For anyone interested in science, activism, and inside-outside strategizing, I strongly recommend "Let the Record Show" by Sarah Schulman, which talks about Dr. Long and her incredible work.

This was a tough one to write, and I took a bit of a personal risk sharing my own career-long process of discovery from tentatively swayed by the potential for deep-sea mining to convinced that we are simply not ready.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku: What to know, How you can help Angelo Villagomez Saipan Mariana Trench Guam Ocean Conservation Culture Chamorro Indigenous

Super Typhoon Sinlaku: What to know, How you can help

www.angelovillagomez.com/2026/04/supe...

Whoi biologist, Dick Backus, is using a machine to see if plankton are migrating with the eclipse. The room is filled with complex equipment and wires, suggesting a scientific or technical environment.

In 1963, WHOI biologist Dick Backus set his sights on a question that had puzzled scientists for decades: what caused the daily vertical movement of plankton? The sun or an internal clock?

During an eclipse, Backus was able to monitor that the migration was triggered by changing light levels!

A long, skinny map titled: "Life and Travels of the European Eel" with a subtitle reading: "From the Eel's Perspective." A label at the bottom of the map reads: "Begin Here." The map top half of the map is an mirror copy of the bottom half. I will put the full text of the column in the alt text in an image in the next post in the thread. The map goes from the bottom of the page up, starting in the Sargasso Sea. An set of arrows show the eels paths to shore, then up a river and into a marshland. The arrows continue up the page to show the eel leaving the marshland and heading back downstream, and out to sea. The land is green and verdant at the bottom of the map, because the eels migrate upstream in the spring. The land is brown and dry at the top of the map, because eels migrate downstream in the autumn. A column of text on the side tells about the eels' journeys and changes. It is more text than I can relate in the space allowed here. Each paragraph has an arrow pointing up to the next one, and they are designed to be read from the bottom of the page going upwards.

Several years ago, on a whim, I started drawing a map of an eel's life travels as seen by the eel.

I figured an eel thinks about its life as a linear journey, rather than a there-and-back again adventure. So I wanted to do a map to reflect this.

This morning, on another whim, I finished the map!

A jewel-toned lobster faces the camera, with long horns and spiky bits all over the exoskeleton. It's on a wooden board. The coloration is ornate and very multi-colored, from purple to yellow to blue to orange. There are five species of rock lobster found in tropical Australian waters, but by far the most abundant is the Ornate Rock Lobster, Panulirus ornatus. This species forms the basis of dive fishery in both the Torres Straits and in the Gulf of Papua. CSIRO scientists have traced the movements of these lobsters to reveal a remarkable picture of animal migration. The lobsters undertake a journey that takes them hundreds of kilometres across the Torres Strait to their breeding grounds in the Gulf of Papua. After breeding, they seem to disappear. November 1985. Photo credit: Robert Kerton

I'd like to introduce you to Panulirus ornatus, the ornate rock lobster.

They're native to the Indo-Pacific, with a large range centered on New Guinea & the Great Barrier Reef near Australia.

They're a member of family Palinuridae, the spiny or rock lobsters.

So why so colorful?

Inland Ocean Ambassadors - Inland Ocean Coalition Are you passionate about protecting our ocean and looking to make a difference? We often hear that the ocean is in trouble […]

We need ocean advocates now more than ever! If you would benefit from this free training from @usoceanprotection.bsky.social partner @inlandoceanco.bsky.social, apply today, or share widely. inlandoceancoalition.org/inland-ocean...

ok now i will believe that Bluesky is getting close to the glory days of Olde Ocean Twitter

I love this crab so much.

A very tiny, but very beautiful larval-stage Diamond Squid - this one just about 1/2” TL.

#thysanoteuthisrhombus #thysanoteuthis #diamondsquid #squid #🦑 #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #chrisgug #fugunderwater #gug

Diamondback Squid (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) Diamondback Squid from Philippines on May 8, 2020 at 09:07 AM by mbartick

Thysanoteuthis doin' some space ship impression! #molluscmonday www.inaturalist.org/observations...

25 rectangular pictures of close ups of animals with different patterns that would make good prints. We’ve got purple and green stripes on a chiton, there’s blue rings on a yellow octopus, there’s navy blue and sky blue triangular tartan on a velvet worm, mottled black spots overlaid on a rainbow gradient on a lizard, blue and green eye spots on a turtle shell, labyrinthine ridges on brain coral, red and white candy stripes on an amphipod, Rorschach test blots on a crab, and teal and coral colored geometric shapes on a beetle.

I made this a while ago. There are some vertebrates in here but the inverts steal the show. I especially love the triangular plaid on the velvet worm.

