iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

USCB's Department of Natural Sciences is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Please consider joining our growing team: uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/207...

uscjobs.sc.edu

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Chemistry

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Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Bermuda fireworm mitogenome! Study includes 11 USCB undergraduate coauthors! Access here: zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1774... @zookeys.pensoft.net @sc.edu Image Credit: James B. Wood

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Reposted by Mercer Brugler

Deep-Sea Biology Society @dsbsoc.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Another exciting 2025 #DSBSoc support awardee! Meet Kurt Bacharo (@kurtbb.bsky.social), a grad student in the @miselab.bsky.social at U. of the Ryukyus working with #BlackCorals and currently aboard the #JAMSTEC R/V Kaimei exploring the biodiversity off the Daito Islands. Read more in alt-text!

I am Kurt Bryant Bacharo, currently a graduate student in the Molecular Invertebrate and Systematics Laboratory @miselab.bsky.social at the University of the Ryukyus. Prior to relocating to Japan, I finished my BS and MS degrees in Marine Biology at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines where I had the privilege to study the readily accessible shallow-water reefs in my country.

Image: Kurt Bacharo smiling and wearing glasses, a white hard hat, flotation device and a DSBS17 shirt on the deck of the R/V Kaimei.

Coming from the developing world, the concept of deep-sea exploration has always been out of sight, out of mind. The opportunity only opened to me when I was selected as an OceanCensus participant to board JAMSTEC R/V Kaimei for the KM 24-03 (Leg 2) research cruise last year to explore the Kyushu-Palau Ridge and the Daito Islands. The latter is part of the Deep-Sea Archaic Refugia in Karst (D-ARK) project, whose main objective has been on the documentation of the deep-sea biodiversity found inside limestone caves.

Now in its second year, I am lucky to be part of the project again to further explore the hidden biodiversity of the Daito Islands. This year's participation for the KM 25-06C research cruise was made possible by a Research Support Award granted by @DSBSoc.

Image: Kurt gesturing towards the docked R/V Kaimei from the adjacent pier.

As my current project focuses on the taxonomy of black corals in southern Japan, the deep-sea offers significant research opportunities related to biodiversity, biogeography, and species discovery. Few of the specimens collected both in KM 24-03 (Leg 2) and KM 25-06C research cruises highlighted new records of black corals in the NW Pacific, and perhaps some are likely new to science.

Image: Two pictures of Kurt smiling towards the camera on deck of the R/V Kaimei. He is wearing a dark blue JAMSTEC shirt.

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Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Visual depiction of the evolutionary trend of black coral skeletal networks and ridges. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

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Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

🚨 Fossilized Black Corals 🚨 Includes two transitional species too! Come learn about the evolutionary trend toward regularity in the axial skeleton from the Ordovician to modern day antipatharians (includes reduced ridges and a longitudinal fusion of networks). www.nature.com/articles/s42...

nature.com

Unveiling the early evolution of black corals - Communications Biology

The authors describe two transitional species of Sterictopathes from the Middle Ordovician of Shaanxi, China, bridging the fossil gaps and thereby elevating the genus Sterictopathes to a new family, S...

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Reposted by Mercer Brugler

Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Job Alert at @ucdavis.bsky.social The Coastal & Marine Sciences Institute is searching for a Professor & Director. This work spans from the Davis campus to the Bodega Marine Laboratory & beyond. View the full position description & apply by the next review date, April 27th, here: lnkd.in/gKubcJSB

lnkd.in

Professor and Director, Coastal Marine and Sciences Institute

University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

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Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Look who was hanging out on the recycling bin outside of the Marine Sciences Building!

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Mercer Brugler @sandsharks.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Diamondback rattlesnake from Pritchards Island (Beaufort SC)

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