Author | Lightnews

Heather Bruce

@arthropodlegs.bsky.social

850 followers 370 following 710 posts

Professor @ University of British Columbia 🇨🇦. I use arthropod outgrowths as a model to understand evolution over half a billion years. #EvoDevo 1st gen student from low income family, community college grad, neurodivergent. Everything's homologous lol

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Heather Bruce @arthropodlegs.bsky.social · Jan 30

My latest preprint! Will be in Arthropod Struct & Dev't journal.

Fine dissections of CRISPR phenotypes for
Dll, Sp6-9, dac, Exd, & hth
in the crustacean Parhyale for ALL APPENDAGES:

labrum, antennae, mouthparts, thoracic, biramous, and telson.

🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Heather Bruce @arthropodlegs.bsky.social · 2h

We should view Covid the same way as HIV: both destabilize our immune systems.

The science is clear that Covid is “much more than a respiratory virus — it is a complex immunomodulator that targets central defense cells themselves.”

“We may be living through a slow-moving immune decline crisis.”

Heather Bruce @arthropodlegs.bsky.social · 2h

“Every infection increases the risk for heart attacks, strokes and heart disease; for new-onset diabetes; for cognitive decline and dementia; for deregulating the immune system; and for reactivating viruses like Epstein-Barr or shingles.”

Heather Bruce @arthropodlegs.bsky.social · 2h

thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

This Physicist Says We Don’t Take COVID Seriously Enough | The Tyee

We downplay the virus at our peril, warns Yaneer Bar-Yam. And children are more at risk than we thought.

thetyee.ca

Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · May 21

A larval moray eel, Anilao. The skull and spine are obvious, and the gut is also visible along the lower edge for 2/3 of its length. Otherwise, it's transparent.

#MarineLife #Blackwater 🐟🌊

A translucent eel photographed in mid-water in the dark. A few specks of other material are stuck to it.

#UnderwaterPhotography #Nature #Wildlife #NaturePhotography #WildlifePhotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Future Historian @futurehistorian.bsky.social · May 26

'Afternoon, Skylings. Time for a nudi for my UW pic! Trinchesia sibogae, a beautiful aeolid. I was lucky to be able to shoot it against blue water, made black by f13-1/100 sec-ISO 100 setttings.
Nudi Retreats, Lembeh, Indonesia, 2006.
🦑 🌊 #UnderwaterPhotography #Nature #Invertebrates #Nudibranchs

A deep purple aeolid nudibranch balances on the tip of twig as if considering jumping off, against a pure black background. Its body is covered in rows of cerata (appendages) perpendiculara to its length. They have yellow tips, making the nudi quite spectacular. Its two smooth rhynophores (sensory organs), like horns, stand straight from its head upwards. If you look carefully, one eye can be seen at the base of the left rhynophore, a tiny black dot. Nudi eyes only allow them to distinguish light from dark.

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · May 26

Fire dartfish (Nemateleotris magnifica),Anilao.

#MarineLife 🐟

A small elongate fish hovering at the entrance to a burrow in the sand. The front half of the body is white, the rear half is red fading to dark brown at the tail. The head is pale yellow. The fish has relatively long pelvic fins and a very long and prominent first dorsal spine.

Nikon D7100, Nauticam housing, Nikon 60mm macro lens, Inon Z240 and Z330 strobes

#Nature #NaturePhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #Divesky

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Susan B @sc-sb.bsky.social · May 30

Taxicrab.🤿

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Dr Lauren Smith @saltwaterlifeuk.bsky.social · Jun 15

🤿 I’ve been in the water a lot lately and the snorkelling has been excellent!
📍 Polycera sp. nudibranch
📍 Blue Jellyfish
📍 Shannies with developing eggs
📍 Comb Jellyish

#snorkelling #underwater #underwaterphotography #freediving #saltwaterlife #marinelife #bluemind #scotland

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Future Historian @futurehistorian.bsky.social · Jun 18

Good morning to you, Skylings. It´s VERY hot here, but looking at my UW image collections helps cooling mind and body. This is Hypselodoris roo, from Bali, 2009, a beautiful nudi. Enjoy.
🦑 🌊 #UnderwaterPhotography#Nature #Nudibranchs #CoralReefs #Invertebrates

A nudibranch or sea slug moving across a dark seabed, with some star corals in the background. The nudi is purplish blue with reddish rhinophores and gill tips, and speckles of white, yellow and darker blue distributed all over its body.

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · Jun 19

Garden eels always make me smile when I see them on a dive... unfortunately they're very hard to photograph because they're so shy!

Spotted garden eels (Heteroconger hassi), Anilao

#MarineLife 🌿🐟🌊

A group of small eels extending their heads and forebodies from burrows in the sand. The one nearest the camera has retreated somewhat. They are white and covered in small black spots with a couple of larger black patches, and have golden eyes.

#UnderwaterPhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · Jun 20

Salps are always worth checking out, because they act as shelter or food (or both!) for a whole bunch of other critters. This is a large solo one, but they're also often found in chains or other colonies at different points in their lifecycle.

Pic from Anilao
#MarineLife 🌊🌿

A single salp. It is essentially a gelatinous tube; some structures are visible, in particular an orange organ at one end.

#UnderwaterPhotography #Nature #Wildlife

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · Jun 22

As a bit of relief from , here is a squid from Anilao. No idea what sort, alas.

🦑🌿🌊 #MarineLife

A translucent squid. Some of its chromatophores are visible and some internal structure can be seen.

#Nature #NaturePhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · Jun 23

Another dive at Folly Cove a few weeks back. The sand lance were still around, which was lovely. Also found countless gunnels and sculpin again, two zebra lebbeid shrimp, and numerous nudibranchs on the sugar kelp. Nice dive!

#underwaterPhotography #scuba #photography #animals #nudibranchs 🦑 📷

Tiny rock gunnels were on every surface, often darting away before I even spotted them.

Facelina bostoniensis nudibranch under the snoot

Doto coronata on some sugar kelp joined by a brown acoelomorph flatworm

Yet another beautiful day at Folly Cove!

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Dana Ransby 🤿📈🪸 @danaransby.bsky.social · Jun 26

Flown over by a curious sturgeon #naturagart #scuba 🤿

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · Apr 6

I don't think it's widely appreciated how psychedelic clams can be. #marinelife #underwaterphotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · Oct 3

A little nembrotha kubaryana, about 4cm/1.5" long. It's so interesting, how much marine life has vivid reds at depths where there is little or no red light. These diminutive nudis live on a diet of equally tiny sea-squirts. #scuba #underwaterphotography #marinelife

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 17d

A little chromodoris nudi (colemani I think). I like this photo for two reasons: 1) I got the closest rhinophore in focus - this is harder than it looks! 2) the soft coral on the left (some type of Heteroxenia?) is absolutely crawling with brittle stars. #scuba #marinelife #underwaterphotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Dr Lauren Smith @saltwaterlifeuk.bsky.social · 13d

🦀 🦈 A semi-transparent #crab about the size of an almond and a tiny, glowing lantern #shark are among two new species discovered by Australian scientists exploring the deep sea.
🌊 🧬
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Australia: Almond-sized crab and tiny lantern shark discovered in deep seas

Australia is one of the world's biggest biodiversity hotspots, home to more than a million different species.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Patrick G @paddyboomsticks.bsky.social · 4d

This was a good find, a harlequin swimming crab (Lissocarcinus laevis). Don't be fooled by the name; they are found almost exclusively under or on anemones. #scuba #marinelife #underwaterphotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2d

Getting ready to start the journey back home after 3 weeks away, half for fun, half for work (which was also very fun). I’ll miss being in a place as biodiverse as Okinawa.

Not looking forward to what I’m returning to federally, but on the bright side I should have some positive news to share soon…

A red white and purple nudibranch with brownish doodads coming up,
Two that look like bunny ears and one clump that looks like a Pom Pom

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Matt @xenomatt.bsky.social · Sep 23

A jellyfish from a blackwater dive in Balayan Bay, Anilao. It has a couple of hitch-hikers; a juvenile fish and... I'm not sure what the little orange thing on the right is. Maybe an amphipod?

#MarineLife #Invertebrates 🌿

A jellyfish with relatively thick tentacles. There is a small fish resting on the top of the bell on one side, and a smaller critter on the other side.

#Nature #Wildlife #UnderwaterPhotography #Blackwater #Macro #WildlifePhotography #NaturePhotography

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Elizabeth Beston @elizabethbeston.bsky.social · 1d

It’s #worldjellyfishday ! Medusae, that are often considered jellyfish, can be hydroids, or they can be true jellyfish (Scyphozoa). Only true jellyfish have the life stage you can see in this video, the ephyra. #marineplankton 🦑

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · Dec 7

Deepstaria with a teensy isopod friend. One of my favorite and a jelly we don't come too often across!

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium @ptdefiancezoo.bsky.social · 18h

Celebrate #WorldJellyfishDay! 🪼

Jellyfish have no bones, brains, or blood, just pure underwater grace. 🌊 Come marvel at the mesmerizing Pacific Sea Nettles and more in our Pacific Seas Aquarium! ✨

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Reposted by Heather Bruce

FrontRangeWildflowers @frwildflowers.bsky.social · 2d

Orange Atoms (Squamulea subsoluta) on sandstone yesterday at Legend Ridge 🌿

Small orange cups scattered on a darker sandstone surface

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