iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭

Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I tried shooting star trails in Lone Pine, CA, earlier this summer and messed up by touching the lens just before starting - knocking it out of focus made the stars far from polaris dashed from the 1 second gaps between 5 min exposures. Looks kinda neat! Bright star near center is Polaris...

A star trail image showing multicolored stripes rotating about the celestial north pole with the White Mountains in the foreground

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

New #watercolor for #seaotterawarenessweek - a sea otter skull stained purple by echinochrome, a result of eating a large number of sea urchins! Based on several specimens found earlier this year by tidepoolers. Watercolor and gouache, 5x4", 2026. ~5 hours. 🦑🦀🐬🧪🐡 #sciart #art #painting

A watercolor painting of a skull and mandible slightly agape showing the completely purple stained bone of a sea otter

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#seaotterawarenessweek Sea otters have a terrible fossil record - which makes it easy to summarize in a short thread! What do we actually know about the evolutionary history of sea otters? [blog post here for more in depth reading] coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-...

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

The terrible fossil record of sea otters, part 2: un-fantastic otter fossils and where to find them

Make sure to take a look at part 1, where I summarized what we know about modern sea otter anatomy, behavior, geography, and molecular phylo...

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

IC 1396A - The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula I posted a cropped version of this nebula before (just the elephant trunk part) but since it's been cloudy every night lately, posting a wider view of this area of the night sky! 🔭 #astronomy #astro #astrophoto #astrophotography

a dark nebula with yellow highlights on a field of stars, that looks very similar to an elephant trunk

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Labor day weekend #wildlife photography at Lake Tahoe 🧵 - first up, long eared (and/or lodgepole) chumpmunks! Neotamias spp. 1/

A photo of a chipmunk with very long ears emerging from behind a tree

A photo of a chipmunk with very long ears sitting on a stump

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

3/ Some birds. Here's a western wood pewee (Contopus sordidulus), small species of tyrant flycatcher.

A small grey perching bird with an orange bill and big black cartoon eyes perched on a pine branch

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

15 years married, and over 21 years together - he still makes me laugh every day, & is the best friend anyone could ever ask for. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. Happy 15th wedding anniversary! I have a feeling this next year will be great ❤ Love you to the end, nerd. @coastalpaleo.bsky.social

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

We stayed in Lone Pine on the way back from Tahoe a few days ago under a moonless night sky and got some nice images. Here's the Milky Way over the eastern Sierra (the blue light is from a car parked at a gliderport). @tetrameryx.bsky.social

A photo of the milky way over rugged granite mountains; dark dust lanes are obvious. A blue beam of light extends from the ridge to the upper right.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Happy Anniversary, @tetrameryx.bsky.social! We've been married now 15 years, and together for a little over 21. We've been through *a lot* together (💀). Here's to the next 15. [Photo taken on one of our first fossil dates, Pryor Mtns, Montana, 2005).

A silhouette of two fossil nerds in love, each holding a rock hammer.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

New #artwork! #watercolor illustration of the 3 meter long block containing the holotype skull, jaws, and vertebrae of the 26 myo eomysticetid baleen whale Tokarahia kauaeroa (Kokoamu Greensand, New Zealand), which I named in 2015 for my PhD research. Large for me, ~20x8"; ~20-24 hours. 🐡🦖🐬 #sciart

A watercolor painting of a fossil whale skull with mandibles in a massive block of greenish gray sand. The skull is incomplete, and the left mandible is in life position; the right mandible is flipped 180. A cluster of vertebrae are present near the braincase. The bones are occasionally stained red with iron oxide.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#fossilfriday A couple of 30 myo fossil whale molars exposed in the remnant of a concretion I've been etching out for the past three months. This is from a tiny early toothed baleen whale, possibly Fucaia buelli; Makah Formation, WA. Provided for study by Jim Goedert! 🐋🦖🧪 #whaleontology

A two-part image showing a pair of chocolate brown, low crowned molars bearing a central cusp and three accessory cusps on each side, protruding from gray sandstone next to a ring-shaped bone. On the right, the fossil is submerged in gross-looking acid giving it a yellowy brown hue.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

