, is my fun hypothesis that conveniently is not my problem to investigate further via molecular methods.

Oh hey, that's a Siphonophore that I encounter frequently using shadowgraph imaging in the South Atlantic Bight off the SE, USA coast. They aren't the only "oddly geometic" gelatinous zooplankton I've noticed. I added another image of a different species I don't have time (in my PhD) to identify.