This Monument Is the Latest Casualty in Trump’s War on Public Lands Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument could be opened up to commercial fishing

Sadly, the Trump admin is trying to undo this exact monument. I spoke with @sierramagazine.bsky.social's @keakrause.bsky.social about why defending it is crucial.

On a happier note: how wild is it we share a planet with the largest animal to ever exist? 2/2

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/monum...

Endangered Blue Whales Spotted Off the New England Coast for First Time in 3 Years In rare sightings, scientists spotted endangered blue whales during two aerial surveys 24 hours apart off the coast of New England. Researchers say Western North Atlantic population may include only 4...

Good Friday ocean news! 🐋 @newenglandaquarium.bsky.social spotted endangered blue whales in the Northeast Canyons & Seamounts. It even made People Magazine! Proof the public deeply loves our remote offshore waters. 🧵 1/2 people.com/scientists-s...

Trump Explores Deep Sea Mining in American Samoa - Inside Climate News Even as opposition grows and the U.S. territory maintains a moratorium on seabed mining, NOAA began a $20 million survey of surrounding federal waters to help locate deep sea mineral deposits.

Maybe it's a "lottery ticket" for industry, but it threatens local culture and ocean stewardship. See how American Samoans are pushing back against seabed mining in their waters with national support @insideclimatenews.org tinyurl.com/msv3axu2

@pptsapper.bsky.social, thought of you

See a 163-Year-Old Civil War Shipwreck in Stunning Detail With These New High-Resolution Sonar Images The USS "Monitor" was the U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship. The vessel, which sank off of North Carolina in 1862, revolutionized naval warfare

This is extremely cool. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/s...

Amazing footage of a living foraminiferan, a type of single-celled ocean plankton that extends long thin gelatinous tendrils of cytoplasm through its shell to forage.

Like some cosmic dandelion, drifting through the ether, shimmering and electric

Special thanks to @katieocean.bsky.social for pointing out that LinkedIn links don't work that well and suggesting a thread!

The Urgency Does Not Exist: My statement on Deep-sea Mining to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources This week, I was invited to testify in front of Congress on the environmental and social impacts of deep-sea mining for the House Natural Resources Committee hearing Deep Dive: Examining the Regula…

Finally, the "urgency" for these seabed minerals simply does not exist right now. Read deep sea ecologist's @drandrewthaler.bsky.social recent congressional testimony expertly dismantling the industry narrative. We need evidence. 4/4 www.southernfriedscience.com/the-urgency-...

I've explored the ocean's deepest part. Trump wants to destroy it. | Opinion I've been to the Mariana Trench. The choice is clear: Protect one of earth's last frontiers or destroy it before we even understand what we're losing.

But this opposition is also fundamentally about the science. If you want to understand the sheer ecological stakes of mining one of the earth's least understood ecosystems, you need to read @deepseadawn.bsky.social's fantastic recent op-ed. 3/4 www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Guam objects to Trump administration plan to allow deep-sea mining in western Pacific The Trump administration wants to allow deep-sea mining for critical minerals near the American territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Residents are worried about environmental impacts.

As the rush to mine the seafloor accelerates, communities in Pacific territories are forced onto the front lines without voting representation in Congress. I was very pleased to see @npr.org giving this major equity and sovereignty issue national attention yesterday. www.npr.org/2026/03/10/n... 2/4

If you follow ocean policy, you know that the Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. As this… | M... If you follow ocean policy, you know that the Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. As this head...

The Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. I put a little primer over at LinkedIn, but here's a thread so you don't have to click through. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... 🧵 1/4

Dive into Wool Creature Lab's World of Vibrant Felted Nudibranchs How artist Arina Bovenich's job at a remote biology research station transformed into a unique craft practice.

Okay, here’s today’s assignment: celebrate the joy of nudibranchs. First: read this thoroughly wonderful piece on artist Arina Bovenich and her felted nudibranchs. Tiny wool sea slugs. Maximum delight. If this doesn’t spark joy, nothing will.
#Nudibranchs #OceanHoptimism

Research Highlight: Scripps and the Science behind the D-Day Landings Note: Walter Munk and his wife, Mary Coakley Munk, will be in Normandy in early June to attend events commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day.Guests visiting Walter Munk’s home may lose track of t...

Needs more Munk scripps.ucsd.edu/news/researc...

ARGH! thank you for letting me know, this is indeed the feedback i seek! i will do a full thread later. seems like LI isn't a good blog replacement as i had potentially envisioned.

Let me know if this posting experiment worked! I'm still playing with how best to use LinkedIn and Bluesky after my hiatus.

If you follow ocean policy, you know that the Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. As this… | M... If you follow ocean policy, you know that the Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. As this head...

If you follow ocean policy, the Trump admin’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is THE ocean issue right now. From Guam’s fight on the frontlines (glad NPR covered this yesterday!) to the shaky economics, I put a little primer on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Timeline cleanse!