New #artwork! "Western Leviathan", a surrealist-inspired portrait of "Max", the holotype skull of the Pacific mastodon (Mammut pacificus), collected from what is now the Diamond Valley Reservoir. On display in the "Inspired Collections" exhibit at Western Science Center. 🐡🦖🧪 #watercolor #artist

A guy in a black and white striped shirt and blue shorts next to a watercolor painting measuring about 20x12" on a yellow wall.

a watercolor painting measuring about 20x12" on a yellow wall. The painting depicts a mastodon skull that is half underwater in a lake with a barren skyline behind and a gray mountain in the distance.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

#toothtuesday A large lower premolar of the extinct "killer" walrus Pelagiarctos thomasi from the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed near Bakersfield, California, ~15.5 myo, middle Miocene. Specimen in @ucmpberkeley collections, published in Barnes, 1988. 🦖🐬

An image with a black background, a 10 mm scale bar, and a large, triangular and cuspate carnivore tooth with two massive long roots; the enamel is a chocolate brown color and the roots are a pale tan.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Pigeon guillemots (Cepphus columba) v. waves in Santa Cruz, CA (taken in June). 🦑📸

A black bird with a white patch on its wing floats at the top of a large wave.

A black bird with a white patch on its wing diving headfirst into a large wave that is just starting to break.

A black bird with a white patch on its wing on the face of a steepening wave that will break momentarily.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

🦖🦑🧪🦈New blog post! I wrote about a paper my student Addie Miller published a few years ago, all about the concentration of juvenile giant shark teeth in the Oligocene (25 myo) Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina - a nursery for giant sharks. coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-nu...

A sample of juvenile, and a couple of adult teeth, of the giant shark Carcharocles angustidens. They are large, triangular, with large roots and cusplets.

A photo of Addie in white and me in blue in a museum holding up shark teeth

A photo of my wife sarah in a maroon shirt laying down in the mud, looking for shark teeth

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The milky way and Mobius Arch - Alabama Hills, eastern Sierra/Owen's Valley, CA, a few weeks ago.

A photo of the milky way behind a granite arch. The milky way is trending to the upper left and part of it can be seen through the arch

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

every little bit helps the tiniest of kitties, who can't help themselves. Please share far and wide, and donate! donate.orphankittenclub.org/fundraiser/7...

donate.orphankittenclub.org

Orphan Kitten Club's 10th Anniversary

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

#Sharkweek video thread - all about a fossil shark nursery from Oligocene marine rocks in Charleston, SC. I initially made this for someone else, but they never bothered paying me, so you get to enjoy it for free! Split into 1 min segments. 1/7 🦖🧪🦑🦈

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Milky Way core rising above Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills outside of Lone Pine, California. I'll probably go back and do more edits in the future, to try to get rid of the hot pixels the scope had. @coastalpaleo.bsky.social 🔭 #astronomy #astro #astrophoto #astrophotography

milky way core rising above a stone arch in the Alabama Hills, Mojave Desert, California

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Pelicans at La Jolla last month. #birding

A photo of four pelicans in flight with the cliffs at Torrey Pines in the background and the Pacific ocean below. The pelicans are gliding and travelling to the left.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

A nice little marine firework - a painted anemone, Urticina grebnelyi, photographed at the Birch Aquarium here in San Diego 🦑🦀

An anemone in an aquarium with a thick red stalk and tentacles that are white at the base and transition to a vibrant reddish fuschia color at the tips

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

NGC 7000 - The North American Nebula While people were celebrating the 4th of July, I imaged the stars (and watched Independence Day, which has become a tradition for us!) 🔭 #astronomy #astro #astrophoto #astrophotography

a large red nebula that looks like the continent of North America in a field of stars

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

#toothtuesday A 31 million year old molar of a tiny toothed baleen whale (likely Fucaia buelli) emerges from a concretion after a few days in an acid bath. Specimen from the Makah Formation of Washington, made available for study by Jim Goedert. 🐬🦖

A small molar with light brown enamel and a dark cutting edge protrudes from a light gray sandy rock; it is low-crowned and you can see sux triangular cusps in an arc. A scale bar is off to the right.

A small molar with light brown enamel and a dark cutting edge protrudes from a light gray sandy rock; it is quite narrow and the cusps curve slightly to the left. Cracks are filled with material that makes them look like white lace.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

A short 🧵on our 2023 research on the ~23-30 myo fossil dolphin Xenorophus and early toothed whales. We described a LOT of skulls and skeletons, were able to assess growth variation, pathology, swimming adaptations, tooth wear, feeding adaptations, and name a new species, X. simplicidens. 1/

Skulls of four specimens of Xenorophus in side view. It has a long rostrum and a blowhole in front of the eye sockets, and the braincase is still long.

A stratigraphic column and map of Xenorophus localities in South Carolina, and body outlines showing the occurrence of different xenorophid species in the Ashley and Chandler Bridge formations.

Skulls of seven specimens of Xenorophus in dorsal and ventral view. It has a long rostrum and a blowhole in front of the eye sockets, and the braincase is still long.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

#fossilfriday New blog post! I intended to publish this one a couple years ago: part III of my series on the Oligocene dolphin Xenorophus. all about ontogeny, feeding adaptations, locomotion, asymmetry, and phylogeny of Xenorophus, and much more: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

The Oligocene dolphin Xenorophus, part 3: new insights into the growth, variation, functional anatomy, asymmetry, and phylogeny of early odontocetes

This is intended to be the third and final installment in this series, and I'll probably forget something in here - but here goes! The Xenor...

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

New blog post in time for #fossilfriday A gray whale in the Purisima Formation? In this new post I evaluate whether this ~3 myo fossil mandible, "partially" collected by an amateur about 15 years ago, represents an early example of a gray whale - or a more commonly found balaenopterid whale. 🐋🦖🦑

A fossil whale mandible in a grayish tan cliff. The front and back ends of the mandible were left in the cliff and the collector just removed the middle part.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

On Friday I took my *luckiest* and *most disgusting* wildlife shot so far: a California sea lion (Z. californianus) puking up a bunch of rocks! 🤮🪨 That's right - many pinnipeds use gastroliths. The gastroliths are in mid-air! 🦖🐬🦑 #nature #photography #sealion

A photo of a young light brown California sea lion puking up some rocks. Two large rocks are in mid-air along with brownish fluid, and about a half dozen rocks are already on the ground from a minute prior.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Sea lions always seem ready to fight! Here are four yearling California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) squabbling over god-knows-what on the rocks at La Jolla. #wildlifephotography 🐬🦑

A photo of four juvenile sea lions snarling and pushing each other in veritable tangle of necks and heads, with the ocean behind them.

A photo of a dark sea lion body with the head of a tan sea lion poking out, barking loudly, and looking a nearby cormorant right in the eye; the cormorant doesn't care.

Three juvenile sea lions with with their heads and necks up, pushing each other around and barking profusely

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

New blog post! All about the fossil record and evolution of kelp and kelp forest ecosystems! I discuss the basics of kelp phylogeny, ecology, fossil record of kelp & kelp-associated organisms, and kelp forest origins. Read it here! coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-...

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

The fossil record and evolution of Kelp and Kelp forest ecosystems

A kelp forest consisting mostly of giant kelp ( Macrocystis pyrifera ) at La Jolla, photographed by the author. Introduction to the Laminar...

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

For #worldsealionday here is the single greatest wildlife photo I've ever taken: a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) inside a backlit wave! Shot at La Jolla, CA, last Friday. 🐬🦑

A sea lion swimming inside a light turquoise cresting wave that happens to be backlit; you can make out the sea lion's flipper and head, and even its eye and nose.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

New blog post! A sequel to an earlier one - nudibranch hunting in Southern California. Two years of my best observations with some natural history info about each of the species I've encountered. #tidepooling 🦑🦀

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

Nudibranch hunting in southern California

Since my last post before moving to southern California was all about looking for nudibranchs in Northern California , I thought I'd follow ...

