HulloThere
@jethroreading32.bsky.social
PhD student at Southampton, studying mesopelagic fish ecology. Occasional writer and amateur baker. Tweets about fish in superlatives. Opinions my own.
Is the West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) the ocean's weirdest fish? It's certainly a contender, with it's hollow scales, lobed fins, and deep coral cave habitat. I'd argue, though, that it isn't, for one important reason - the theme of this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list...
Can you feel it? #25DaysOfFishmas is in the air, and will kick off on Monday 🥳🐟🎅🥳
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
November 30, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Is the West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) the ocean's weirdest fish? It's certainly a contender, with it's hollow scales, lobed fins, and deep coral cave habitat. I'd argue, though, that it isn't, for one important reason - the theme of this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list...
Can you feel it? #25DaysOfFishmas is in the air, and will kick off on Monday 🥳🐟🎅🥳
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
November 29, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Can you feel it? #25DaysOfFishmas is in the air, and will kick off on Monday 🥳🐟🎅🥳
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
As a little teaser before I announce the theme tomorrow, here's a quick odd-one-out - one of these organisms would not fit into this year's category:
Lancetfish are a top ten animal of all time I think, there's just nothing else like them
November 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Lancetfish are a top ten animal of all time I think, there's just nothing else like them
It has been a great day for the midwater sickos (me)
ROV SuBastian pilots need raises because CAN YOU SEE IT?! ROV SuBastian in the eye of this Taningia! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 871 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife
November 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
It has been a great day for the midwater sickos (me)
Also exciting Jethro development - I completely scrapped this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list at 10AM this morning and re-wrote a new list with a theme I'm MUCH more excited about. Really looking forwards to sharing some absolute freaks next month 🐟🥳🎅
November 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Also exciting Jethro development - I completely scrapped this year's #25DaysOfFishmas list at 10AM this morning and re-wrote a new list with a theme I'm MUCH more excited about. Really looking forwards to sharing some absolute freaks next month 🐟🥳🎅
Fun little paper came out as an Early View in Cybium last week - in the Discovery Collections at @noc.ac.uk we found an incredibly rare (and very pretty!) deep sea fish - a type of slickhead called Aulastomatomorpha, native to the Indian Ocean, which has only been caught ~5 times! (Pic credit: NHM)
November 24, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Fun little paper came out as an Early View in Cybium last week - in the Discovery Collections at @noc.ac.uk we found an incredibly rare (and very pretty!) deep sea fish - a type of slickhead called Aulastomatomorpha, native to the Indian Ocean, which has only been caught ~5 times! (Pic credit: NHM)
The actual Fish #700 ended up being this beautiful, BEAUTIFUL little Rhynchohyalus natalensis barreleye - again, using a photo from aboard the ship since it didn’t look so nice in the lab. Insane privilege to have one of these in the mix, and she had lovely big otoliths which was a surprise!
November 20, 2025 at 8:36 PM
The actual Fish #700 ended up being this beautiful, BEAUTIFUL little Rhynchohyalus natalensis barreleye - again, using a photo from aboard the ship since it didn’t look so nice in the lab. Insane privilege to have one of these in the mix, and she had lovely big otoliths which was a surprise!
Ok it's 11:00PM and I shouldn't be doing this but I just realised I know jack about salmonids (actually, I didn't actually know about jack Chinooks!). What is a taimen. the hook is called a kype? there are >70 Coregonus species?? Atlantic Salmon aren't even Salmon???? Oncorhynchus rastrosus?????
November 19, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Ok it's 11:00PM and I shouldn't be doing this but I just realised I know jack about salmonids (actually, I didn't actually know about jack Chinooks!). What is a taimen. the hook is called a kype? there are >70 Coregonus species?? Atlantic Salmon aren't even Salmon???? Oncorhynchus rastrosus?????
This rather ugly but nonetheless remarkable specimen was supposed to be #700 in my dataset (but, because I’m a doofus, ended up being. #699). I still want to celebrate this weirdo though - it’s a Stylephorus tube-eye, one of the weirdest fish in the ocean (and a personal favourite).
November 18, 2025 at 10:48 PM
This rather ugly but nonetheless remarkable specimen was supposed to be #700 in my dataset (but, because I’m a doofus, ended up being. #699). I still want to celebrate this weirdo though - it’s a Stylephorus tube-eye, one of the weirdest fish in the ocean (and a personal favourite).
This is serious by the way - I’d be fascinated to sample even a handful of these guys for my big mesopelagic PhD dataset. If you know of anyone who routinely collects these and is willing to share please let me know!!!
