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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

@coastalpaleo.bsky.social

4.5K followers 1.1K following 1.9K posts

Marine mammal paleontologist, artist, snorkeler, beachcomber, tidepool enthusiast. Blog: www.coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · Aug 27

New #watercolor - the skull that launched a thousand papers - Aetiocetus weltoni, the ~25 myo toothed baleen whale that likely had teeth and baleen - from the Oligocene of Oregon. I started this last winter and only finally finished it yesterday. 🐡 🦖🐬 #sciart #whaleontology #whalewednesday #art

A watercolor painting of a toothed baleen whale skull in side view. The jaws are closed, and the skull has a rather large eye socket; the nose is still quite far out on the snout. There are a series of mostly conical teeth that interlock like a crocodile.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

David Brace @davidbrace2.bsky.social · 1d

"3 of cicadas", oil on watercolour paper, 5 /14 x 7 1/4", 2025- $150 (Cdn) #art #sciart

A small painting of 3 molted cicada shells in a column down the center of the page.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Ligus @greyauk.bsky.social · 1d

This was supposed to be the #SundayFishSketch ...
The bumby snailfish is refusing to get painted at the moment :/ ... I may return to it later or try again.

tiny watercolour of a bumpy snailfish looking ahead
pencil stump for size reference
It looks like a pjnk bumpy blob withe spiky fins

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Ana Silva @7anasilva.bsky.social · 22h

Day 7 Dolphin. Ink and charcoal.
#dolphin #animalart #drawtober #Sciart #natureart #ink #artober

Ink wash and charcoal drawing of a dolphin. #inktober25

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Patrick Lynch @patrlynch1.bsky.social · 22h

An iconic keystone species of the U.S. Atlantic Coast, the Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus), or "beautiful, savory swimmer." For a new project.
🧪🌿🌎 #sciart #wildlife #scicomm #sciviz #wildlifeart #illustration #scientificillustration #natureart #visualscicomm #sciviz #scicomm #crabs #BlueCrab

A very detailed top-view illustration of a female Blue Crab. Drawn with Photoshop and a Wacom drawing tablet.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Emil L’Amour @vireosy.bsky.social · 17h

spiny dogfish

(Swim On 5, 2019) #art #sciart 🎨🦑🦈

Illustration of a spiny dogfish and smaller fish swimming among stylized kelp strands, white lines of current threading around it and its surroundings.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Petra Korlević @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social · 12h

Day 7 #Invertober2025 - Scaly foot gastropod (Chrysomallon squamiferum) 🐌

SNAIL. BYE.

#SciArt #invertebrates

semi-realistic drawing of a Scaly foot gastropod, a very fancy black shiny shelled snail with a red soft body but it is covered in little black scales, on a black background.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 14d

New! Longer body size means more female calves in baleen whales! By Zoe Rand, Sarah Converse and myself

Paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Press:
www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...

Longer body size means more female calves for baleen whale moms

University of Washington researchers found, in historical whaling data, that longer baleen whale mothers were more likely to birth female calves than males. These results run contrary to a leading...

www.washington.edu

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 14h

When you hear about Big Tech companies lobbying the federal government to stifle AI regulation in the states, this is one reason why.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 20h

California has now banned algorithmic price fixing.

The state has outlawed the practice of landlords colluding to raise prices using rental software and AI.

This is a huge victory for renters in the biggest state in the country.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 12h

Hell yeah. I got very excited when The Specials were featured in a question on Jeopardy a couple weeks ago

Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 13h

🫠

Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Emily Stepp @emilyart.bsky.social · 17h

#Paleoctober2025 day 6 paleoart sketch of the giant Late Triassic ichthyosaur Ichthyotitan.

#Paleoctober #Paleoart #ichthyosaur #Ichthyotitan

Painterly hour long digital sketch of the massive ichthyosaur in cool ocean waters with much smaller ammonites swimming past.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 18h

🦀Minus tides are coming! Our first daytime minus tide of the fall is today (in SoCal anyway), though I probably won't go out until tomorrow. But, you know what that means: more nudi pics! And by that I mean nudibranchs, lovely colorful little sea slugs:

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2024/03/nudi...

Nudibranch hunting in northern California: snapshots from winter tidepooling in Half Moon Bay, CA

This post has more to do with the coastal part of the title and less to do with the paleo part - I'll be doing more of these, since I figure...

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 18h

And some more kelp forest photos, with some closeups of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and a school of topsmelt (Atherinops affinis), also with @joshualudtke.bsky.social .

A school of bluish, reflective fish called smelt swimming through a kelp forest

A view through a kelp forest stand underwater

Another shot of kelp on the way back up from a dive, with the kelp backlit by the sun

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 21h

From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters

A colour illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis. The main body is painted black, with eyes painted to look bioluminescent

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

there's still time to correct this mistake

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 1d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · 1d

With platforms like Boston University’s “TerrierGPT,” the pressure for students to use AI is now coming from colleges themselves, even as researchers warn of the long-term consequences, writes Julie Huynh.

What Happens When Universities Offer a “Critical Embrace” of AI?

With platforms like Boston University’s “TerrierGPT,” the pressure for students to use AI is coming from colleges themselves, even as researchers warn of long-term consequences.

www.thenation.com

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Asher Hellbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes the Instagram algorithm delivers

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

What the F

Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

Some of my more beautiful kelp forest photos from August, when I went out snorkeling with @joshualudtke.bsky.social at La Jolla.

A school of smelt - silvery long schooling fish - swim between kelp stalks just below the water surface.

Some senorita fish swimming adjacent to a kelp stalk.

Many strands of giant kelp in a kelp forest canopy.

Many strands of kelp in a kelp forest canopy - the blades have been grazed extensively in the warm water.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 2d

#MolluscMonday Early Pleistocene Neptunea angulata from the Red Crag of East Anglia bearing a striking example of the shell repair trace fossil Caedichnus, normally representing failed attempts at predation by crabs. Would handling this sinistral snail have proved difficult for the crab?

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

NightMar on Hicks Street, Part 4: The Rabbit’s Revenge @histoftech.bsky.social · 2d

happy sunday, remember that you are completely expendable to your employer and that when you die they will forget you ever existed within weeks and easily replace you

Work really hard and one day this can be you (followed by graffiti of a headstone that says “RIP worked really hard” on it

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 2d

Calcium Isotopes Correlate With Baleen Whale Feeding Ecology - Martin - Marine Mammal Science - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Calcium Isotopes Correlate With Baleen Whale Feeding Ecology

Baleen whales are among the largest animals ever and engineer marine ecosystems by transporting nutrients both vertically through the water column and across vast oceanic distances. Hidden underwater...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 3d

Redwood canopy recovery, five years after a crown fire. 🌲🔥 #CZULightningComplex

Green dense canopy, very tall trees, blackened tree trunk of redwood trees.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · Aug 14

Eric Adams is amazing because when he won every media person was leaping over each to go “this is the normal sane leadership that the political left doesn’t understand normal sane Americans crave” and then every day since that Eric Adams has been like “Leprechauns are real and I’m going to cook one”

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