A neon goby (Elacatinus oceanops) rests upon a great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa)🪸
10.03.2026 16:33
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A neon goby (Elacatinus oceanops) rests upon a great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa)🪸
🌊 Phylum Friday: Echinodermata - Urchins!! 🌊 While they may look scary, sea urchins are slow-moving herbivores that eat kelp and other algae. Urchins typically hide from light using their tube feet to hold on to shells, algae and detritus for shade and extra protection from predators!
Very excited to be featured in this article all about the URI dive program and to share a little bit about my PhD research with our diving community!
www.uri.edu/magazine/iss...
Tunicate under microscope
Orange tunicate growing on sunny rock
Drippy white tunicate on rock
Holding a solitary brown tunicate
🌊 Phylum Friday - Urochordata 🌊 Tunicates come in colonial (many individuals living in a colony) & solitary forms and are filter feeders, pumping water through their two siphons to collect food. Fascinatingly, tunicates are closely related to vertebrates because they have a nerve cord as larvae.
Close up shot of crab eyes
Microscope image of larval crab
Crab on red algae
Hand holding a lobster who has his hands in the air like he just don’t care
🌊 Phylum Friday - Arthropoda! 🌊
This week’s pinchy pals are among the most diverse and most abundant group of organisms in the world! There are upwards of 70,000 species of crustaceans ranging from microscopic copepods to deep sea crabs to tropical shrimps to intertidal barnacles!
🌊 Phylum Friday: Bryozoa! 🌊
These small colonial organisms are usually found encrusting rocks or blending in with algae. However, many of the species found in New England are invasive, and have become a concern for intertidal and subtidal ecosystems as they encrust and out-compete native species.
Fascinating dive in a kelp forest to urchin barren transition zone yesterday in Monterey! 🌊🤿
JUMBO announcement:
This week I started my Postdoc at Tufts University in the Rotjan Lab! Our research will explore the energetic trade-offs of facultative symbiosis in temperate corals up and down the Atlantic coast!
I’d be excited to be considered: I’m a postdoc at Tufts studying temperate coral energetics! My PhD work spans isotope ecology, dynamic energy budgets, physiology, morphology and ecology in tropical and temperate corals!
Dorid Nudibranch
Small octopus
Green tunicate on a settlement tile
Pencil urchin
We found some awesome critters this week on our research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico!
We had an amazing time in Crete with amazing people, incredible food, and challenging yet rewarding science!
Taylor stands in front of her title slide for her PhD defense, which reads “light, symbiosis, and the biology of corals”
Taylor presents the main takeaways of her research, which a appear with four photos of coral on a screen behind her, reading “global coral reef decline”, “coral restoration and light environment”, “cryptic lineages equal biological complexity” and “consider new tools: temperate corals”
PhD ✅
Less than one week until I defend my PhD! If you’d like to learn about coral biology, isotopes or temperate ecosystems please join us on zoom!
Yesterday we marched. Today we get back in the lab to do what we love #marchforscience
It’s ICRS Awards time! Are you a post graduate student or early career scientist looking to support your research? Check out our Graduate Fellowships and Ruth Gates Fellowships. Deadline March 15. Details on these Fellowships and more exciting awards at: coralreefs.org/awards-and-h...
Do #kelp forests really matter for fish? Check out our new meta-analysis w/ Ale Pérez-Matus in Ecology showing 1) multistipe kelps do more than single stipe, 2) all kelps enhance juveniles, 3) kelps help small herbivores & big predators.
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Macroalgae prevents coral growth in shallow environments:
I’m excited to share the first of my PhD publications! We aimed to fill a critical knowledge gap on the ecology of the temperate coral #Astrangia by quantifying its distribution along a depth gradient. We found that light & algae control abundance & ecotype in Rhode Island.
doi.org/10.1111/maec...
Snail on red seaweed
Snail
Snail on seaweed
Snail on seaweed
#snailsaturday anyone?
So. Many. Baby. Corals! #astrangia
A reminder to US scientists: yes, your research is at risk. It's terrifying. But these efforts are systematically targeting programs meant to broaden access to science. This is the time to check in with BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and international students and colleagues in your departments.
Looking for even more coral research and conservation content? Check out some of my incredible friends that have just joined Bluesky:
@jillashey.bsky.social
@coralonthemind.bsky.social @catherineraker.bsky.social
Officially dry suit certified & getting ready for some winter #scuba!
#diving #drysuit #AAUS
Celebrating our wonderful undergraduate researcher Sofia Piccone today at the #URI undergraduate research conference! Sofia has been working with me to create conservation baselines for #octocoral physiology, morphology, and trophic ecology along depth gradients!
Finally, URI 101 taught me so much about supporting students through mentally and socially challenging times as they transition to college freshman year. I was so impressed by how thoughtful, socially aware, and confident my students were with their personal identities and values.
Invertebrate Ecology challenged me as much as the students. I loved having the opportunity to learn about hundreds of new inverts and spent hours in the collections room exploring the stacks. I learned how to push high achieving students to be work hard and challenge themselves.
In intro bio (during COVID), I learned how critical it is to build an equitable classroom that maintains support for students from marginalized backgrounds. The ability to maintain kindness, understanding and reflexivity through difficult times is one of the most valuable lessons COVID taught me.
During Intertidal Ecology, I learned the value of allowing each student to follow their own scientific questions and explore the scientific process on their own terms. It was inspiring to see quiet students flourish when they got excited about their research topics.
In Intro to Marine Biology (my first time teaching) I learned not only how to organize and facilitate effective field trips, but how to motivate students in challenging environments. Field work can be uncomfortable and grueling, so fostering positivity and teamwork is critical in young scientists!
After 9 semesters, 5 different courses & 324 students, I just wrapped up my last day of teaching in grad school! Feeling grateful for all my fellow TAs & for the opportunity to teach field courses & be an instructor of record at URI. Here’s one thing I learned from each course: