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.
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!
When we caught this one in September someone handed it to me and I did a little jig out of excitement, despite the fact I’d been throwing up with a migraine all day. I’m so grateful my PhD lets me work with animals that bring me such pure delight.
November 18, 2025 at 11:01 PM
When we caught this one in September someone handed it to me and I did a little jig out of excitement, despite the fact I’d been throwing up with a migraine all day. I’m so grateful my PhD lets me work with animals that bring me such pure delight.
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).
(until you get to my deep sea freaks where you can have as many different body shapes as you like :P )
November 15, 2025 at 9:53 AM
(until you get to my deep sea freaks where you can have as many different body shapes as you like :P )
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 💪🫡🥳🎉🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠
Actually come to think of it, the eels run deep with Dana. The surveys were designed to prove that eels spawn in the Sargasso, and probably the most famous thing about the Dana nowadays (apart from the sick AF squid T. danae) is the Giant Leptocephalus they trawled (now identified as a notacanthid).
November 7, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Actually come to think of it, the eels run deep with Dana. The surveys were designed to prove that eels spawn in the Sargasso, and probably the most famous thing about the Dana nowadays (apart from the sick AF squid T. danae) is the Giant Leptocephalus they trawled (now identified as a notacanthid).
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.
You ever see Fantastic Mr Fox
November 6, 2025 at 8:21 PM
You ever see Fantastic Mr Fox
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.
Film 23 of #31For31, one of the best films ever made. Feels like sour milk tastes and leaves you completely hollowed out and exhausted. I wasn’t gonna watch this month but had to find it for a friend and couldn’t resist.
October 31, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Film 23 of #31For31, one of the best films ever made. Feels like sour milk tastes and leaves you completely hollowed out and exhausted. I wasn’t gonna watch this month but had to find it for a friend and couldn’t resist.
Might be Macruronus/hoki?
October 29, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Might be Macruronus/hoki?
She’s not necessarily a looker but this wonderful Melanonus arrowtail is rather special to me - she’s fish #500 of my PhD dataset 🫨🎉🥳
Arrowtails are a super weird and fairly uncommon little group, closely related to hakes - it’s such a privilege to have a couple to dissect!
Arrowtails are a super weird and fairly uncommon little group, closely related to hakes - it’s such a privilege to have a couple to dissect!
October 21, 2025 at 8:28 PM
She’s not necessarily a looker but this wonderful Melanonus arrowtail is rather special to me - she’s fish #500 of my PhD dataset 🫨🎉🥳
Arrowtails are a super weird and fairly uncommon little group, closely related to hakes - it’s such a privilege to have a couple to dissect!
Arrowtails are a super weird and fairly uncommon little group, closely related to hakes - it’s such a privilege to have a couple to dissect!