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

1/ #worldotterday Sea otters may be the most famous marine mammal on the California coast today - but they've only been here for less than a million years! (very brief in evolutionary terms). Here's a short thread on the small fossil record of sea otters - and, read more about it on my blog:

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

The terrible fossil record of sea otters, part 2: un-fantastic otter fossils and where to find them

Make sure to take a look at part 1, where I summarized what we know about modern sea otter anatomy, behavior, geography, and molecular phylo...

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

19. The only nudibranch in socal that's more absurdly colored than the California blue: MacFarland's chromodorid, Felimida macfarlandi. 🦑🦀

A light purple nudibranch with three golden yellow stripes and feathery rhinophores - it's climbing through brownish hairy algae.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

We spent last #fossilfriday up in LA to visit the Page Museum at La Brea before it closes for renovations - hadn't been in 13 years! Saw this lovely Smilodon fatalis skull in one of the newer exhibits. Then, went to see John Mulaney live at the Hollywood Bowl with @tetrameryx.bsky.social 🦖

A skull of the sabertoothed cat Smilodon fatalis on display at the La Brea Tar Pits. It has a large narial fossa, conical incisors, and very long, narrow canines.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

We all can be an Absolute Unit (of scale) if we try hard enough

A handsome young man lying down on a floor next to the skeleton of a giant dolphin

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

#fossilfriday The gorgeous skull of Waipatia maerewhenua - the first 'spear-toothed' waipatiid dolphin to be named! Highly derived facial region of the skull but still with very 'primitive' heterodont, double-rooted teeth. Resembles a miniature Squalodon in many ways. 🦖🐬

A pale yellow fossil dolphin skull on a black background in 3/4 view, with the lower jaws in articulation; the skull has a deep median groove and blowhole behind the eye sockets, and rows of heterodont triangular teeth with double roots

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Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

M13 - The Great Hercules Cluster M13 is a giant globular cluster made of several hundred thousand stars in the Hercules constellation. It is roughly 24 thousand light-years away from us, and 84 light-years across! 🔭 #astronomy #astro #astrophoto #astrophotography

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

The spectacular skull of the spear-toothed dolphin Aureia rerehua, photographed during preparation during my PhD in 2013 - and formally published a decade later. Read about this and other waipatiid dolphins from NZ in my recent blog post: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...

A yellowy tan fossil dolphin skull with a row of single rooted conical teeth and a mass of ribs and vertebrae in a block of light tan sandy limestone

Three views of a partial fossil dolphin skull in dorsal, ventral, and side view, with the lower jaw; it has a bunch of narrow-crowned, single rooted teeth and a long, but broken snout

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

#whalewednesday I went to New Zealand to study early baleen whales, but the fossil dolphins are almost more spectacular! Here's my Ph.D. labmate Carolina Loch with the incredible skull of the 'tusked' dolphin Nihohae matakoi - read more on my new blog post: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...

Dr. Carolina Loch in a blue shirt next to the a small long-snouted pale yellow dolphin skull. It has triangular cheek teeth and a spread of long tusk-like incisor teeth sticking out the tip of the upper jaw.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Some #tidepooling and #dockfouling photos from this spring. 1) A sunburst anemone (Anthopleura sola) contrasting nicely with red rust bryozoans (Watersipora subtorquata) on the left and a serpulid tube worm (Serpula columbiana) on the right. Morro Bay, CA. 🦀🦑

The tentacles and disk of a greenish colored sunburst anemone over the crimson red structure of a red bryozoan colony.

A feather duster worm with many feather like gills extending radially like a fanciful umbrella; the gills are a bright orange color.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Important new paper! A fragmentary but super early fossil cetacean: introdocing Kalakocetus from the early Eocene of India. It's got molars that are intermediate between the herbivorous raoellids (cetacean sister taxa) and the carnivorous early whales like Pakicetus. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The mandible and dentition of Kalakocetus from the original paper. Most of the teeth are triangular and double rooted; the mandible is small, around 20 cm long.

A phylogenetic tree showing the placement of Kalakocetus as the earliest diverging cetacean, branching off before Pakicetus and later archaeocetes. The tooth morphology is intermediate between the herbivorous raoellids and the carnivorous pakicetids

Tooth wear in early cetaceans, showing that Kalakocetus has tooth wear intermediate between raoellids and early whales

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