Michael Middlebrooks
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secretsluglab.bsky.social
Michael Middlebrooks
@secretsluglab.bsky.social
Invertebrate Zoologist, Scuba Diver, Adventurer. I teach Invertebrate Zoology at the U. of Tampa and research photosymbiosis, natural history, and ecology of sea slugs in the Secret Slug Lab. I'm interested in things. https://go.ted.com/michaelmiddlebrooks
We found oyster spiders today during my oyster lab field trip for my Invertebrate Zoology class! These are marine spiders! They have special setae (hairs) that trap air and let them live underwater. #invertebrates #spider
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Some lovely nudibranchs for #seaslugday. These photos are from this summer when I was scuba diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. #invertebrates 🦑
October 29, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I'm so excited to see @puddlespityparty.bsky.social open for Weird Al tonight! The last Puddles show I went to was pure magic. (That's me with Puddles!)
September 25, 2025 at 2:12 PM
We had one of my favorite crabs in the invertebrate teaching lab today! This is Dromidia sp. a carrier crab. Their last pair of legs is modified to carry sponges and other animals as a defensive mechanism. This one is carrying a colonial tunicate. #invertebrates 🦑🦀
September 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Two for one invertebrates for #InverteFest. Here is the nudibranch Hypselodoris tryoni, in Komodo Indonesia, where you can see the purple eggs of a parasitic copepod sticking out from the slug's gill pocket.
#sluglife #nudibranch🧪🦑
August 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
One of my favorite snails, the velutinid Coriocella nigra! Velutinid snails have an internal shell so they often get mistaken for slugs or other organisms. I saw this one while scuba diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia last month. #molluscmonday #snail #invertebrate #komodo #indonesia 🦑
August 11, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I spent some time today looking a this cool little flatworm under the microscope. I love the orange band! Anyone know who this is? #invertebrate #flatworm 🦑
August 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM
This hermit crab may have been a bit ambitious with the choice of shell. #hermit #crustacean #invertebrate #Indonesia #Komodo 🦑 🦀
August 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
I've got another new paper out this week, this time in Symbiosis! In this paper we use DNA barcoding to describe the diet of the sacoglossan sea slug Elysia diomedea from the Gulf of California, Mexico. Read it here: rdcu.be/ezcoD
#sluglife #invertebrates #slug #academicsky 🦑🧪
August 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Here are a few of the nudibranchs that I was able to film while visiting Komodo National Park in Indonesia earlier this month. #nudibranch #slug #invertebrate #indonesia #scuba 🦑
July 30, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Komodo dragon going for a stroll on Rinca island in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. #komodo #dragon #indonesia #lizard #biglizardinmybackyard
July 24, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Recently got back from an amazing trip to Flores, Indonesia with @elizabeth-in-fla.bsky.social. We had some fantastic scuba dives and got to see some wild Komodo dragons! They are so cool! #indonesia #komodo #dragon
July 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Also check out these awesome radula photos that my student Samantha Schlegel took for the paper! In sacoglossans the radula is a microscopic tooth-like structure that they use to pierce the algae that they feed on.
#microscopy #radula #mollusca
July 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Very excited to share the discovery of a new population of the sacoglossan sea slug Elysia chlorotica in Tampa Bay! The new paper is out online now!
#seaslug #sacoglossan #invertebrate #academicsky

doi.org/10.4003/006....
July 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
The sacoglossan sea slug Elysia zuleicae in Roatan, Honduras crawling around on the algae Udotea sp. This slug is a specialist herbivore, feeding and living on Udotea. #sluglife #invertebrates
June 3, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Look at the colors on these sea slugs! These must be the most colorful lettuce slugs, Elysia crispata, that I have ever found. I ran across these two on a dive in Roatan, Honduras while I was there teaching my Coral Reefs course. #sluglife #invertebrates 🦑
May 28, 2025 at 12:18 PM
I'm in Roatan, Honduras teaching my Coral Reefs class. Yesterday my students took part in some of the coral restoration efforts by cleaning the coral nursery and outplanting a few coral colonies. Today is their underwater lab practical exam. I love getting students underwater and into the field!
May 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I had my annual end of the year celebration with my research students last night. One of them brought in this cookie cake! #sluglife
May 6, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Here is a lovely nudibranch sea slug, Plocamopherus lucayensis. I found this slug crawling on a colony of Bryozoans, which is what it eats, while I was scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico. #sluglife #nudibranch #invertebrate
May 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Sometimes your potted plants include a secret frog. #secretfrog
April 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Fun surprise in my Invertebrate Zoology lab! Today we were covering crustaceans so I was showing my students a hermit crab that wears anemones on its shell. Then I noticed that there was a nudibranch (Spurilla braziliana) eating one of the anemones!

#sluglife #invertebrate 🦑
April 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
We've got baby slugs! My students have been raising this batch of Elysia crispata lettuce sea slugs from eggs in the lab. They are growing so fast! #sluglife #invertebrate 🦑 #babyanimals
April 19, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Although I quite enjoyed exploring this and other seagrass beds in the BVI, unfortunately all of the seagrass I saw there was the invasive Halophila stipulacea. #seagrass #invasivespecies
March 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I also found one with a some different coloration, which happens sometimes with this species.
March 30, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Some of them were even depositing eggs!
March 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM