iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Some recent(ish) #pottery outta the kiln! 1: birdbath, 2: drippy cake stand, 3: vase crackled with sodium silicate, 4: oil bottles.

Ceramic bird bath, mostly blue with some tan and white mottling from another glaze.

Ceramic cake stand with vertical grooves carved into the plate edge and the pedestal. Green glaze applied at the top of the grooves with a cream glaze over the whole cake stand, the green glaze has flowed into the groves and left some glaze drips on the edge of the plate.

A vase with a noticeable cracking texture through the middle of it. Blue glaze applied to the whole thing and then wiped away where the cracks are, so there is blue at the top and the bottom of the vase and then blue inside the cracks themselves.

Four ceramic oil bottles with metal pourers at the tip. The bottle on the left has vertical grooves carved into it and a green glaze flowing down into the grooves with a cream glaze applied over it; the next bottle has vertical grooves carved into it with a purple glaze flowing down into a greenish-blue glaze; the third bottle has a blue glaze at the top and a cream glaze at the bottom; the final bottle has blue glaze at the top and a green-ish blue glaze at the bottom. All four bottles have indents in body of the bottle to make it easier to pick up and hold the bottles.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Baby sunflower star, Pycnopodia helianthoides. My first time seeing live ones in the wild since 2013! 🤩😍

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Spent some time in Bermuda last week with my face in the water. It was pretty lovely, lots of #corals and #seahares and #fishes and even a #nudibranch.

A variety of corals, mostly purple, gray, and light brown, with Atlantic Sergeant Major fish swimming around. The water is aqua blue.

A Spotted Seahare in between two Purple Sea Fans.

A mostly yellow Rainbow Parrotfish behind a coral.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Great low tides this week — get out to the #tidepools if you can! Got up early yesterday to find these #nudibranch gems.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Spent a couple morning low tides this week in the #tidepools near Morro Bay. Saw some fun stuff, like #nudibranchs, including the tiniest Hopkins' Rose I've ever seen!

A very tiny Hopkins' Rose nudibranch, all pink with pink cerata.

Festive Tritonid nudibranch, whitish-yellow with diamond & circle patterns on its back in white.

Opalescent nudibranch, electric blue with orange cerata, on red algae.

A tiny Red Dorid nudibranch, dark orange, with sand on its back.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Lots of sparkly Branched Dendronotid #nudibranchs (Dendronotus venustus) hanging out on the docks in Morro Bay today.

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Reposted by Alison Young

iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

The latest update to our free and fun Seek by iNaturalist app adds more than 60k species to its image recognition model! It will now also use your location to provide more accurate IDs! www.inaturalist.org/seek

A hand holds a smartphone in front of a plant with blue flowers. The phone's screen is open to the Seek by iNaturalist app and the app identifies the plant as Blueblossom.

Next to the phone, text says "New Update. Seek can now identify over 80,000 species & uses your location to provide you even more accurate identifications.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Just tryna live my best #lowtidelife, getting out to the #tidepools when I can! Yesterday was big surf & a mediocre low tide, but still managed to find a good group of #nudibranchs & thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Hopkins' Rose nudibranch with lots of pink cerata & dark pink rhinophores.

Opalecent nudibranch, with electric blue margins & lines on its body and orange cerata with white tips.

Sea Lemon aka Noble Dorid, yellow with dark spots on its back between the papillae.

Black & White Dorid, with lots of white cerata tipped with black, and light red gills & rhinophores.

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Reposted by Alison Young

iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

🎉 Celebrating 100,000 Modeled Taxa in the iNaturalist Open Range Map Dataset! To mark this milestone, we're making model-generated distribution data even more accessible. Explore, analyze, and use this data to power biodiversity research! 🌍🔍 www.inaturalist.org/posts/106918

inaturalist.org

Celebrating 100,000 Modeled Taxa with the iNaturalist Open Range Map Dataset

A Major Milestone for Biodiversity Mapping We passed a major milestone with today’s update to iNaturalist’s Computer Vision and Geomodel—100,000 modeled taxa! To mark this achievement, we’re excited t...

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Literally the best selfie I have ever taken. No notes. #nudibranch #tidepools

Photo taken under the water in a tidepool, facing up towards the sky. On the surface of the water is a pink Hopkins' Rose nudibranch, floating upside down, perfectly covering the photographer's face.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Okay but hear me out: intertidal snails have the cutest faces. #tidepools #snails

Painted Wentletrap snail (Epitonium tinctum) with a highly scalloped, long white shell, and a cute little face.

Threaded Bittium (Neostylidium eschrichtii) snail with a yellowish shell and a cute mostly long white face with darker stripes.

A Velutinid snail (Family Velutinidae) with its mottled white mantle covering its thin inner shell, and a cute face mostly translucent face with yellow spots on it.

A tiny Pear Marginella (Granulina margaritula) snail, with its colorful black and orange and blue and yellow mantle partway up its yellowish-pink shell, a long translucent foot with a yellow stripe sticking out the back, and a cute little translucent-ish white-ish face with some yellow.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

One of my fun finds from the weekend in the #tidepools was this baby Giant California Sea Cucumber! I've only ever found them farther north and have only ever seen them full-grown, so it was an unexpected sighting.

A small sea cucumber on a blade of red algae. The cucumber is mottled pink and white on its back, with pointed, bulbous projections. Its underside and tube feet are white.

Close up of the organism in the previous picture, focused on its head. You can see the frilly ends of its oral tentacles sticking out from underneath it.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Spent both days this weekend in the #tidepools at a couple of my favorite sites. Things felt a bit churned up from the recent storms, but still spotted many cool creatures, including many #nudibranchs. Here are a few of them.

A Hopkins' Rose nudibranch, bright pink with pink cerata, pink rhinophores, and pink gills.

A Black-tipped Spiny Dorid, a white nudibranch with many short white cerata tipped with black, looking like a cute little fluffy sea bunny with long white rhinophores tipped with red and black and a tuft of red gills.

A Warty Shag Rug Nudibranch. It's mostly pinkish-peach in color, with peachy cerata with brown splotches on them. Its rhinophores are grayish in color with little "warts" on them. It has a white band going across its head and onto its oral tentacles.

A Modest Cadlina Dorid nudibranch, pale yellow in color with tiny, bright yellow dots along its edges.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Today was #FatInnkeeperWorm day! Searching the mud flats of Bodega Bay for these worms and other interesting bay creatures.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

My favorite souvenir from #COP16 in Cali, Colombia. Now more pertinent than ever. Print from La Linterna: lalinternacali.com

A framed print of three Orcas in the waves, done in a pop-art style with bright colors and patterns. The poster reads "Migration is natural | La Migración es Natural | No Borders"

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

'Tis the season for California Fetid Adderstongue flowers! Took a little iNaturalist staff field trip to say hi to these stinky yet beautiful blooms. #fetidadderstongue #inaturalist

A closeup of a Fetid Adderstongue flower. There are three larger petals that are pointed oval in shape, white with purple stripes, and in between them, three narrow, linear petals, white and purple.

A Fetid Adderstongue plant with two flowers, coming up from two leaves. The leaves are large and bright green with darker, brown spots that look like bruises.

A Fetid Adderstongue plant with three flowers.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Happy Lunar New Year! For the Year of the Snake, here's one of my favorite #snake friends, the Sharp-tailed Snake. They eat slugs so they like hanging out in my backyard & garden. #lunarnewyear #yearofthesnake

A sharp-tailed snake in a person's hand. The snake has a predominantly brown back, but with 2 pinkish stripes running down the sides. The snake has twisted itself into an infinty-symbol shape in the middle.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Not us waiting patiently for a Virginia Rail to emerge from the reeds while we were watching Sandhill Cranes... only to have our only glimpse be in the grasp of this Barn Owl. 😂

A Barn Owl in flight, with a Virginia Rail held in its mouth. The owl is holding the neck of the rail and the rail's wings and legs are outstretched.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

The cacophony of a thousand Sandhill Cranes flying in at sunset.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Six-armed #seastars (Leptasterias spp.) can be pretty amusing when they're regrowing arms. Good for a chuckle in the #tidepools. 📸 1 & 2: shooting stars 📸 3: big-little-big-little-big-litte 📸 4: when every day is leg day 😂

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Tiny #seastars = big joy. ⭐ 1: Six-armed star (Leptasterias sp.) 2: Mottled Henricia (Henricia pumila) 3: Purple Sun Star (Solaster endeca) 4: Bat star (Patiria miniata) #tidepools #tidepooling #starfish

A very tiny yellow six-armed star on a person's fingertip. The star is probably only a couple millimeters across.

A tiny yellowish-orange Mottled Henricia sea star on a peron's finger tip. The star has 5 arms and looks to be about half a centimeter across.

A small Purple Sun Star on a person's fingertip. The star has 8 arms, the center of its body is purple and it fades to an orange out on its arms. From arm tip to arm tip, the star looks to be about 2 centimeters across.

A small orange Bat Star on someone's finger tip. The star has 5 arms, 4 that look normal and 1 that looks like it might be damaged. The star looks to be about 2.5 centimeters across.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Marine inverts are my favorites, but I do love #birds as well. Some of my favorite finds in Hawai'i were #endemic birds in the forests of Mauna Kea. 1: ʻOmaʻo (Myadestes obscurus) 2: Hawai'i 'Elepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis) 3: ʻIʻiwi (Drepanis coccinea) 4: Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens)

ʻOmaʻo perched on a branch. It's a gray bird with a white stomach. Its size and shape are similar to an American Robin.

Hawai'i 'Elepaio clinging to a cluster of branches in a tree. It's a small rufous-colored bird with a buff chin and breast.

ʻIʻiwi perched on a branch hanging down from a tree. The bird is a honeycreeper, mostly red in color. It has black on the wings, a yellow shoulder, and a lighter reddish-orange dramatically curved bill.

Hawaiʻi ʻAmakihi perched on a branch in a tree. The bird is in shadow so the colors are muted, but it's a mostly yellow honeycreeper, with a brigher yellow on its breast and a darker yellow on its head and wings. It has a curved black bill.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

There were SO MANY PEOPLE out on the reef, but it was still a nice afternoon in the #tidepools, complete with some #nudibranchs.

A Cockerell's Dorid, a mostly white nudibranch with club-shaped cerata that are tipped with orange, and orange rhinophores.

The underside of a gumboot chiton, with its yellow foot visible, surrounded by its red mantle.

A channel in the tidepools. The water is cloudy, you can see some kelp under the water, and two large rocks on either side of the channel covered in mussels and kelp. The left rock has people on it as well.

A Spotted Dorid nudibranch. The nudibranch is orange with orange gills and orange rhinophores, and it has small white spots on its back.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

There are some very nice low tides coming up at the end of the week and through the weekend, I would recommend finding yourself some #tidepools to visit. Always happy to offer suggestions & tips for #tidepooling.

A rocky intertidal area at low tide, with rocks covered in various seaweeds extending out toward the ocean, in the background. In the very foreground are two ochre sea stars, one orange and one purple, right next to each other. Behind them other ochre sea stars are visible.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

I usually only find their shells, but spotting a live Appleseed Erato (Hespererato vitellina) in the #tidepools is magical – especially when they have their mantle out like this one. Extra bonus for the cute little amphipod friend whispering secrets.

An Appleseed Erato snail on a blade of red algae. The snail's shell is pink but you can only see a sliver of it, as most of the shell is covered by the snail's mantle, which is golden yellow and brown with black spots, and has fleshy "spikes" coming off of it. The snail's siphon is also visible and below that, its two tentacles. To the top left of the front of the snail is a very tiny purple-ish red amphipod.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Meet the colonial #hydroid Schuchertinia milleri, aka Miller hydractinia, hedgehog hydroid, or (my fave) snail fur. It ranges from Vancouver Island down to Monterey Bay. I've only spotted it a few times while #tidepooling, and it's a treat every time!

A cluster of Schuchertinia milleri hydroids. They're pink, and the longest ones are up to 5 mm (0.2 in) tall with a ring of 12 to 20 tentacles surrounding the mouth.

A zoomed-out view of the previous photo, which shows more of the cluster of Schuchertinia milleri hydroids.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Last sunset of 2024 | First sunrise of 2025

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Inverts are generally weird, polychaetes are definitely weird, & spoon worms are the weirdos of the polychaetes. They're cylindrical & soft-bodied with a non-retractable proboscis which can be rolled into a scoop-shape to feed. Here's Ochetostoma baronii, found while snorkeling in Baja. #InverteFest

A green and red spoon worm: it has a somewhat extended green proboscis, its body is vertically striped red & white, and it has an emerald green posterior end.

A closer shot of the green and red spoon worm: it has a somewhat extended green proboscis, its body is vertically striped red & white, and it has an emerald green posterior end.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I am always excited to find a Stalked Jelly (class Staurozoa)! Not all that much is known about them, but I think they're fascinating. Two species here: Manania gwilliami, spotted on the Sonoma Coast, & Haliclystus sanjuanensis, seen on the Puget Sound coast of the Olympic Peninsula. #InverteFest

A stalked jelly seen from the side. It is pink in color, attached with a basal disk to red algae, then has a stalk that widens toward the top, which looks cup-like, ringed with clusters of clubbed tentacles.

A stalked jelly seen looking straight down onto its top or cup. It has eight radiating "arms" that are topped with clusters of clubbed tentacles, golden yellow in color. These arms have a translucent white webbing between them. The jelly is on a background of green algae.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Nope, not a worm, not an anemone. These are Phoronids, aka horseshoe worms, & they're their own phylum! They're marine animals that filter-feed with a lophophore (that spiral (or horseshoe) crown of tentacles). These are Phoronopsis harmeri, found in Bodega Bay. #InverteFest #Phoronids

Phoronids sticking up out of sand. The one in focus has an upright tube (made of chitin) sticking out of the sand, and then a crown of tentacles at the top. The color is a pale green with some purple in the middle of the tube and at the tips of the tentacles.

A Phoronid sticking up out of sand. The photo is looking down at the tentacles, which seem to spiral on either side - a left spiral going counterclockwise and a right spiral going clockwise. The color is a pale green with some purple at the tips of the tentacles.

A group of Phoronids sticking up out of the sand. There are about a dozen in the photo, and you can see down onto their spirals of tentacles. They are pale green in color with some light purple at the tips of the tentacles.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Two inverts in one! A Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber) infected with Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 31 (Iridovirus armadillidium-i), turning it that lovely blue color. #InverteFest

A Common Rough Woodlouse (also known as a pillbug or roly-poly) infected with Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 31, making it a purplish-blue color.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

I think I won "coolest aunt ever" when I showed my then 5-year-old nephew how you could find #scorpions at night with a UV light. Spotted this one with him near Cabo Pulmo, Baja. Maaykuyak vittatus, part of the Devil Scorpion family. #InverteFest

A dark brown scorpion with some black spotting underneath a couple small twigs. It is brightly lit by a flashlight.

The same scorpion as the previous photo, in the same position, but this time it is a fluorescent green color as its being lit up by a UV light.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Happy #InverteFest! Excited to celebrate some non-crustacean inverts! Here's a Day #Octopus (Octopus cyanea) in it's hidey-hole. Spotted it while #snorkeling in Hawaii last week.

A dark reddish-purple octopus down in a hole between some rocks. Its white siphon is visible, as is its eye.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in #Crustmas this year! All these #crabs are reaching out to give you a hug of gratitude - no pinching, they promise. See you next year! #25DaysofCrustmas

A small Blackclaw Crestleg Crab reaching out to hug you, not pinch you.

A Northern Kelp Crab reaching out to hug you, not pinch you.

A Pacific Rock Crab reaching out to hug you, not pinch you.

A Striped Shore Crab reaching out to hug you, not pinch you.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Merry #Crustmas to all! To celebrate, here are some hungry hungry Pacific acorn #barnacles (Balanus glandula) from Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Hope your #Crustmas dinner is a feast! #25DaysofCrustmas

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Need to squeeze in a Nightmare before #Crustmas gift on #Crustmas Eve: the eggs of a parasitic #copepod (Splanchnotrophidae) growing out of a Babakina festiva #nudibranch! These parasitic copepods are species-specific, & this one hasn't been described. #25DaysofCrustmas

A Babakina festiva nudibranch, which is primarily pink with orange and white candy-corn-looking cerata on its back. About 2/3rd of the way down its back, you can see a cluster of yellow copepod eggs protruding.

A closeup of the back of a Babakina festiva nudibranch, zoomed in on yellow-ish copepod eggs growing out of it.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Merry #Crustmas Eve, friends! Here are Buoy #barnacles (Dosima fascicularis)! They're pleustonic (living at the sea-water interface) goose barnacles that drift the ocean using floats they make or find- like Velella! Sometimes we get lucky enough to find them when they wash ashore. #25DaysofCrustmas

A bluish-purple Buoy Barnacle being held in someones hand. Its stalk is attached to a bubbly-looking float.

One larger and one smaller Buoy barnacle attached to a bleached By-the-wind Sailor. The Buoy barnacles are a bluish-purple color, and their stalks are attached to the underside of the By-the-wind Sailor.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Just a little #Crustmas celebration from @montereyaq.bsky.social, reminding us that barnacles are just little weirdo crustaceans. #25DaysofCrustmas

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

Washed up creatures are sometimes my most exciting finds, since they're species I wouldn't normally find in the #tidepools. Case in point, this Tuberculate Pear Crab (Pyromaia tuberculata), today's #Crustmas crustacean. It's a benthic species, with adults often inhabiting continental shelves.

A dead Tuberculate Pear Crab being held in someone's hand. It has long, spider-like legs, a rounded bumpy carapace, and rounded claws at the end of long front "arms."

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Well, my time in Hawaii is over, but let's stay in vacation mode a little longer here in #Crustmas-land. 3 years ago I took myself on a #tidepooling vacation to the Olympic Peninsula for a set of summer early morning low tides. Met this Helmet Crab (Telmessus cheiragonus) out by Port Townsend!

A hemet crab, facing away from the camera. It's yellow-orange in color, and its carapace is a wide diamond shape, with six points on either side.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

The Bloody Pebble Crab (Leptodius sanguineus) is today's Hawaiian #Crustmas crustacean! It's one of the most common shoreline crabs in Hawaii – I found this one tidepooling in Maui instead of snorkeling. Pāpaʻi is the general word for "crab" in Hawaiian. #25DaysofCrustmas

A brownish-gray crab being held in someone's hand, the crab is facing the camera. The crab has a lumpy carapace. Its claws are tucked in under the front of its carapace.

A brownish-gray crab being held in someone's hand. The crab is facing away from the camera. Its carapace is lumpy, and you can see short brown hairs on the edges of its legs.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Look at this #Crustmas friend! It's a Halloween Hermit Crab or Cone Shell Hermit Crab (Ciliopagurus strigatus) (pāpaʻi iwi pūpū or unauna are the Hawaiian names for hermit crabs generally, thanks @hulilimu.bsky.social‬!). Love that orange & red banding and its preference for cone snail shells.

A hermit crab with orange and red banding on all of its legs, living in a cone snail shell. The hermit crab is standing on a rock with a large red pencil urchin in the background.

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Alison Young @alisonkestrel.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Spent some time with my face OUT of the water (but my feet still in it) #tidepooling yesterday. A few of my favorite finds. 1: Jorunna alisonae OR Tayuva lilacina (???) #nudibranch; 2: Nanus Cone (Conus nanus); 3: Black Doris (Dendrodoris nigra); 4: Hawaiian Snakehead Cowrie (Monetaria caputophidii)

A tiny, flat nudibranch, mostly translucent with white specks, white in the center of its body, and some darker spots. One visible rhinopher and the gills are yellowish-brown.

A cone snail, the shell is white, worn and encrusted with various algae and tiny tube worm tubes. You can see a small amount of the pink-colored body of the snail.

A black nudibranch with yellow speckles on its body. Its rhinophores are long and extended, also black with a small dot of white at the tip. The nudibranch is on a mostly white rock.

A cowrie shell that is a grayish brown, with a brown band around the center. You can see a bit of the snail which has pink fringe.

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