Chris Mah
@echinoblog.bsky.social
The "starfish guy"(but also a little about a lot of marine invertebrates, #echinoday #echinoderms. Kaiju, comics enthusiast. Marine scientist, taxonomist, deep-sea researcher. Statements/posts made here are my own & DO NOT REPRESENT HOST organizations
Pinned
Chris Mah
@echinoblog.bsky.social
· Nov 17
New Antarctic Starfish Are Doting Parents and Vicious Predators (Published 2023)
A close examination of a collection of starfish in the Smithsonian revealed even more starfish inside those starfish.
www.nytimes.com
A recent account of my research in the NYT! by @megadarren.bsky.social ! #echinoday www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/s...
Reposted by Chris Mah
Reposted by Chris Mah
Reposted by Chris Mah
Had to draw a very specific worm from the Composetia genus. www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#SciArt #Art
#SciArt #Art
January 12, 2026 at 1:59 AM
Had to draw a very specific worm from the Composetia genus. www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#SciArt #Art
#SciArt #Art
Reposted by Chris Mah
For the future #WormWednesday
Had to draw a very specific worm from the Composetia genus. www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#SciArt #Art
#SciArt #Art
January 12, 2026 at 3:04 PM
For the future #WormWednesday
Reposted by Chris Mah
Shipworms aren’t worms. They’re bivalves that eat wood with the help of symbiotic bacteria turning wooden shipwrecks into functioning ecosystems. #MolluscMonday Fantastic image from seahistory.org/sea-history-...
January 20, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Shipworms aren’t worms. They’re bivalves that eat wood with the help of symbiotic bacteria turning wooden shipwrecks into functioning ecosystems. #MolluscMonday Fantastic image from seahistory.org/sea-history-...
Reposted by Chris Mah
Check out this crinoid specimen I found in the UCD teaching collection. Flipped it over and found a hitchhiker! (My student then had to endure my enthusiastic infodump about parasitic platyceratids, of course.)
January 20, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Check out this crinoid specimen I found in the UCD teaching collection. Flipped it over and found a hitchhiker! (My student then had to endure my enthusiastic infodump about parasitic platyceratids, of course.)
Reposted by Chris Mah
Forams love wearing other people's clothes. One species collects spicules of carnivorous glass sponges & builds what is essentially a "sponge suit." It sits at the top catching food just like a carnivorous sponge. Unlike the real deal, though, the foram can hop to a better feeding ground if it likes
A giant foraminifer that converges to the feeding strategy of carnivorous sponges: Spiculosiphon oceana sp. nov. (Foraminifera, Astrorhizida)
| Zootaxa
mapress.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Forams love wearing other people's clothes. One species collects spicules of carnivorous glass sponges & builds what is essentially a "sponge suit." It sits at the top catching food just like a carnivorous sponge. Unlike the real deal, though, the foram can hop to a better feeding ground if it likes
Reposted by Chris Mah
And for fun here's an amoebozoan named Centropyxis wearing diatom frustules
January 20, 2026 at 10:32 PM
And for fun here's an amoebozoan named Centropyxis wearing diatom frustules
Reposted by Chris Mah
I rather like this natural arrangement I came across under my ‘scope last week. A Miliolida foraminifera sitting on a vacant tube made by a mystery organism (ciliate?).
#marineplankton 🦑 #protistsonskty
#marineplankton 🦑 #protistsonskty
January 20, 2026 at 9:46 PM
I rather like this natural arrangement I came across under my ‘scope last week. A Miliolida foraminifera sitting on a vacant tube made by a mystery organism (ciliate?).
#marineplankton 🦑 #protistsonskty
#marineplankton 🦑 #protistsonskty
Reposted by Chris Mah
Because I love cowries and their mantles,
I’ll keep creating the “Cowrie Before & After photobook.” 📖´-
I’ll keep creating the “Cowrie Before & After photobook.” 📖´-
January 13, 2026 at 11:38 AM
Because I love cowries and their mantles,
I’ll keep creating the “Cowrie Before & After photobook.” 📖´-
I’ll keep creating the “Cowrie Before & After photobook.” 📖´-
Reposted by Chris Mah
Reposted by Chris Mah
▪️YouTube
youtube.com/shorts/2WKek...
youtube.com/shorts/2WKek...
デカ過ぎんだろ...
YouTube video by でんか@海洋生物観測所
youtube.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:16 PM
▪️YouTube
youtube.com/shorts/2WKek...
youtube.com/shorts/2WKek...
Reposted by Chris Mah
In this species, males can sometimes have asymmetrical arm like this, with one much larger than the other. This is actually the first time I have ever seen it!
None of the guidebooks I own show a photo of this condition, so if my ID is correct, I think this might be a pretty rare shot 🦐✨
None of the guidebooks I own show a photo of this condition, so if my ID is correct, I think this might be a pretty rare shot 🦐✨
January 20, 2026 at 1:16 PM
In this species, males can sometimes have asymmetrical arm like this, with one much larger than the other. This is actually the first time I have ever seen it!
None of the guidebooks I own show a photo of this condition, so if my ID is correct, I think this might be a pretty rare shot 🦐✨
None of the guidebooks I own show a photo of this condition, so if my ID is correct, I think this might be a pretty rare shot 🦐✨
Reposted by Chris Mah
This is so grim. Science isn’t just something nerds do, but the foundation of the modern world. What the Trump regime has done to US science will harm Americans for generations.
‘Shattered’: US scientists speak out about how Trump policies disrupted their careers
Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House.
www.nature.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:23 AM
This is so grim. Science isn’t just something nerds do, but the foundation of the modern world. What the Trump regime has done to US science will harm Americans for generations.
Reposted by Chris Mah
Inside the bell is its mouth (hanging down in the middle) and above it, the stomach, which with this individual has something in it! This one’s from an autumn plankton sample. 2/2 #marineplankton
January 20, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Inside the bell is its mouth (hanging down in the middle) and above it, the stomach, which with this individual has something in it! This one’s from an autumn plankton sample. 2/2 #marineplankton
Reposted by Chris Mah
Another little hydroid medusa with a full tummy! Hydrozoa are part of the phylum Cnidaria, along with jellyfish, sea anemones and corals. Some hydroids have this medusa stage as part of the their reproductive life cycle. 1/2
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
January 20, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Another little hydroid medusa with a full tummy! Hydrozoa are part of the phylum Cnidaria, along with jellyfish, sea anemones and corals. Some hydroids have this medusa stage as part of the their reproductive life cycle. 1/2
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Chris Mah
January 20, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Ha ha. This has been my life for the last few weeks! #coralseafrontiers at Museum Victoria (they have a Star Wars Lego exhibit!) thanks @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Ha ha. This has been my life for the last few weeks! #coralseafrontiers at Museum Victoria (they have a Star Wars Lego exhibit!) thanks @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social
ooo! Another lovely Amphiophiura by @drtimohara.bsky.social Amphiophiura paraconcava! With an even more gorgeous arm curl and disk plates that look engraved! #echinoday A species from Australian waters..and probably beyond
January 20, 2026 at 9:07 AM
ooo! Another lovely Amphiophiura by @drtimohara.bsky.social Amphiophiura paraconcava! With an even more gorgeous arm curl and disk plates that look engraved! #echinoday A species from Australian waters..and probably beyond
A handsome brittle star called Amphiophiura bullata! id'd by @drtimohara.bsky.social found in the deeps throughout the Indo-Pacific. They got those gorgeous plates and that cute arm curl! #echinoday
January 20, 2026 at 9:05 AM
A handsome brittle star called Amphiophiura bullata! id'd by @drtimohara.bsky.social found in the deeps throughout the Indo-Pacific. They got those gorgeous plates and that cute arm curl! #echinoday
A spiny friend called Calliaster spinosus! Most likely not seen since Hubert Lyman Clark described it in 1916! #coralseafrontiers thanks to @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 8:57 AM
A spiny friend called Calliaster spinosus! Most likely not seen since Hubert Lyman Clark described it in 1916! #coralseafrontiers thanks to @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social
Specimen based research can have exciting secrets! Here, we have a possibly NEW sea star from 1500m but ALSO with healthy sediment in its gut! What were possible food items? snails! Forams? SECRETS from the DEEP! #coralseafrontiers @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social #echinoday
January 20, 2026 at 8:39 AM
Specimen based research can have exciting secrets! Here, we have a possibly NEW sea star from 1500m but ALSO with healthy sediment in its gut! What were possible food items? snails! Forams? SECRETS from the DEEP! #coralseafrontiers @oceancensus.bsky.social @drtimohara.bsky.social #echinoday
A familiar friend...but in TASMANIA! Hippasteria phrygiana! A near cosmopolitan species found in Atlantic, Pacific and Indian waters-generally predators on cnidarians-esp. octocorals-showing off prominent pedicellariae and big ass spines! thanks @drtimohara.bsky.social @oceancensus.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 8:34 AM
A familiar friend...but in TASMANIA! Hippasteria phrygiana! A near cosmopolitan species found in Atlantic, Pacific and Indian waters-generally predators on cnidarians-esp. octocorals-showing off prominent pedicellariae and big ass spines! thanks @drtimohara.bsky.social @oceancensus.bsky.social
Reposted by Chris Mah
Morning all. Warm again but without the wind - glorious! Enjoy the Day 🌞
January 19, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Morning all. Warm again but without the wind - glorious! Enjoy the Day 🌞
Reposted by Chris Mah
Mount Rainier National Park
#photography #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #waterfall #washington #mountrainiernationalpark
#photography #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #waterfall #washington #mountrainiernationalpark
January 19, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Mount Rainier National Park
#photography #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #waterfall #washington #mountrainiernationalpark
#photography #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #waterfall #washington #mountrainiernationalpark