One of the most amazing things about sea slugs is the diversity of morphology! Here's a thread of some the amazing shapes of nudibranchs our scientists have found in the field.
First up check out these colors! 😍
This gorgeous green nudibranchs was photographed by Chela Zabin in the Phillipines. #SeaSlugSquad
But what if you prefer stripes to one standard color? 🤔
Or spots? Nudibranchs have it all!
Now let's look at how different their body shapes can be!
Nudibranchs' cerrata can be in many different shapes, branched or curly, and different colors, some with shooting venomous nematocysts.
Or maybe intense cerrata aren't your favorite... Perhaps a more simple shape and color is to your style?
Some sea slugs still even have a pronounced shell!
Don't forget size! Even though these two are the same colors, the one on the left (on a bryozoan colony) is many times smaller than the one on the right (in a sandwich Tupperware).
Basically what we're saying is that you never know what to expect when you find a sea slug. And that is part of the joy of finding them!
Eek! We've been so busy studying the two biggest estuaries in the US, we almost forgot about #EstuariesWeek
As part of the #FoulingProject we are collecting samples from marinas around both #ChesBay and #SFBay
Please help us welcome our 2020 #intern class! Some of the class is virtual, focusing on coding and data analysis, while a few of our interns will be able to do limited socially distant #fieldwork.
First up is Rémy Barbiéro! Rémy is a rising senior at @Occidental, and will be working on the #ZombieCrabs Project. Rémy will help create a #CitizenScience project on @the_zooniverse to count parasitized crabs from Chesapeake Bay. Welcome!
Time to meet another of our amazing summer #interns
Welcome Tyler Kempton! Tyler is a local high school student who is working on using #R to prepare an analyze data from our #InvaderID project. He works with the @SmithsonianEnv Citizen Science department.
Nuestro proyecto #cienciaciudadana#InvaderID acaba de ser traducido al español! Nosotros colaboramos con muchos científicos hispanoparlantes en Suramérica y Europa, y estamos super emocionados de difundir nuestro amor por los invertebrados a estudiantes alrededor del mundo.
Nuestra excelente voluntaria Luz Futrell tradujo al español todas las instrucciones para el proyecto en línea. Estamos muy agradecidos por todo su arduo trabajo para aumentar el alcance de nuestro proyecto y...
...estamos asombrados por todo el maravilloso trabajo realizado por los voluntarios en esta investigación tan especial.
Our #citizenscience project #InvaderID on @the_zooniverse has just been translated into Spanish! We collaborate with many Spanish-speaking scientists in South America and Europe, and we're excited to spread the invertebrate love to interested students around the world!
Our amazing volunteer, Luz Futrell, translated all the instructions for the online project into Spanish. We are so appreciative of her hard work to increase the reach of our project and are amazed by all the wonderful work done by volunteers on this special research.
To view the project in Spanish, follow the link to Invader ID below and look for a tab to switch languages at the top menu.
1/4-Thirty-one major ports in the Northern Hemisphere over a wide range of latitudes and salinities were selected to evaluate: a) how natural communities compare to challenge requirements and b) the abundance of unregulated size fractions. #BallastWater#PlanktonSampling#Thread
2/4-Phytoplankton <10 μm comprised over 80% of total abundance and yet are unregulated. Some of the organisms in this size class pose serious threats to ecosystem, fisheries and human health. #BallastWater#PlanktonSampling#Thread