HulloThere
@jethroreading32.bsky.social
PhD student at Southampton, studying mesopelagic fish ecology. Occasional writer and amateur baker. Tweets about fish in superlatives. Opinions my own.
Flies are so cool man, and the thing you don't learn until you really start paying attention is that all the ones that have horrific lifestyles are the coolest looking.
Not A Cat
(Cuterebra buccata, a gorgeous botfly which apparently parasitizes bunnies? So large I thought she was a cicada when I first sighted her, in the last shot!)
🌿🪰
(Cuterebra buccata, a gorgeous botfly which apparently parasitizes bunnies? So large I thought she was a cicada when I first sighted her, in the last shot!)
🌿🪰
January 17, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Flies are so cool man, and the thing you don't learn until you really start paying attention is that all the ones that have horrific lifestyles are the coolest looking.
Really committing to the siphonophore mimicry (if indeed that is the function of the elaborately decorated gut extension)
When it comes to my Aliens Collection, the weirder the better - and few fish are weirder than the larval-stage #Lamprogrammus #cuskeel
#deepsea #deepseacreatures #deepwater #deepseafish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
#deepsea #deepseacreatures #deepwater #deepseafish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater
January 16, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Really committing to the siphonophore mimicry (if indeed that is the function of the elaborately decorated gut extension)
Those tropical reef catfish are such weirdos
School of juvenile catfish
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #catfish
#gili #giliislands #lombok #diving #scuba #trawangan #diveandstay #giliair #pets #ocean #sealife #marinelife #padi #fish #catfish
January 16, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Those tropical reef catfish are such weirdos
Having said this midwater fish are beautiful and if you disagree you simply have no taste 💅
The lesson to learn from the blobfish is not "all animals are actually beautiful in their context", it's "all animals are deserving of love, respect, and protection regardless of whether they are aesthetically pleasing to us".
January 13, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Having said this midwater fish are beautiful and if you disagree you simply have no taste 💅
One of my pet peeves (which the OP deftly sidesteps) is people insisting that the blobfish is only ugly when decompressed. Look, I love it with all my heart, but at no point is the blobfish pretty! At its best it looks like a naked molerat inflated with a bicycle pump.
Last repost. What a Blobfish looks like when it’s underwater and alive is considerably less funny than internet meme blobfish. Like seeing an actor who normally does panto dames doing his shopping in February.
January 13, 2026 at 3:03 PM
One of my pet peeves (which the OP deftly sidesteps) is people insisting that the blobfish is only ugly when decompressed. Look, I love it with all my heart, but at no point is the blobfish pretty! At its best it looks like a naked molerat inflated with a bicycle pump.
Went down a mini rabbithole last night and this morning but does anyone remember this cool observation from a NOAA cruise in 2016 (can't believe it was a decade ago...). Thousands of spherical, sedimentary pellets across the seafloor, in some places drifted like snow - tentatively IDed as Gromia?
January 11, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Went down a mini rabbithole last night and this morning but does anyone remember this cool observation from a NOAA cruise in 2016 (can't believe it was a decade ago...). Thousands of spherical, sedimentary pellets across the seafloor, in some places drifted like snow - tentatively IDed as Gromia?
Total John Dory cultural victory
January 8, 2026 at 10:45 AM
Total John Dory cultural victory
Ok off-the-cuff comment which I probably don't fully believe but are tarpon the best "boring" fish? Like are they the coolest thing which doesn't really innovate on the form (silver, fish shaped, standard number and positioning of fins)?
Silver kings shimmer under the bright white light of the Wolf Moon night #tarpon #silverkings #coralcityafterdark #wolfmoon #marineastronomy #shimmer #brightwhitelight #night #coral #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity
January 6, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Ok off-the-cuff comment which I probably don't fully believe but are tarpon the best "boring" fish? Like are they the coolest thing which doesn't really innovate on the form (silver, fish shaped, standard number and positioning of fins)?
Reposted by HulloThere
January 6, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Anyone able to hazard a guess on the identity of the little pelagarian fishes hanging around this Stygiomedusa? Some sort of Nomeid perhaps?
ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps
January 2, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Anyone able to hazard a guess on the identity of the little pelagarian fishes hanging around this Stygiomedusa? Some sort of Nomeid perhaps?
Great opportunity! (And really puts the SI in Parasitology)
Flier for a PhD available based in Southampton, stable isotope forensics, salmon, sea lice - mix of analytical and environmental application development - application deadline Jan 08. Application through QR code linked site
January 2, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Great opportunity! (And really puts the SI in Parasitology)
Reposted by HulloThere
Flier for a PhD available based in Southampton, stable isotope forensics, salmon, sea lice - mix of analytical and environmental application development - application deadline Jan 08. Application through QR code linked site
December 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Flier for a PhD available based in Southampton, stable isotope forensics, salmon, sea lice - mix of analytical and environmental application development - application deadline Jan 08. Application through QR code linked site
Happy New Year, from our Lemon Pigs to yours
January 1, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Happy New Year, from our Lemon Pigs to yours
For our final day of #25DaysOfFishmas, we're going full weird. Today's bizarre, lonely little fish is the needlebeard seadevil, Neoceratias spinifer. This prickly little lady is the only member of the family Neoceratiidae, nestling within the larger deep-sea anglefish order Ceratoidei.
December 25, 2025 at 9:53 AM
For our final day of #25DaysOfFishmas, we're going full weird. Today's bizarre, lonely little fish is the needlebeard seadevil, Neoceratias spinifer. This prickly little lady is the only member of the family Neoceratiidae, nestling within the larger deep-sea anglefish order Ceratoidei.
Our penultimate Lonely Fish for #25DaysOfFishmas is another quite cute one. This is Triodon macropterus, the threetooth puffer. The only member of the family Triodontidae, this species is found around the Indo-Pacific at depths between ~30 and 300m.
December 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Our penultimate Lonely Fish for #25DaysOfFishmas is another quite cute one. This is Triodon macropterus, the threetooth puffer. The only member of the family Triodontidae, this species is found around the Indo-Pacific at depths between ~30 and 300m.
Reposted by HulloThere
C. aper is a special one on the list as I actually had the privilege to handle a few on my most recent research cruise. This gave me the opportunity to have a play with that snout and the remarkable protrusible mouth it conceals, which is used to suck up small invertebrate prey.
December 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM
C. aper is a special one on the list as I actually had the privilege to handle a few on my most recent research cruise. This gave me the opportunity to have a play with that snout and the remarkable protrusible mouth it conceals, which is used to suck up small invertebrate prey.
As we really enter the home straight for #25DaysOfFishmas, Day 23 brings us probably the cutest little monospecific family on our list. This is Capros aper, the boarfish, the only known member of the Caproidae.
December 23, 2025 at 10:21 AM
As we really enter the home straight for #25DaysOfFishmas, Day 23 brings us probably the cutest little monospecific family on our list. This is Capros aper, the boarfish, the only known member of the Caproidae.
Reposted by HulloThere
They all have their own "lore" with them too, which was confirmed by the developers that whenever a new species is represented, the lore gets a real-life fish fact.
And that 1700+ is only the ones in the guide! There's a few hundred others that aren't tracked in various parts of the game!
And that 1700+ is only the ones in the guide! There's a few hundred others that aren't tracked in various parts of the game!
December 23, 2025 at 12:38 AM
They all have their own "lore" with them too, which was confirmed by the developers that whenever a new species is represented, the lore gets a real-life fish fact.
And that 1700+ is only the ones in the guide! There's a few hundred others that aren't tracked in various parts of the game!
And that 1700+ is only the ones in the guide! There's a few hundred others that aren't tracked in various parts of the game!
Reposted by HulloThere
This is a fish that just straight up looks like a 16th-century sea monster on a world map, incredible.
December 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM
This is a fish that just straight up looks like a 16th-century sea monster on a world map, incredible.
For Day 22 of #25DaysOfFishmas we have one of my favourites from the whole list, another big, pelagic weirdo that I've been obsessed with for many years now. This is Luvaris imperialis, the Louvar, a rarely encountered oceanic beast found across the Indo-Pacific and in parts of the Atlantic.
December 22, 2025 at 10:51 AM
For Day 22 of #25DaysOfFishmas we have one of my favourites from the whole list, another big, pelagic weirdo that I've been obsessed with for many years now. This is Luvaris imperialis, the Louvar, a rarely encountered oceanic beast found across the Indo-Pacific and in parts of the Atlantic.
For Day 21 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got Cheimmarichthys fosteri, the panoko or torrentfish. This charming little labriform is the only member of the fammily Cheimmarichthyidae - especially surprising given there are >750 other species in the Labriformes, including the very diverse wrasse family.
December 21, 2025 at 10:11 AM
For Day 21 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got Cheimmarichthys fosteri, the panoko or torrentfish. This charming little labriform is the only member of the fammily Cheimmarichthyidae - especially surprising given there are >750 other species in the Labriformes, including the very diverse wrasse family.
For Day 20 we have the magnificently ornamented & bizarrely named Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus. This striking character is native to temperate waters around Australia and, while it resembles tropical butterflyfish, it is actually more closely related to freshwater sunfish and basses.
December 20, 2025 at 10:39 AM
For Day 20 we have the magnificently ornamented & bizarrely named Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus. This striking character is native to temperate waters around Australia and, while it resembles tropical butterflyfish, it is actually more closely related to freshwater sunfish and basses.
Ok, back to the weirdos for Day 19 of #25DaysOfFishmas. This is Zaprora silenus, the prowfish, a species native to cold, rocky areas of the North Pacific down to about 675m. While two extinct species from the family Zaproridae are known, this is the only extant one.
December 19, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Ok, back to the weirdos for Day 19 of #25DaysOfFishmas. This is Zaprora silenus, the prowfish, a species native to cold, rocky areas of the North Pacific down to about 675m. While two extinct species from the family Zaproridae are known, this is the only extant one.
Reposted by HulloThere
SEASON'S GREASONS
December 18, 2025 at 11:22 PM
SEASON'S GREASONS
Right, enough messing about with obscure little deep sea weirdos. For Day 18 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got a fish that I reckon 95% of people reading this will have heard of. This is the sole living member of the Xiphiidae, Xiphias gladius - the swordfish.
December 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Right, enough messing about with obscure little deep sea weirdos. For Day 18 of #25DaysOfFishmas we've got a fish that I reckon 95% of people reading this will have heard of. This is the sole living member of the Xiphiidae, Xiphias gladius - the swordfish.