Dr. Allison J. Gong
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allisongong.bsky.social
Dr. Allison J. Gong
@allisongong.bsky.social
110 followers 55 following 70 posts
Marine biologist who loves the invertebrates especially, biology professor, and all-around natural history geek. I blog about natural history at www.canaturalist.com

Owned and (mostly) managed by a tortie cat and a calico kitten.
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allisongong.bsky.social
Seen at work, or a scene at work.
White plastic tub filled with water, in a metal sink. Nine squid are arranged around the rim so that their tentacles and eyes are draped to the outside of the tub.
November 7, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Dr. Allison J. Gong
altnps.bsky.social
Reminder: Election closing times. Please make sure to vote and remember, if you’re in line when the polls close, you still have the right to vote. Don’t get out of line!
- 7 p.m. ET - Virginia
- 8 p.m. ET - New Jersey
- 8 p.m. ET - Pennsylvania
- 9 p.m. ET - New York City
- 8 p.m. PT - California
November 4, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Dr. Allison J. Gong
lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency over food insecurity Tuesday and approved a $500,000 donation to Second Harvest Food Bank, as federal food aid delays from the ongoing government shutdown leave thousands without assistance.
Santa Cruz County approves $500,000 donation to Second Harvest Food Bank
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency over food insecurity Tuesday and approved a $500,000 donation to Second Harvest Food Bank, as federal food aid delays from the ongoing government shutdown leave thousands without assistance.
buff.ly
November 4, 2025 at 11:29 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Serendipity = lecturing on kelps and noting the morphology of bull kelp, then finding an intact one on the beach during the field trip!
#fieldtrip
#marinebiology
Long thin tubular structure stretched out over sand. Three people at far end looking down at it.
November 4, 2025 at 11:51 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Some Halloween true-life horror, beekeeper-style!
canaturalist.com/zombeeees/
#beekeeping
#parasites
#zombies
Zombeeees!
Just in time for Hallowe’en! I have photographic evidence that some of our bees have been taken over by parasitic phorid flies. These flies are a group of diverse animals, including wasps and…
canaturalist.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:23 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
New month, new page in my calendar of #intertidal photos! July gets to show off Plocamium pacificum, one of the gorgeous red #algae we have in Northern California. It lives in the low intertidal in exposed rocky areas, and is one of my favorites.
#rhodophyta
#redalgae
#sanmateocounty
July 2, 2025 at 4:33 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Wow, Iceland is an amazing place to visit! Not only can you see the ocean ridge there, but they have puffins! These are Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) that breed on cliffs, especially along the south and west coasts. I also saw them in Scotland but from farther away.
#iceland
#puffin
#bird
Stocky bird with white front, red webbed feet, white face, and multi-colored beak, standing next to a burrow in the ground. Stocky bird with white front, red webbed feet, white face, and multi-colored beak, standing next to a burrow in the ground.
July 2, 2025 at 4:25 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Three years ago today, on 6 Mar 2022, I caught indisputable evidence that birds are dinosaurs. Shadows don't lie!
Western gull (Larus occidentalis)
Santa Cruz, CA
#birds
Duck-shaped bird with white head, neck, and belly. Back and wings are dark gray. Beak is yellow and feet/legs are pink. Bird's shadow on sand is dinosaur-shaped, with a long neck and rounded snout.
March 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
#MalabrigoMarch2025 means it's time to knit with some of my favorite yarns! These balls of #MalabrigoRios in the colorway Apple Green are going to be a cardigan for little old me. I salvaged them from some other project I don't even remember starting, and so far the yarn and I are both happy now.
11 balls of yarn of various sizes, in a bright green color, piled on a tablecloth decorated with fruits and flowers.
March 2, 2025 at 11:12 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Goodness knows I’ve needed a respite in the tidepools lately! Afternoon low tides aren’t my favorite, but there’s no denying the gorgeous light of the late afternoon. Really makes this moon flow anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) glow! #tidepools #seaanemone
Circular animal with translucent tentacles radiating out from a central disk. Tentacles are clear or reddish in color.
March 1, 2025 at 8:11 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
On this day when so many celebrate romantic/sexual love, it's good to remember that the animal kingdom features many ways of having sex. Banana slugs, like all terrestrial mollusks, are simultaneous hermaphrodites. I caught this pair copulating in 2019. Can't tell which is acting as male this time!
Two yellow slugs in a yin-yang formation.
February 14, 2025 at 7:58 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Happy SuperbOwl Sunday! This is a great horned owl I photographed at the San Luis Nat'l Wildlife Refuge in Central California on 2025-01-12.
#SuperbOwlSunday
#bird
#owl
Large bird with mottled brown feathers, ear tufts, and large yellow eyes perched in a tree
February 9, 2025 at 4:24 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
I'm lucky to be owned by a gang of 5 chickadees! They are year-round residents and are used to us, completely unfazed when I whip out the big lens and point it at them.
Chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) in California
#bird #songbird #backyardbirds
Small songbird perched on a twig. Head is a sooty black, with a white mask that is narrow behind the beak, extends just under the eye, and widens at the back of the head. Cinnamon-colored nape, gray-black wings and tail, and light gray belly.
January 25, 2025 at 9:54 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Achievement unlocked: Perfect symmetry! Well played, girls, well played indeed!

