Michael Middlebrooks
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secretsluglab.bsky.social
Michael Middlebrooks
@secretsluglab.bsky.social
1.1K followers 280 following 260 posts
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
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secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes. The oyster shell is mostly white with some dirty yellow/brown edges. A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes.
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
Some lovely nudibranchs for #seaslugday. These photos are from this summer when I was scuba diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. #invertebrates 🦑
An orange cladobranch nudibranch with white tips on rhinophores and tentacles. The slug has a white stripe on the body and some blue dots at the tip of the cerata. It is sitting on an orange sponge. A dorid nudibranch sea slug. The slug has a cream yellow mantle skirt with a thin black edge. The foot is white. The gills, center of the slug and rhinophores are orange. There is a wavy black line around the orange part of the center of the slug's body. A very colorful dorid nudibranch. The slug has a brown body with orange stripes. The gills and rhinophores are bright orange. There are also some yellow and blue areas around the head and tail. An adorable white dorid nudibranch. The slug has black rhinophores and yellow spots that vary in size on the dorsal part of the body. The gills are white with black trim.
October 29, 2025 at 5:31 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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!)
Michael Middlebrooks, a man with glass and long hair, sitting below a large singing clown on some stairs in an auditorium. The clown has on a white clown suit with black trim and is wearing a small golden crown.
September 25, 2025 at 2:12 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑🦀
A cute carrier crab in an aquarium. The crab is red with large claws and is carrying a white colonial tunicate on its back.
September 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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🧪🦑
A yellow nudibranch see slug with dark purple spots. The spots have a white border around them. The slugs' mantle is has a purple edge. In the gills of the slug you can see some purple parasitic copepod eggs sticking out.
August 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑
A photograph of the velutinid snail Coriocella nigra. The snail does not have a visible shell because it is covered by the mantle. The snail is velvety black green in color and has five large lobes on the dorsal side plus a siphon sticking forward which looks similar to the lobe. The snail is sitting on some red calcareous algae next to some orange coral polyps which are retracted.
August 11, 2025 at 6:53 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑
A small flatworm photographed under the microscope. The flatworm has two small eye spots towards the head and a bright orange band in the middle of the its body.
August 8, 2025 at 7:03 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
This hermit crab may have been a bit ambitious with the choice of shell. #hermit #crustacean #invertebrate #Indonesia #Komodo 🦑 🦀
A small red hermit crab poking out of a shell that is way too large for it. The crab has black eyes and is sitting in the sand.
August 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑🧪
The sea slug Elysia diomedea. The slug is green with some white spots on the body. The parapodia are quite ruffly with some yellow around the edges. The rhinophores of the slug have black and yellow stripes running from the tip towards the eye of the slug. The eye is a small black dot on the head. The slug is sitting on a mixture of red algae.
August 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
Two extremely attractive people posing behind a large Komodo dragon. The people are wearing grey shirts and smiling. The Komodo dragon looks like it might be smelling a flower, but probably is just resting near the flower.
July 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
Scanning electron micrographs of the radula from Elysia chlorotica. A, Complete radula of E. chlorotica. B, Leading tooth of E. chlorotica. C, Leading tooth magnified to illustrate serrated cusp of tooth on the leading edge and housing depression on the trailing edge.
July 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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....
A composite photo of two specimens of the sea slug Elysia chlorotica. The slug is green in color and looks almost like a leaf with small rhinophores on the head. The photo on the left, labeled A, is a lighter green color and is the specimen from Tampa Bay. The one on the right labeled B, is from Massachusetts, and is a darker color green. There is a 1cm scale bar on the image.
July 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
A photograph of the sea slug Elysia zuleicae. The slug is brownish green with a pointed tail and large rhinophores. The eyes are small black dots at the base of the rhinophores. The slug is crawling over a flat mass of filaments of the green algae Udotea.
June 3, 2025 at 12:19 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑
A very colorful lettuce sea slug, Elysia crispata. This slug has frilly parapodia that are white at the tip followed by a red band and then a yellow band. The body of the animal is green, but parts of it are blue and it also has some large white and yellow spots. The slug is sitting on some limestone on a coral reef. A top down view of the dorsal side of a lettuce sea slug, Elysia crispata. The slug is sitting on some limestone on a coral reef surrounded by algae. The slug has ruffly parapodia with a white edge followed by a red band, followed by a yellow band. The slugs body color is a greenish turquoise. The rhinophores are white.
May 28, 2025 at 12:18 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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!
Photograph of several scuba divers cleaning coral nursery trees. The trees are an arrangement of PVC suspended in the water with small coral colonies hanging from them.
May 17, 2025 at 1:59 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
I had my annual end of the year celebration with my research students last night. One of them brought in this cookie cake! #sluglife
A big cookie cake that is decorated with a picture of a green Elysia chlorotica sea slug. The cake also says "2025" down each side, "Congrats" at the top, and "Abbie, Anja, Grace" at bottom.
May 6, 2025 at 8:47 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
The nudibranch sea slug Plocamopherus lucayensis. The slug is a red/orange color with some purple spots on its body. There are purple rings around the base of its rhinophores. The gills are white. The slug is crawling on a brown colony of bryozoans.
May 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
Sometimes your potted plants include a secret frog. #secretfrog
Some plants in them sitting on a balcony. The plant in the center is has long light green and somewhat spikey leaves. A small tree frog hiding wedged in between some leaves in the middle of a plant. The leaves are green and the from is yellowish brown color.
April 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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 🦑
A hermit crab with red/orange striped legs wearing a shell that has barnacles and a large anemone on it. The anemone has a small nudibranch feeding on it. A close up view on an anemone with purple base and white tips on the tentacles. There is a nudibranch, Spurilla braziliana, that is yellow in color with white spots. The slug has curly cerata and is feeding on the anemone. A close up view on an anemone with purple base and white tips on the tentacles. There is a nudibranch, Spurilla braziliana, that is yellow in color with white spots. The slug has curly cerata and is feeding on the anemone.
April 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
A pair of juvenile Elysia crispata sea slugs. The slugs are mostly green with rolled rhinophores and ruffly paradpodia. A juvenile Elysia crispata sea slug. The slug is yellowish green with rolled rhinophores and ruffly paradpodia. A pile of small lettuce sea slugs, Elysia crispata, sitting on top on some mixed filamentous algae. The slugs are green with ruffly parapodia and they are in an aquarium.
April 19, 2025 at 2:03 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
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
Several blades of the invasive seagrass species Halophila stipulacea which was part of a much larger seagrass bed.
March 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
I also found one with a some different coloration, which happens sometimes with this species.
A headshield slug with an orange/red body and blue and black stripes in a seagrass bed.
March 30, 2025 at 3:46 PM
secretsluglab.bsky.social
Some of them were even depositing eggs!
A orange headshield slug with blue and black stripes laying eggs in a seagrass meadow.
March 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM