Michael Middlebrooks

I'm looking forward to this; I love your books!

Yeah trickier then.

I don't know if they will do it, but you might also see if this company can get some for you: gulfcoasteco.myshopify.com/pages/contact

Or if you all want to come to Tampa Bay, I can show you where to collect it.

I have used this company a few times when I need inverts and they have been pretty accommodating for specific requests. You might see if they can get you specific algae (Bryopsis or at least the correct Penicillus species) www.kpaquatics.com/product-cate...

Good luck!

Unless you are trying to raise babies you don't need Bryopsis. Adults should eat Penicillus capitatus and P. lamourouxii which you can probably find from a variety of live aquaria suppliers. I haven't personally fed it to them in the lab, but they will also eat Acetabularia.

Hello! No one is likely to sell Bryopsis because it is considered a pest algae in aquaria. You might be able to find someone who has that they don't want if you ask local aquarium stores or hobbyist groups.

I love these! I was so confused at what I was looking at the first time I found one under the microscope.

Thank you!

A photograph of a green sea slug, Elysia crispata, on some green algae. The slug is a lighter shade of green and has yellow-orange bands along the parapodia and some large white spots on the body.

We have a new chromosomal genome out for the lettuce slug, Elysia crispata, in Wellcome Open Research! It's an open publishing model published prior to peer review (like a preprint) and I love my slug photo in it. Looking forward to the reviews.
wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/11-...

#sluglife

That looks fantastic! If you add in the scientific names I would love to have a copy to add to the bookshelf in my Invertebrate Zoology teaching lab. I'm in the US so not sure how bad tariffs would affect things, but I'd happily pay £20 for it.

Looking for some ideas on ID for this? We found a bunch of them attached to a sea slug. My guess is Licnophora (?) but this is really not my area. Any help would be appreciated! This is 400x magnification #protozoa #protistsky #microscope #id #ciliate

I love it. My half serious advise for students on presentations is to just go ahead and publicly embarrass yourself so badly that you can no longer feel shame.

The Independent in Tampa has an excellent tempeh Reuben.

The cover photo is a picture of the sea slug Elysia chlorotica from Tampa Bay, FL.

The cover of the scientific journal the American Malacological Bulletin. It feature a photograph of the green sacoglossan sea slug Elysia chlorotica.

Made the cover of the latest issue of the American Malacological Bulletin. #sluglife

We're hiring a Biology Lab Coordinator at the University of Tampa: utampa.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Staff/...

#academicsky #biology

We're hiring a Genetics Lab Coordinator at the University of Tampa: utampa.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Staff/...

#academicsky #genetics

I'm very excited about this conference and I can't wait to get back to the Philippines.

Exciting! I'm looking forward to learning about the new nudibranchs!

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has been sold, and is locally-owned for the first time since 2009 A vintage Creative Loafing Tampa Bay stand in April 2020. For the first time in 18 years, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is locally-owned. On Thursday

A group of current employees and two new partners completed the purchase on Thursday afternoon.

Bandcamp becomes the first major music platform to ban AI content Bandcamp is banning AI-generated music and won’t allow its content to be used for training AI models.

I've always liked Bandcamp as a platform for checking out new bands and a place to purchase music digitally. I found them really easy to work with when I was in a band. Great to see that they are doing the right thing about AI music.

www.theverge.com/news/861794/...

Here's the video from the manatee calf I saw nursing in Crystal River, FL.

A close up underwater photograph of the face of manatee with its mouth slightly open.

A picture of a young manatee underwater next to the tails of some larger manatee.

A underwater photograph of a baby manatee nursing on its mother.

I had a great time snorkeling with some manatees last week in Crystal River, FL. I even saw some baby manatees nursing.
#manatee

A ziplock bag full of crabs on blacktop pavement.

Seen in a McDonald's parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida. A ziplock full of crabs...

🦀

Top 5 Books
1. This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman
2. Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
3. Godspeed Cedar Key by Michael Presley Bobbit
4. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
5. A Rock and a Hard Place by JD Kirk

Top 5 Concerts:
1. Vampire Weekend @ Dailey’s Place (Jacksonville)
2. Bright Eyes w/ Hooray for the Riff Raff @ Jannus Landing
3. They Might Be Giants @ Jannus Landing
4. Slothrust w/ Weakened Friends @ Crowbar
5. Weird Al w/ Puddles Pity Party @ The Sound

2025 Personal Statistics:
Scuba Dives: 75
Concerts Attended: 41
No Longer Frozen Shoulders: 2
Scientific Manuscripts: 2
Scientific Presentations: 5
Books read: 37
Countries Visited: 3
Days Abroad: 45
Chocolate Smoothies: ~300

Someone's getting something very special for Xmas this year. Don't tell...

Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance VI Global Invertebrate Genome Alliance VI, July 2026, Philippines

GIGA VI will be in the Philippines July 6-10, 2026. We have a pre-registration survey and a survey for interest about the Genome Assembly Workshop we will be running during the meeting. Sign up to receive updates about the conference: gigavi.org

Michael Middlebrooks: The fantastically weird world of photosynthetic sea slugs Meet the fantastically colorful and astonishingly adaptable sea slugs that found a way to photosynthesize (or create energy from sunlight) like plants. Diving deep into these often overlooked creature...

I recognize that view milestones are a bit arbitrary, but my TED talk hit over 2 million views! Wow! I really just went to give a fun talk and was not expecting for so many people to see it. #sluglife 🦑🧪🐙

www.ted.com/talks/michae...

Enjoy Yourself YouTube video by Todd Snider - Topic

Sad to learn that Todd Snider, one of my very favorite folk singers, died last week. I am grateful I got to see him play several times. I found out from an email saying that the concert I bought tickets for had been cancelled...

Here's my favorite recording of his: youtu.be/3RWAuSdQWoM?...