Danna Staaf
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dannastaaf.bsky.social
Danna Staaf
@dannastaaf.bsky.social
1.8K followers 210 following 1.3K posts
https://www.dannastaaf.com/
Author, artist, speaker with a fondness for cephalopods. Books:
🦑 Monarchs of the Sea
👩‍🔬 The Lady and the Octopus
🐣 Nursery Earth
🐙 The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives
Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/dannastaaf
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dannastaaf.bsky.social
So many scientists are also fantastic artists! Bertha Patricia Ceballos Vázquez, who studies marine reproduction, gave me this gorgeous handmade rainbow octopus in Okinawa. I assigned my two little octo finger puppets to be its attendants.
Photo of three small crocheted octopuses on a desk. The one in the center is beautifull handmade with rainbow yarn and two adorable button eyes, and a little metal link on top connecting it to a hidden keychain. It is flanked by simpler machine-made octopus finger puppets in gray and black.
November 24, 2025 at 9:27 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
*"Bat octopus" is better than "vampire squid" bc this species is much more closely related to octopuses than to squid, as I illustrated in this handy diagram. Also, the species has nothing in common with vampires, but the webbing between its arms does look like bat wings.

Now on to the paper...
An evolutionary tree that splits into two branches. The first, Octopodiformes, further splits into octopuses and vampire squid. The second, Decapodiformes, leads into a cloud full of question marks. Emerging from the cloud are pygmy squid, bobtail squid, rams horn squid + oegopsid squid, myopsid squid, and cuttlefish.
November 21, 2025 at 11:46 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
I ran out of sticker space on my laptop and water bottle, but needed to display this incredible art from @invertebabe.bsky.social (nautilus, squid) and @octopolis.bsky.social (moray, cuttle, monsters). What a delight to realize the flatbed scanner on my desk offers extensive sticker real estate!
Photo of a flatbed scanner. The lid is plain black, adorned with six stickers: the largest is a stylized eel skeleton with the words MEMENTO MORAY, then several very beautiful cephalopods--a nautilus, a glass squid, and a cuttlefish. Two small sea monsters join them. There's plenty of room for more stickers.
November 18, 2025 at 6:52 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
I discovered these layers in an old art file. Dear past me, I think you need to lie down and perhaps take an ibuprofen
Low resolution screenshot of the layers in a drawing program (krita, for the curious). The layers are named rplepoly, trilobit, and (in Group 2) drawnin.
October 21, 2025 at 1:50 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Fact!
A picture of the Apollo lunar command module, with red lines drawn over it to turn in into a fish. This was very easy to do as it is already fish shaped.
October 16, 2025 at 3:48 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Today's #Paleoctober prompt was my baby Plectronoceras, so I had to add it to the #inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober mashup. They all played nicely: the gravity of the black hole makes things ragged, and Plectro is already my non-human OC.
Small pen on paper drawing of two animals being drawn into a black hole. One is Plectronoceras, the earliest known cephalopod, a tiny creature with a curved shell and a worried eye. Several of its ten arms are normal length and the others are wildly stretched out. The second animal is a Queen Alexandra's Birdwing, the largest butterfly in the world. She is trying unsuccessfullly to fly away from the black hole, while her hindwings and legs and abdomen are elongated and ragged. The prompts are written on the side: ragged, Queen Alexandra's birdwing, black hole, as a non-human, Plectronoceras.
October 16, 2025 at 4:30 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
The Worm represents flexibility, adaptability, surprise, determination. Reversed: hunger, greed, traps, unchecked growth. (A sand striker can grow almost 10ft. The spacecraft entering its jaws represents its broad diet and large appetite.) #inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober
A pen on paper drawing of a tarot card named THE WORM and numbered XXII. The open jaws of a sand striker or trapjaw worm are in the center, emerging from the sand. Underneath the sand is a very long sinuous segmented worm. Important fact: the main body of a worm is called its TRUNK. A small Apollo lunar module is entering the jaws. The prompts are written to the right of the card: trunk, sand striker, spacecraft, tarot card.
