Pretty Spooky Things 🎃
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prettyuglythings.bsky.social
Pretty Spooky Things 🎃
@prettyuglythings.bsky.social
310 followers 1.1K following 140 posts
Amateur naturalist, serious collector, and appreciator of the unusual things our planet is capable of… based out of Tucson!

Purveyor of minerals, succulents, isopods, and information
https://prettyuglythingsaz.com // https://prettyuglythingsaz.etsy.com
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prettyuglythings.bsky.social
Pretty Spooky Things 🎃 @prettyuglythings.bsky.social · Jan 12
Oh hi
A greater roadrunner standing at alert
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geohenning.bsky.social
Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄⚒️ @berkeleymews.bsky.social
Comic by Berkeleymews. Unpacking presents "What the...? Coal!!" And then the kid looks at the complete rock collection at the wall.
December 24, 2025 at 12:17 PM
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leastactionhero.bsky.social
time to resurrect the victorian xmas card quoteskeet thread happy quahogmas one and all
Old Victorian Christmas card with some illustrated clams with little faces on them and British flags. It says ABSENT FRIENDS [NATIVES] May we soon see them again! A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU
December 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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richardgibson.bsky.social
#MineralMonday Wulfenite, mimetite, Rowley Mine, Arizona USA. Approx 3 mm wide. ⚒️ #geology . No MAGA! Science = Resistance! #standupforscience
December 22, 2025 at 4:29 PM
prettyuglythings.bsky.social
I just learned of glauberite this year after getting some gypsum-after-glauberite pseudomorph specimens from Camp Verde, AZ, via a local rockhound.

Look at this weirdo.
An opaque white mineral held in a hand over a flat of minerals. The mineral is composed of intersecting random-appearing jagged blades
December 23, 2025 at 8:16 PM
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seafloorscience.bsky.social
The Seasquare 😂

📸 Prof Michael Sweet
Two seastars but one is a square due to a defect
December 23, 2025 at 3:52 AM
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saimihanma.bsky.social
Today I visited the Takeshima Aquarium in Gamagori, which specializes in deep sea animals. I saw giant isopods, spider crabs, deep sea octopus and all kinds of fascinating #invertebrates.
A small giant isopod looking right at its dignified yet alien face Blue jellyfish The underside of a spider crab A weird crab looking at the camera
December 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM
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drkatfish.bsky.social
My absolute favorite holiday tradition is Lampreia de Ovos, a Portuguese Christmas dessert which contains zero (0) actual lamprey but 50 (!) egg yolks, sugar, and almonds - and is shaped to look like a lamprey. Don’t forget cherries for the eyes! #25DaysofFishmas www.atlasobscura.com/foods/lampre...
Lampreia de Ovos, a Portuguese Christmas dessert
December 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
prettyuglythings.bsky.social
I’m prepping some “fairy forest” epidote quartz for sale, and my favorite subtype is when the quartz has phantoms. Excellent zoning!
A small specimen of epidote and quartz, the quartz is more prominent than the epidote which grows in small bunchy clusters between the quartz crystals. The quartz is colorless, but several of the larger crystals have mint green phantoms inside. Detail of the larger crystals with phantoms, showing more complex zoning with fine layers of the mint green inclusions inside like tree rings.
December 20, 2025 at 8:52 PM
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mesokari.bsky.social
Tonicella lineata - lined chiton (2023)

Imagine a really flat slug wearing plate armor; that's basically what these guys look like. All the other mollusks downsized on their shell pieces but the chitons said "nah I think 8 pieces are still in fashion"

#invertebrates #mollusks #chitons #art #sciart
eight colorful chitons with different variations of stripes on their valves. (I drew this so long ago I can't remember what I ref'd, so if I got the stripes wrong and accidentally ended up drawing a totally different species i'm sorry) ink and watercolor
December 20, 2025 at 1:43 AM
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menestune.bsky.social
Good morning! A starfish clearly saluting their greeting. Surrounded by many barnacles and anemones for #crustmas.

#nature #oregoncoast #christmas #crustacean #love #smallwonders #cool #bluesky #nokings #marinelife #photography #seastar
A starfish in a dry tidepool surrounded by many smaller creatures and another starfish nearby. One of their "arms" is bent back toward their "head" in what looks like a textbook salute.
December 19, 2025 at 6:05 PM
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nadwgab.bsky.social
348 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Aragonite:
- A calcium carbonate mineral
- Forms via metamorphism, precipitation in warm marine water, around hot springs and in caves
- A component of mollusc shells and coral exoskeletons
- Named after its type locality Molina de Aragón in Spain #minerals
Blocky twinned prisms of aragonite, colourless and translucent, with some bright yellow sulphur. From Cianciana, Sicily, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London. A group of pale brown pseudo-hexagonal aragonite twin crystals. They are arranged in a spherical shape. From Cobeta, Spain. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London. Aragonite, var. flos ferri. It's a white, branching mass of aragonite with a silky shimmer. From Dufton, Cumbria, England, UK. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.
December 14, 2025 at 12:48 PM
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dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
A jackdaw who has declined my totally innocent, no-catch offer to buy it a drink, leaving us both sitting us at a park bench in awkward silence and wondering how we ended up here.
December 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
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andersonmineral.bsky.social
Just a beautiful fold!! I hope even non-geologists can appreciate the beauty of what pressure can do to a rock. #FoldFriday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Pale whitish rock with black flecks with a black curvy bed going through it in the shape of a mirror image S. The background is pale green. At the Field Museum.
December 12, 2025 at 12:39 PM
prettyuglythings.bsky.social
Ash Meadows is off the beaten path but an absolute treasure. If I recall correctly, it has one of the greatest concentrations of endemic species in the world!
The desert around Ash Meadows, with low scrubby brush in bare ground, with flow marks around them from recent water flows. View from the boardwalk at Ash Meadows, with scraggy desert trees mixed with dense green reeds hiding a waterway. The same spring in the quoted post because it’s just so darn pretty, with crystal clear green-blue water.
December 11, 2025 at 5:14 PM
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drkatfish.bsky.social
One is the loneliest number: the Pahrump poolfish is the last living member of its genus (Empetricthys). The 3 others (Ash Meadows poolfish, Raycraft Ranch springfish + Pahrump Ranch killifish, all also found only in Nevada) had gone extinct by 1960 due to human activity #25DaysofFishmas
A Pahrump poolfish wearing a Santa hat; the text says December 11
December 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM
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jeffontherock.bsky.social
Sugared Sunburst Lichen (I love that name), Xanthoria sorediata. Northwest Territories, Canada.
#lichen #fungi #fungifriends
Photo of a bright orange lichen growing in a rock crevice.
December 11, 2025 at 12:09 AM
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coastalpaleo.bsky.social
#tidepooling Last month my cousin got married in Laguna Beach during king tides, so I snuck out just before the rehearsal dinner and saw a bunch of new critters! Here's a branched dendronotid nudibranch (~5 mm long), Dendronotus frondosus - a new one for me! 🦀🦑
A small pale sea slug on a red algae branch, with many branched tentacle like structures with gold parts sticking off of its back. A small pale sea slug on a red algae branch, with many branched tentacle like structures with gold parts sticking off of its back. A small pale sea slug on a red algae branch, with many branched tentacle like structures with gold parts sticking off of its back. A small pale sea slug on a red algae branch, with many branched tentacle like structures with gold parts sticking off of its back.
December 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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sarahmackattack.bsky.social
One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.
A poster on 8.5 x 11 inch paper saga Fishtown fish facts: red lipped catfish or of ocephalus Darwini. Then a pic of that freaky fish with 4 limbs it rests on the ground and then the words “stg this fish real red-lipped batfish walk ocean floor with they flippers RLBF have RBF, not they fault RLBF have a bioluminescent lure that glows to attract dinner RLBF lipgloss is popping, RLBF lipgloss is cool, all the fish keep jockin, they chase RLBF after school RLBF got scales like armor and shine bright like a diamond Red-lipped batfish will teach you how to dougie, I can promise u that. @yaboyni Take a moment And and realize the moment You took has already passed Thank you See you next time
December 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
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nadwgab.bsky.social
334 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Spinel:
- An oxide mineral
- Forms via metamorphism
- Can be various colours due to impurities
- Its name comes from the Latin word "spinella" (little thorn) because of its pointy octahedral shape #minerals
An opaque, black modified octahedron of spinel on a matrix containing calcite and idocrase. From Greenwood, New York, USA. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London. Dark blue spinel octahedra in a matrix containing muscovite and calcite. From Lake Baikal, Siberia. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London. An octagonal mixed-cut translucent pink spinel gemstone. From Sri Lanka. This information is repeated on its display label. BM.89175. Specimen on display in the Natural History Museum, London.
November 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM
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nataliajagielska.bsky.social
Doodles for Hong Kong 🇭🇰

In response to the tragic Tai Po fire, I'm doing charity commissions. Anyone who puts over £25/250HKD into "Feeding Hong Kong" or Hong Kong SPCA can request a coloured doodle of any prehistoric animal 🙏
November 29, 2025 at 12:53 AM
prettyuglythings.bsky.social
I enjoy rescuing moths from water. They often find their way into bird baths and water dishes, I just put a finger under them, lift out, and let them rest until they dry off.
A pale tan moth on the tip of a finger, its wings wet, drooping, and stuck to the finger. The same moth on gravel with wings spread, dry and recovered
December 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
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mossworm.bsky.social
thrips
flat color cartoon drawings of several thrips, small insects which may have four wings or none. clockwise from top left: a thrips with very complex fringed wings, a thrips with large crab claws, two drawings of thrips with no wings and a dark brown front end and tan back, and a long and thin black thrips with red legs photos of the real animals that are drawn in the previous image; Arachisothrips has large and complex wings, Stephanothrips is wingless with a dark brown head and thorax, Idolothrips is very long and thin, and Carcinothrips has very large crab claw-like forearms
December 2, 2025 at 1:34 AM
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prisonculture.bsky.social
I learned about two projects that are supporting people to get food.

This one allows you to cover someone's groceries: findagrocerybuddy.com/become-a-don...
Become a Donor | Find a Grocery Buddy
Fund a verified grocery order through Find a Grocery Buddy. Pay securely via PayPal — we’ll place the Instacart order and send you proof of delivery.
findagrocerybuddy.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
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nickybay.bsky.social
This is the Sunburst Candy Spider from Thailand. Not AI (sucks to have to declare this). Very real and had been on my wish list for a long time.

The taxonomic placement is unclear, so we are leaving it at Cyrtarachninae.
November 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
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drrelling.dev
@franzanth.bsky.social you may already be aware of the existence of this, but I felt like it needed to be brought to your attention if not: store.steampowered.com/app/2053910/...
Save 20% on Isopod: A Webbed Spin-off on Steam
You're a tiny pill-bug in a big world! Roll, zip, and slam your way through the gorgeous landscapes of the Australian bush, unite your fellow bugs, and fight back the greedy Fire Ant Conglomerate!
store.steampowered.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM