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MBA Library

@nmbluk.bsky.social

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National Marine Biological Library, based @thembauk.bsky.social. A place to access our electronic and printed collections, to ask for help, or just to work in peace https://www.mba.ac.uk/our-facilities/library/

www.mba.ac.uk

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Dec 4

Hello Everyone! We're super excited to be here. @thembauk.bsky.social was established 140 years ago, and there has been a library on site at the Citadel Hill laboratory ever since it opened in 1888! We're looking forward to sharing our stories with you #library #books

Black and white photograph of the original library at the Marine Biological Association, taken in 1897. Books line shelves from floor to ceiling around the room, with study desks in the centre of the room

The Southward Reading Room of the National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association (MBA). Comfortable chairs sit in front of shelves of books and below a gallery filled with book shelves

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Reposted by MBA Library

The Marine Biological Association @thembauk.bsky.social · 2h

In 2025, an explosion of common octopus appeared across the southwest coast of England

Dr. Keith Hiscock, MBA, explains what led to this “octopus bloom”, how it connects to long-term changes in our seas, and what it could mean for the future of UK marine life.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2l...

Southwest Octopus Bloom: Behind the Surge with Keith Hiscock, MBE

YouTube video by The Marine Biological Association

www.youtube.com

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 5h

Time for another #cephalopod as today is #WorldOctopusDay! To celebrate our eight armed friends, our Library Assistant has chosen one of her favourite illustrations - Muusoctopus levis from the German Deep-Sea Expedition 'Valdivia' 1898-1899 🐙

colour illustration of the dorsal (top) view of Muusoctopus levis.

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 23h

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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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 19d

While looking through our rare books collection for an illustration of a polychaete worm - as you do - we came across this delightful pressed leaf from a folio of polychaete illustrations by Elsie Sexton c. 1914 🍁

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Reposted by MBA Library

DASSH @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social · 28d

✨📊Celebrating incredible women in data!📊✨
We applaud the Woman in Data group, a charity supporting women in data, and our DASSH data team for their contributions to marine data🐟. With only 1 in 5 data professionals being women, let's empower more women in data!📈 @thembauk.bsky.social
#WomenInData

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 28d

@exploreyourarchive.bsky.social's September's theme is #EYAEducation and we think this photograph of the first class in experimental zoology held @thembauk in 1911 and conducted by Dr Creswell Shearer certainly fits the theme.

📷 ref: UM17

Sepia toned photograph of two women and four men in a laboratory

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Sep 4

Sooo we can totally ace this #TrickyTaxonThursday challenge as we have several specimens of rainbow wrack -some from the 1800s- in our herbarium

A photograph of a dried specimen of rainbow wrack

Reposted by MBA Library

DASSH @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social · Sep 4

🪸Tricky Taxon Thursday: Ericaria selaginoides 🪸
The rainbow wrack, or magic seaweed, changes from brown to blue-green when submerged. It has a sturdy stipe with spiky branches, reaching 60 cm. Often found in tidal pools along the southern and western UK coasts. See 709 records here 👇

DASSH - DASSH Mapper : Retrieve Data : Data : Home

Use the map tools to create a bounding box to query with...

www.dassh.ac.uk

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Sep 3

We have to agree - it's a very nice reading space. If we weren't working we'd be in there too!

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Sep 3

The autumnal weather has arrived with enthusiam, but we think our reading room is the perfect cozy and inviting space to read. Who else has a favourite reading spot?

photograph looking out through a window and across Plymouth Sound. Smeaton's Tower and Tinside Lido are in the background

Photograph taken from the gallery of the rare books room, looking down into the reading room. There are lots of shelves of books and some comfy reading chairs.

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 30

Happy #InternationalWhaleSharkDay to the largest fish in the ocean! To celebrate these fintastic friends we have this illustration from 'The Natural History of the Whale Shark Rhineodon typus Smith' by E.W. Gudger, 1915. This image was originally in Smith's Illustrations of South African Zoology

black and white illustration of a whale shark

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Reposted by MBA Library

DASSH @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social · Aug 29

🌊 🐟 Welcome back to Sea Spectacles! 🪼 🫧
Dive into the underwater world with this month's feature: the Moon Jellyfish!🌙 These common jellies drift with the currents, showcasing the ocean's simple beauty 🪼
@thembauk.bsky.social #MoonJellyfish #SeaSpectacles #OceanLife

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 28

Sooo we couldn’t find an image in our rare book or archive collections but you bet we have some books in our main collection that have information about this little hermit crab #TrickyTaxonThursday

Two books resting against a cushion. The titles are Crayfishes, Lobsters and Crabs of Europe and Great British Marine Animals

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 28

What a magnificent time piece. Thank you

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 27

34 please 🙂

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 22

Amazing, what an eclectic treat. Thank you!

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 22

We'd like E28 please, if it's not too late to join in 🙂

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 22

We might be a marine biology research library but we're also partial to a good botanical illustration. This one from @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social

University of Exeter Special Collections @exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social · Aug 22

Thistle hopefully brighten your Friday! 💐

We hope you have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.

📷 Illustration of spear, marsh, creeping and woolly thistles from ‘The Flowering Plants of Great Britain’ (1855) by Anne Pratt [Baring-Gould Library 0691]

#FridayFlowers #FlowersOnFriday #RareBooks

Cropped image of an opened book with text on the right hand page but focusing on a full-page colour illustration of spear thistles, marsh thistles, creeping thistles and woolly thistles on the left hand page. The illustration uses shades of purple, yellow and green.

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 21

Success! Thanks to Gosse’s ‘A History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals’ 1860, we can share this beautiful illustration of the Devonshire cup coral, Caryophyllia smithii (as Cyathina smithii on the original plate) #TrickyTaxonThursday

colour illustrations of two specimens of the Devonshire cup coral attached to a sublittoral wall. The top coral is in a closed position and the lower coral is open. Taken from Philip Henry Gosse's A History of the British Sea-Anemones and corals

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Reposted by MBA Library

DASSH @dassh-at-the-mba.bsky.social · Aug 21

📱🦀 Turn Your Beach Stroll into a Wildlife Discovery! 🌍🔍
✨Download the free iNaturalist app and join a global community of nature lovers. Simply snap a photo of any plant or animal life and the app will help you identify it, log it, and contribute to real scientific research.🙌🔗https://buff.ly/hJa1XQk

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 20

#OTD in 1876 Marie Victoire Lebour was born. Marie Lebour was based @thembauk.bsky.social for much of her caeer, which primarily focused on planktonic larvae and other microplantkon. We are privileged to have her personal library and research material in the library and archive.

📷UM158

Black and white photograph of Marie Lebour, wearing a white laboratory coat and standing outside the Marine Biological Association

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 19

Sounds lovely, enjoy!

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 18

We think this was meant to be a humorous library notice from 1953! We have two copies in our archive refs ML1 (Library) and PSP3 (Guy Malcom Spooner). GM Spooner was well known for writing entertaining verses so we think he was the likely author
#EYAHumour

A typed library notice of five paragraphs that informs the reader of the inability of marine biologists to use the library, along with information on how to properly use the library

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 15

We obviously had that Friday feeling a day early - here is the illustration!

MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · Aug 14

This was a tricky one thanks to some taxonomic relabelling but we think we found an illustration of the nursehound from the third edition of William Yarrell's 'A History of British Fishes' 1859. #TrickyTaxonThursday

We also have some of Yarrell's original illustrations in our archive (ref PYA1)

A black and white drawing of the nursehound catshark Scyliorhinus stellaris. The names given on this page are Scyllium catulus, Scyllium stellare and Scyllium stellaris

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