October 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
What is going on here on day 13 of #inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober? My daughter took one look and said "Oh, it's drinking blood." 😬
The banded sugar ant is quite capable of killing other ants with formic acid, but idk, this one looks kind of sad...
A simple pen on paper drawing of two ants with a satellite dish in the background. One ant is dead and one is alive; the live one is drinking from a droplet that I definitely assumed was water or nectar before I showed it to my daughter.
October 15, 2025 at 4:05 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
I think we can safely assume this razor clam is shredded from all that exercise shredding (and playing saxophone). Day 12 #inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober catchup
A small and simple pen on paper drawing of a clam riding a skateboard and playing a saxophone under a partial solar eclipse. The prompts are written on the right right of the drawing: shredded, Pacific razor clam, eclipse, playing an instrument.
October 14, 2025 at 3:49 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Catching up with day 11 of #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober . . . In which asteroid witches threaten to throw live spider into cauldron, unaware they are falling victim to sting operation! (Look, sometimes the prompts don't fit together all that well 😆)
Pen on paper drawing of two witches standing over a large cauldron on a small asteroid. They are smiling and holding a large spider over the cauldron, whose legs are braced against the cauldron rim. Two other spiders peek around from the other side of the asteroid, ready to join their undercover partner in arresting the witches.
October 13, 2025 at 11:06 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Today's #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober mashup is a patch!
A very obviously hand-drawn patch in the same triangular shape as the Artemis II mission patch. Where the earth is on the original, this patch has a circular radar sweep. Where a red flight path twists across the original, a huge earthworm follows the same trajectory. The background is a starry night sky. Where the astronauts' names are in the original, the prompts are written: sweep, Artemis II, earthworm, at night.
October 11, 2025 at 5:05 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Flamboyant cuttlefish are heavier (less buoyant) than other cuttles, which is why they "walk" on the sea floor most of the time instead of swimming. This poor little pal can't float up to visit the nebula! 🥺 #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober
Pen on paper drawing of a fantastical space scene. Two happy-looking cuttlefish float among stars, planets, and a nebula. Below them, a teary-eyed flamboyant cuttlefish is grounded on a planet, reaching wistfully upward. The prompts on one side read: heavy, flamboyant cuttlefish, nebula, angst.
October 10, 2025 at 1:21 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Yesterday's #inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge #OC_tober mashup!
A pen on paper drawing of a small Budgett's frog riding a very large fly. The words "it is Wednesday, my dudes" are flying back from the frog to indicate how quickly they are traveling. The frog is barely holding on by the reins. The prompts are listed below: reckless/bee-killer robber fly/propulsion/meme redraw.
October 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
THANK YOU 🤣 this is the balm my soul needs after witnessing the horrors of those "octopus skeletons" in Halloween stores...
A sketch of an octopus with an inset photo of an octopus skeleton decoration. The octopus looks upset. It is surrounded by thoughts: Help I'm full of bones how do you live like this My eyes are stuck pointing in the same direction but frankly that's the least of my worries I can't squeeze my mantle for jet propulsion :( This body only had one shape!! My arms are stuffed with muscles to move all these bones Do I have suckers? I don't even care
October 8, 2025 at 4:56 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Per my daughter's request, the #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge mashup now includes #OC_tober 😁
I'm actually ridiculously proud of this one 🌊🧑‍🚀
Black pen on paper drawing of a journal cover in the style of the European Space Agency bulletin. Text reads "number 7, October '25, bulletin" and "Ocean Space Agency." There is a little OSA logo like the ESA logo but with a wave. The picture is of two astronauts floating in orbit around an earth-like planet. One astronaut is a starfish and the other is a scaly foot gastropod. Text next to the magazine lists the prompts for October 7: starfish, scaly foot gastropod, space agency, magazine cover.
October 8, 2025 at 2:49 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
A quick doodle mashup today for #Inktober #Invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge
Small pen on paper drawing of a moth with its wings folded. The left wing has two piercings. The dark parts of both wings are decorated with patterns like constellations in a night sky. You know, if you squint.
