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.
We still got ostracods!
January 14, 2026 at 8:20 PM
We still got ostracods!
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
Bake 41 - last of the year, made on NYE itself - thematically appropriate gingerbread biscuits with Bailey’s buttercream
January 2, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Bake 41 - last of the year, made on NYE itself - thematically appropriate gingerbread biscuits with Bailey’s buttercream
Bake 40 - this year’s Christmas pudding
January 2, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Bake 40 - this year’s Christmas pudding
Bake 40 - this year’s mince pies
January 2, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Bake 40 - this year’s mince pies
Bake 39 - lemon and rosewater checkerboard biscuits
January 2, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Bake 39 - lemon and rosewater checkerboard biscuits
Bake 38 - chocolate orange biscotti
January 2, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Bake 38 - chocolate orange biscotti
Bake 37 - choc chip madeleines
January 2, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Bake 37 - choc chip madeleines
Bake 36 - mini pecan pies to use up some pastry
January 2, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Bake 36 - mini pecan pies to use up some pastry
Bake 35 - Financiers (ignore that they’re round)
January 2, 2026 at 7:29 PM
Bake 35 - Financiers (ignore that they’re round)
Bake 34 was this year’s pumpkin pie
January 2, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Bake 34 was this year’s pumpkin pie
Ok gotta finish this thread off. Bake 33 was a cinnamon babka that I slightly burned
January 2, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Ok gotta finish this thread off. Bake 33 was a cinnamon babka that I slightly burned
That's a lady! Male Idiacanthus are dwarves (but not parasitic, as is found in some anglerfish families)
(Also the goofy spaghetti-eyed freak is a larval Idiacanthus)
(Also the goofy spaghetti-eyed freak is a larval Idiacanthus)
January 1, 2026 at 2:09 AM
That's a lady! Male Idiacanthus are dwarves (but not parasitic, as is found in some anglerfish families)
(Also the goofy spaghetti-eyed freak is a larval Idiacanthus)
(Also the goofy spaghetti-eyed freak is a larval Idiacanthus)
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
#25DaysOfFishmas 2025
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 25 - Neoceratias spinifer, needlebeard seadevil
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 25 - Neoceratias spinifer, needlebeard seadevil
December 25, 2025 at 10:35 AM
#25DaysOfFishmas 2025
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 25 - Neoceratias spinifer, needlebeard seadevil
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 25 - Neoceratias spinifer, needlebeard seadevil
So there we are - Happy Fishmas one and all! I hope all who celebrate have very happy holidays and are looking forward to another fishy year - and just as a teaser, Fishmas doesn't end here! I had only do 25 monospecific families, but here are the rejects - dig in and find a new weirdo to admire!
December 25, 2025 at 10:31 AM
So there we are - Happy Fishmas one and all! I hope all who celebrate have very happy holidays and are looking forward to another fishy year - and just as a teaser, Fishmas doesn't end here! I had only do 25 monospecific families, but here are the rejects - dig in and find a new weirdo to admire!
Like many other deep-sea anglerfishes, male Neoceratias are parasitic dwarves, biting onto the larger females and merging bloodstreams - an adaptation for finding a mate in the deep sea, and a reminder to those of us alone this Christmas that there are worse fates out there!
December 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Like many other deep-sea anglerfishes, male Neoceratias are parasitic dwarves, biting onto the larger females and merging bloodstreams - an adaptation for finding a mate in the deep sea, and a reminder to those of us alone this Christmas that there are worse fates out there!
Perhaps Neoceratias' strangest feature is its dentition - the teeth grow on the OUTSIDE of its mouth, on hinged stalks. Why? No one knows, but it gives the needlebeard seadevil its common name.
December 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Perhaps Neoceratias' strangest feature is its dentition - the teeth grow on the OUTSIDE of its mouth, on hinged stalks. Why? No one knows, but it gives the needlebeard seadevil its common name.
Some may know that I have a personal relationship with this fish - in 2024, I spent three days in the Natural History Museum, London, tracking down this (then uncatalogued) individual. N. spinifer is very rare - this specimen is (afaik) the only one in the UK, and one of ~26 collected worldwide!
December 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Some may know that I have a personal relationship with this fish - in 2024, I spent three days in the Natural History Museum, London, tracking down this (then uncatalogued) individual. N. spinifer is very rare - this specimen is (afaik) the only one in the UK, and one of ~26 collected worldwide!
I use an illustration for the first tweet because real specimens are... not so pretty. Neoceratias is *weird* - it's the only species in the entire anglerfish order to *not* have a lure (the feature that gives anglerfish their name!). It also has nostrils on stalks - no idea why!
December 25, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I use an illustration for the first tweet because real specimens are... not so pretty. Neoceratias is *weird* - it's the only species in the entire anglerfish order to *not* have a lure (the feature that gives anglerfish their name!). It also has nostrils on stalks - no idea why!
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.
#25DaysOfFishmas 2025
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 24 - Triodon macropterus, threetooth puffer
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 24 - Triodon macropterus, threetooth puffer
December 24, 2025 at 11:01 AM
#25DaysOfFishmas 2025
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 24 - Triodon macropterus, threetooth puffer
Monospecific Families/"Lonely This Fishmas"
Day 24 - Triodon macropterus, threetooth puffer
The weirdness with Triodon isn't just skin deep - these fish have an enigmatic and unique organ in their digestive tract known as Tyler's (not Santa's) sac, essentially a widening of the intestine with peculiarly large papillae. Very festive!
December 24, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The weirdness with Triodon isn't just skin deep - these fish have an enigmatic and unique organ in their digestive tract known as Tyler's (not Santa's) sac, essentially a widening of the intestine with peculiarly large papillae. Very festive!