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🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
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🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
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A neat fish @jethroreading32.bsky.social! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 864 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife
November 16, 2025 at 10:51 PM
This is serious by the way - I’d be fascinated to sample even a handful of these guys for my big mesopelagic PhD dataset. If you know of anyone who routinely collects these and is willing to share please let me know!!!
🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
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🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
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A neat fish @jethroreading32.bsky.social! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 864 #asgardarchaea #MarineLife
November 16, 2025 at 10:45 AM
🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 give me ur 🕯
otoliths
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Following the Titanic theme, with #FSBI2025 being held in Belfast, #FSBI2026 will be taking place in 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗻! Be sure to get 𝟮𝟳𝘁𝗵-𝟯𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 in your diary, with the exciting theme of "Breaking Siloes in Fish Biology"! fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2026/
November 15, 2025 at 10:28 AM
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I got to dissect a particularly neat species today - the sabertooth, Evermannella balbo. I haven’t got any great photos of them in the lab (freezer burn is no friend to the deep pelagic beasties) but I’m so excited to have a half dozen of these beautiful freakazoids in my PhD dataset!
November 15, 2025 at 12:05 AM
I got to dissect a particularly neat species today - the sabertooth, Evermannella balbo. I haven’t got any great photos of them in the lab (freezer burn is no friend to the deep pelagic beasties) but I’m so excited to have a half dozen of these beautiful freakazoids in my PhD dataset!
Psych, I actually dissected three species of eel today - N. ingolfianus, Serrivomer beanii, and two bizarrely long Nemichthys scolopaceus. Also! A black scabbardfish, which is the 600th individual fish in my dataset 💪🫡🥳🎉🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠
November 7, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Psych, I actually dissected three species of eel today - N. ingolfianus, Serrivomer beanii, and two bizarrely long Nemichthys scolopaceus. Also! A black scabbardfish, which is the 600th individual fish in my dataset 💪🫡🥳🎉🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠
I hope we all enjoy the fact that the two known species of duckbill eel (Nessorhamphus) are named after the two pioneering Danish deep-sea research ships, the Dana and the Ingolf (N. danae and N. ingolfianus respectively).
Anyway no points for guessing what I'm dissecting today.
Anyway no points for guessing what I'm dissecting today.
November 7, 2025 at 10:28 AM
I hope we all enjoy the fact that the two known species of duckbill eel (Nessorhamphus) are named after the two pioneering Danish deep-sea research ships, the Dana and the Ingolf (N. danae and N. ingolfianus respectively).
Anyway no points for guessing what I'm dissecting today.
Anyway no points for guessing what I'm dissecting today.
Fucked up (but tragically Critically Endangered) fish I just learned about (Dwarf Sturgeon/Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni). Can't believe they managed to make a sturgeon weirder.
November 4, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Fucked up (but tragically Critically Endangered) fish I just learned about (Dwarf Sturgeon/Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni). Can't believe they managed to make a sturgeon weirder.
Happy Hallowe’en
October 31, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Happy Hallowe’en
Film 31 for #31For31. Closed off this year with another big film I’d never seen before. Really really good! There’s some SFX in there I have no idea how they did them, and 1970s San Francisco looks soooo cool.
October 31, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Film 31 for #31For31. Closed off this year with another big film I’d never seen before. Really really good! There’s some SFX in there I have no idea how they did them, and 1970s San Francisco looks soooo cool.
Film 30 for #31For31. Don’t really know what to think about this one - on the face of things, an abhorrently offensive film, but wrapped in such a strange camp energy you can’t help but smile. Ricky is one of the funniest characters ever put on screen.
October 31, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Film 30 for #31For31. Don’t really know what to think about this one - on the face of things, an abhorrently offensive film, but wrapped in such a strange camp energy you can’t help but smile. Ricky is one of the funniest characters ever put on screen.
Film 25 of #31For31 - oh my god, so good. So, so fucking good. 75 minutes in this takes such a hard turn into a direction of horror you cannot expect, and makes you feel sick and anxious until it absolutely sticks the landing in a way that makes the mouth drop.
October 31, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Film 25 of #31For31 - oh my god, so good. So, so fucking good. 75 minutes in this takes such a hard turn into a direction of horror you cannot expect, and makes you feel sick and anxious until it absolutely sticks the landing in a way that makes the mouth drop.
Film 24 of #31For31 - cool to get an insight into Sami folklore, the setting really lends itself to these wonderful dark, sweeping vistas.
October 31, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Film 24 of #31For31 - cool to get an insight into Sami folklore, the setting really lends itself to these wonderful dark, sweeping vistas.