October 7, 2025 at 5:13 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Sometimes the prompts are unexpectedly compatible. I'd never realized before that lobsters, spacecraft, and deer ALL have antennae! #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge
Black pen on paper drawing of a deer and a lobster riding in the dish of the Voyager spacecraft. The lobster's antennae are tangled with the antlers of the deer, who looks disgruntled.
October 6, 2025 at 4:06 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Sure we've all seen the man, and the rabbit...but have you ever seen the palmetto weevil in the moon? It's kind of murky 😆 #invertober2025 #inktober #SpacetoberChallenge
October 5, 2025 at 11:01 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Catch-up day 3 of #Inktober #invertober2025 #SpacetoberChallenge
Black pen on paper drawing of a bedazzled anemone with swirling streaks in the background. Prompts are written below: "crown/giant green anemone/space weather."
October 5, 2025 at 10:43 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
good news, if you're stuck on the prompts you can just add another one! #Inktober #Invertober #SpacetoberChallenge
A simple ink-on-paper drawing of a leafhopper weaving string into a ring around a planet. The prompts "weave/red-banded leafhopper/planet" are written below the drawing.
October 3, 2025 at 5:13 AM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
I just couldn't stop thinking about how weird sperm whale mouths are and yet how perfectly shaped for inserting giant squid into
A scanned pencil sketch of a faceoff between a giant squid and a sperm whale. The squid looks cute and alarmed and its mantle is labeled TAB A. The whale looks cute and happy and its mouth is labeled SLOT A. Tab A does look like it would fit perfectly in slot A. The squid says "I strongly disagree with this diagram" and the whale responds "You can't disagree with evolution."
October 2, 2025 at 4:32 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
Promise I won't take pictures of ALL the cephs, but this baby enope is a delight. "They have a couple of years before they have to take on their adult responsibilities, like avoiding being eaten by sperm whales." 🤣 (and now I am distracted because I remembered I drew a sperm whale recently...)
Photo of a page of THE RADIANT SEA, with a beautiful photograph of a sharp-eared enope squid, Ancistrocheirus lesueurii. It's a juvenile with just a few chromatophores and very cute. The caption includes the quotation in the skeet.
October 2, 2025 at 4:19 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
The introduction also encourages readers to look at all the pictures first, so naturally I'm going for cephalopods. In Chapter 1, glass squids AND glass octopuses get well-deserved mentions.
I can't handle it when squid arms are shorter than their eyestalks...like WHAT even are those. Decorations.
Photo of a page of THE RADIANT SEA with a beautiful image of a Cranchiid, or glass squid, and accompanying text. The squid is mostly transparent, with small stomach and gills visible inside its mantle and a brain visible inside its head. Its two eyes stick out on long stalks and its arms are very tiny, maybe a quarter the length of the eyestalks. Its two feeding tentacles are a reasonable length. Photo of a page of THE RADIANT SEA with a lovely photograph of a glass octopus, Vitreledonella richardi. It is translucent, with a single row of suckers on its rather thick arms.
October 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
So keen to read THE RADIANT SEA by @stevehaddock.bsky.social & Sönke Johnsen! In the introduction, @helenscales.bsky.social says it's like having the authors "looking over your shoulder and telling stories," an experience I've been lucky enough to get with Steve. Also, COVER CEPHALOPOD 🐙🦑🌊
Photo of the cover of THE RADIANT SEA: COLOR AND LIGHT IN THE UNDERWATER WORLD by Steven Haddock and Sonke Johnsen, Foreword by Helen Scales.
October 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
dannastaaf.bsky.social
It's a mustache medusa! I'm mashing up the #inktober and #invertober prompts this year 😁 #invertober2025
Simple black ink drawing of a sea nettle jelly, except the bell is shaped like a mustache. I tried to draw this four times before it finally came out acceptable.
October 1, 2025 at 11:54 PM