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Dan Killam

@dantheclamman.blog
1.7K followers 1.1K following 2.9K posts

Biogeochemist and clammunicator (:) He/him If you like clam facts check out my blog (profile name)

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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 29/09/2026
Psh who cares about...THE SUN
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Suzan the chalant goth @sillysyntax.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Good for her!
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 18/09/2026
Mouse from The Matrix yelling clams and onions are fighting, and everyone runs to check it out
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 17/09/2026
They had the balls to repost this after my previous blog post rebutting them. Onion are you challenging me??
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 17/09/2026
Kudos to the US Coast Guard for keeping folks safe (and hourly deadpan radio updates) about whoever made the very poor decision to tow a houseboat during yesterday's rough conditions in San Pablo Bay. Hope everything turned out ok, last we heard the houseboat "went adrift".
A US Coast Guard boat approaches a pleasure craft towing a two story houseboat. Notice the weather doesn't look great and there are white caps. Conditions continued to worsen after this pic was taken
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merritt @merrittk.com · 15/09/2026
god, i was born in the wrong era. imagine being around in the Cambrian period. you could just evolve something simple like shell or legs that nobody had thought of before and coast on that your whole life
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Nadine, Hunter of Rocks @nadwgab.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Purple halite 😍 The colouring is probably due to irradiation and crystal defects. This one is from Intrepid Potash East Mine in New Mexico, USA. From the NHM London's collection #MinCup26 #minerals
A dark purple translucent halite cube with an irregular surface. One side is about 6cm long.

From the Natural History Museum London's collection.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 10/09/2026
My new email auto-response:
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Texas is delaying the release of the state’s maternal mortality statistics until after the midterms. www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/tex...
houstonchronicle.com
Texas' first post-Roe look at maternal deaths won't be ready by midterms
Democrats say the timing is suspicious, given the Dec. 1 deadline is after Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans who supported the state’s abortion ban are up for reelection.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 05/09/2026
San Francisco has insane wealth. Yet it's about to close its only marine science station. The zoo has suffered decades of mismanagement. Same for the Aquarium of the Bay. The Cal Academy is existentially threatened. SF should be a world-leading home for natural sciences. What went wrong?
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 04/09/2026
It's a bittersweet kind of validation after having a proposal rejected with a reviewer claiming "I don't see why managers need this data" to have three managers reach out in close succession, asking if we're collecting said data.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 01/09/2026
In totally unrelated news, Duke decided to get rid of its world-renowned herbarium, with UNC Chapel Hill stepping in to save it. Biodiversity collections are under threat www.newsobserver.com/news/local/e...
newsobserver.com
Duke is moving its major collection of plant life to UNC. Here’s why
Eventually, UNC plans to build a Plant Biodiversity Research Center in Chapel Hill that will house all 1.7 million specimens.
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Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This sucks. Clearly the institution has been struggling (cutting operating days down to 5, then 3), but could nothing really be done?
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 01/09/2026
When I get an RFP asking for submissions to "assess baseline conditions for current and/or future offshore development in California, including offshore energy"
A goose asks what kind of offshore energy
Repeats WHAT KIND OF OFFSHORE ENERGY
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I've been talking a lot about the disastrous recent loss of American institutional capacity regarding climate science. But today, I'd like to announce something we've been working on, quietly, in the meantime to offer a lifeline to some of those affected. [Thread]
First page of a 2-page flyer describing the Climate Science and Communications Fund. It shows a map of gift recipient locations, and also summarize statistics regarding the program thus far (including over $3 million disbursed to date), with testimonials from individual recipients.Second page of a 2-page flyer describing the Climate Science and Communications Fund. It further describes the need for and goals of the program. It also includes a point of contact email: roshan@climate-talent.org
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 17/08/2026
Ended, the Bronze Wars have. -Yoda, if he was in The Odyssey
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Casey Explosion @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Gordon Ramsay: "Wow, nothing but maggoty bread? You think of Orcish cuisine, you think fresh, vibrant. It's like the chef has just given up, where's the passion, the anger? A taste of Mordor this isn't. What a shame. There isn't even any meat on this menu."
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PaleoJim @paleojim.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Nice overview on the importance of Paleontology in understanding the history of the Earth. @utahpaleo-ufop.bsky.social @standupforscience.net @jeremybroberts.bsky.social @scifri.bsky.social @scinews.bsky.social @sltrib.com.web.brid.gy teach.ocr.org.uk/palaeontolog...
teach.ocr.org.uk
GCSE Natural History - Palaeontology - Joseph Keating
Joseph Keating puts forward a case for including palaeontology in the new GCSE Natural History curriculum due to its unique deep-time perspective.
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Gen Wojcik @genandgenes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
In the past 2yrs, my lab went from 7 to just me. Grants headed to council killed. Topics abandoned & words banned to keep the funding already promised. So I’m letting go of the pressure to find the way out. There is no way out but through—writing grants, speaking up, and rolling with the punches.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 04/08/2026
Giant clams love light. As a general rule, the more light they can get for their symbiotic algae, the better. Which makes the "devil clam", Tridacna mbalavuana from Tonga and Fiji so weird. It lives up to 100 ft down! www.inaturalist.org/taxa/479982-Tri… (364)
inaturalist.org
Devil Clam (Tridacna mbalavuana) · iNaturalist
Tridacna mbalavuana, the tevoro clam, is a species of bivalve in the family Tridacnidae. It is found in Fiji and Tonga. It is currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Source: Wikipedia, '', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridacna_mbalavuana, CC BY-SA 3.0 . Photo: (c) James W. Fatherree, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by James W. Fatherree)
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 31/07/2026
*record scratch* *freeze frame* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 26/07/2026
An archive where I store OPEN scientific data had to require a login for a while to protect itself from the AI crawlers. Some genealogy websites I use had to do the same. This bubble can't pop soon enough.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 26/07/2026
Accessibility is one thing where I go abroad and think "we do this better." And that's mostly because of ADA
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Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I spotted this beauty in Singapore: yep, also a weird and wonderful fly. :-) @wizentrop.bsky.social
inaturalist.org
Genus Themara
Themara from Bukit Panjang, Singapore on December 21, 2024 at 10:47 AM by Soh Kam Yung
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 25/07/2026
Admirable clarity @science.org
The Trump administration hates academic science funding, full stop. They hate where that money goes, and they hate who it goes to. They want to keep all that money for themselves, to hand out to favored cronies who can help them get elected and to steer yet more money and more power back into their hands.

That’s it. That’s the story
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 26/07/2026
They are so, so weird and I love it. gilwizen.com/photographin...
gilwizen.com
Photographing Richardia – a long way to victory - Gil Wizen
My journey to photograph male Richardia flies in Ecuador: colorful, fantastic beasts with antler-like projections from their eyes!
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Summer @summerinthesticks.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 23/07/2026
The clam facts keep rolling out. The only limiting factor is me. Clam lore is so deep, I am only beginning to understand them.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 22/07/2026
Your grant has not passed thoughtcrime review.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 21/07/2026
See a crab, post a crab. Also bonus of my hermit crab Saul who is not a true crab
Striped shore crab. It is a mottled green with purple pinchers A Caribbean purple pincher crab hanging on cholla wood. He is red and purple with hairy legs and is wearing a polished turbo shell as pants
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 21/07/2026
USFWS refused to list white sturgeon as endangered despite agreeing they fit all the criteria; a horrific mistake. I'll never forget seeing giant fish longer than I am tall, as old as my parents, dead due to a HAB in SF Bay in 2022. These fish need our help. baykeeper.org/press_releas...
baykeeper.org
Feds Determine That San Francisco Bay’s White Sturgeon Is an Endangered Species—But Refuse to Protect Them - San Francisco Baykeeper
The San Francisco Bay estuary’s White Sturgeon meet all the criteria for threatened status, but feds say that officially listing is “precluded” Media Contact: Fiona Baker, San Francisco Baykeeper, (51...
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 20/07/2026
Shelledness is a spectrum
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 19/07/2026
Was trying to think of a tie-in post between clams and soccer and honestly folks, I got nothin
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Jake Holland-Lulewicz @archaeojake.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
🚨 New paper! 🦪 Is our archaeological data skewed by taphonomic process? 🦪 How do we move towards more nuanced approaches to morphometric studies? 🦪How can archaeologists make our studies relevant to modern socioecological research? Have a read! 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
For me it was realizing on a night dive that the car-sized rock next to me was, in fact, a loggerhead turtle.
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Reweth 🏳️‍⚧️🇨🇦🐦‍⬛ @birb.mom · 15/07/2026
Me when I saw my first Venus Girdle (Cestum veneris) ctenophore, on my first blue-water dive in the Gulf of Mexico as a new grad student. I'd seen pictures but never the real thing.
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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Me and Paguritta (coral hole hermit crab)! But my buddy, a fish biologist, at least figured out I was frantically pointing at some kind of crab lol Also my reaction to coconut crab (see profile pic) but that was not even in the wild. And Lomis hirta, which I immediately had to capture...
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 15/07/2026
Dr. Grant's reaction parallels my reaction when I first saw Tridacna squamosina in the Red Sea after reading about them for years, except for me there was a lot more bubbles and I could not dramatically remove my goggles without defeating the purpose
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 14/07/2026
It's algae's world and we're just living in it Darth
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The ‘Surprisingly Sophisticated’ Way Scallops See This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think www.scubadiving.com/marinelife/s...
scubadiving.com
This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think
In this edition of The Little-Known Reef, we explain how scallops use their eyes in a unique way. This mollusk might be a lot more complicated than you think.
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 11/07/2026
Yes www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Is the US trying to make scientists’ work so difficult that they simply give up? | Daniel Malinsky
New Trump administration rules would undermine longstanding research practices. It’s death by a thousand cuts
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 07/07/2026
Before you vote for Gavin Newsom in any future election, ask any state employees you know what they think about him.
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Kiabugboy @kiabugboy.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Paraspirifer #paleoart #brachiopod #3danimation #Blender3D #SciArt
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 07/07/2026
we got it through. never tell me the odds.
a scientific freezer that fit through a doorframe with mm to spare
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 07/07/2026
One does not simply email your colleagues at this time of year without being bombarded by out of office messages
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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
How can one be a scientist in this world and not be an activist?
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Tom Kimmerer, PhD @tomkimmerer.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
The Trump regime wants to destroy American science. One big step to maintain our strong science just happened, as Dr. Neil Shubin became President of the US National Academy of Sciences. Shubin is an important paleontologist and an equally important interpreter of science for the lay public.
substack.com
Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer)
The Trump regime is working hard to destroy American science, corrupt our science institutions, steal our natural resources, and drag medicine back by a century or more. The good news is that American...
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 03/07/2026
I'm an honorary prof in sweet potato eating
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 03/07/2026
Hoverfly feetsies
A hoverfly visiting a chicory flower in my yard. Its little feet point backwards in an amusing superman-like manner
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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 03/07/2026
#notaclam
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