So, 2024 was a good year for me. 8 papers as author/co-author with 3 new genera and 19 new species described! Among them? this lovely mesophotic beast present from Okinawa to Western Australia! Churaumiastra hoshi! #echino2024 - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

echinoblog.bsky.social • 78 days ago

So, 2024 was a good year for me. 8 papers as author/co-author with 3 new genera and 19 new species described! Among them? this lovely mesophotic beast present from Okinawa to Western Australia! Churaumiastra hoshi! #echino2024

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

and one more.. the "goose foot" sea star Anseropoda rosacea! FLAT like a piece of paper AND multiple arms to boot! Apparently lives camouflaged on the sediment where it lives buried! But SO MANY QUESTIONS! Seeing it alive was a start! #echino2024 #HongKong

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seafloorscience.bsky.social•78 days ago

Wow beautiful!!

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

my thanks!

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

An observation of the large sand star, Luidia maculata with its disk depressed into the sediment! Likely feeding on some hapless urchin or somesuch! #echino2024 https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5526.1.1

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

YOW! This urchin, Temnopleurus reevesi? abundant and VORACIOUS! observed feeding on various moribund fish and sea cucumbers! #HongKong https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5526.1.1

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matthewcobb.bsky.social•78 days ago

Chris, I have learned so much from you and your posts here and on the Other Place and your calls into the Okeanos voyages. Your enthusiasm is infectious! Keep going and Happy 2025!

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

nice of you to say! Thank you! and Happy New Year!

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

In shallower waters, also co-wrote a paper on the asteroids and urchins of Hong Kong! with Sam Yiu Including his delightful account of Coelopleurus maculata feeding on soft corals https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5526.1.1

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

This species was described by my colleague Dr. Marine Fau!-Benthogenia mahi! The first sea star named for me! A #deepsea mud star from New Caledonia! Yay! #echino2024 https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/zoosystema/46/11

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

This one is Evoplosoma mystrion! It sounds mysterious but the species epithet actually means SPOON! alluding to the shape of the pedicellariae! This one from Tasmanian seamounts, collected by Museum Victoria! #echino2024

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

Also described new species of potentially corallivorous sea stars fr. Australia! (no in situ imagery) Circeaster dux! named for its impressive size & formidable plates! Studied during my visit to Perth & Western Australian Museum in 2023! #echino2024 #Gascoyne thanks to Zoe R. & the WAM foundation!

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

..and this new species of Evoplosoma, named for the Godzilla kaiju, ANGUIRUS! collected several years ago on a cruise with @drcraigmc.bsky.social and @mbarinews.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/echinoblog.bsky.social/post/3lcszcdddvk2t

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

But its not just new species! During EX1706 we saw this unusual ecological interaction, a species of Bathyceramaster feeding? on the headless stalk of a stalked crinoid similar to Proisocrinus (the red one) #okeanos the so-called "chicken on a stick"! Good to officially document it!

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

And further still- Rhianastra isoceles! named for its collector, Dr. Rhian Waller #Okeanos from #deepsea habitats in the Atlantic..but a Pacific species is currently being described. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/oer-updates/2024/mah-star-24.html

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echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

Another new species: Bathyceramaster kelliottae, a new #deepsea species from the Atlantic named for Dr. Kelly Elliott, the Deputy Chief of Explorations & Expeditions, honoring her ongoing efforts supporting logistics for NOAA. #Okeanos https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/news/oer-updates/2024/mah-star-24.html

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biobabbler.bsky.social•78 days ago

Huge congratulations!!🎊🎉

echinoblog.bsky.social•78 days ago

my thanks!