That's Lucie on the left and Maggie on the right.

#caturday #cats #calicocat #tortiecat
Two cats, a calico on the left and a tortie on the right, sleeping on a blanket. Cats are positioned so that they are mirror images of each other.
January 25, 2025 at 5:25 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Yes! I can’t believe we have to spell it out like this.
altnps.bsky.social Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Jan 22
Regulations exist to protect what cannot protect itself!
January 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
There were so many geese at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge in Central California last weekend! These are snow geese (Anser caerulescens), but there were also many greater white-fronted geese, as well as tundra swans.
#birds #birdwatching #birdphotography
Large white birds along the edge of a wetland.
January 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Got to watch this beautiful predator in action this afternoon!
#wildlife #california #wildlifephotography #nikon

www.canaturalist.com/spying-on-th...
Reddish-brown doglike animal with large ears standing on a hillside looking off to the right with the right foreleg slightly raised
January 16, 2025 at 4:24 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
I love how the black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) flies with its super long legs straight out back!
#birdphotography
#addBirder
Bird with white body, black wings, and long red legs in flight over water and plants. Legs are extended straight out behind the body.
January 14, 2025 at 1:27 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
I've visited this place several times but have never been able to photograph the owls that roost there. But yesterday I was lucky! These are great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) roosting in denuded trees at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge in Central California.
#wildlife #birdphotography #owls
Two large mottled brown birds with eyes closed, perched on tree branches Large mottled brown bird with one yellow eye open, perched on a thick tree branch
January 14, 2025 at 1:18 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
The connection between the fires in #SoCal and #climatechange, according to the people who really understand this stuff:

www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfir...
Wildfire climate connection
Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last ...
www.noaa.gov
January 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
@meeracollier.bsky.social Hi, Meera!
January 9, 2025 at 2:54 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
Everybody has heard about how the Santa Cruz wharf and harbor were hit hard by big swell a few days ago. But there was also damage that most people will not be aware of.

www.canaturalist.com/collateral-d...
Collateral damage
My home town of Santa Cruz made national news the other day, 23 December 2024, when a series of massive swells caused part of the Municipal Wharf to collapse into the ocean. People in the restauran…
www.canaturalist.com
December 27, 2024 at 12:59 AM
allisongong.bsky.social
When I had a desk in a zooplankton ecology lab the folks who went out on the trawls used to do that with those styrofoam heads for wigs. Draw a face on it with Sharpie, send that sucker down with the bongo net, and you got yourself a shrunken head! Ahh, fun times!
rebeccarhelm.bsky.social Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · Nov 24
Optimist: The cup is half full

Pessimist: The cup is half empty

Deep sea marine biologist: I sent the cup into the abyss where it was crushed to a half it’s former size and now I have a tiny cup
November 24, 2024 at 3:22 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#Books
#BookSky
💙📚
#BookChallenge
Day 8
November 23, 2024 at 8:51 PM
allisongong.bsky.social
Every year I make a wall calendar from photos I've taken in the intertidal. It occurred that I'd better get started on the 2025 version! This is the photo I used for November 2024. Pisaster ochraceus, the ochre star.
#marineinvertebrate
#tidepools
Purplish-red star-shaped animal on sand, with reflection in the surface of the water
November 23, 2024 at 1:34 AM