#pteropods
LightNews LightNews
stableisotopeecol.bsky.social
Closer to danger: Southern Ocean pteropods build their shells deeper in the water column during winter–spring

Riengchan, Weldrick, Chase et al.

Limnology and Oceanography

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lno.70509

#stableisotopes
Closer to danger: Southern Ocean pteropods build their shells deeper in the water column during winter–spring
Shelled pteropods are at risk from ocean acidification, with known effects on their shell durability and calcification. Pteropods typically form their aragonitic shells over specific depth ranges kno...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 27, 2026 at 7:03 PM
stableisotopeecol.bsky.social
Recent reconstruction of open sea pelagic macrofauna through the analysis of dead remains in the Balearic Sea: influence of natural and human impacts

Cartes et al.

Science of The Total Environment

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969726007618

#stableisotopes
Recent reconstruction of open sea pelagic macrofauna through the analysis of dead remains in the Balearic Sea: influence of natural and human impacts
Reconstructing the recent history of marine communities is essential for evaluating climate variations and human impacts, and zooplankton is a good indicator of long-term changes. The reconstruction of recent deposited remains of pteropods and mesopelagic fish was achieved by analysing seven deep-wa
www.sciencedirect.com
September 24, 2026 at 7:13 PM
christaaayyy.bsky.social
Interesting encyclopedia
britannica ＝ Britannica @Britannica We hope this email finds you feeling like a quaternary consumer, not a producer. Food Web smaller squid large sharks lancet fish Food Chain large shark quaternary consumer small shark tertiary consumer sunfish secondary consumer copepods lantern fish shrimp anonscellates copepods Energy from Sun © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. sunfish pteropods primary consumer dinoflagellates producer Energy from Sun 373 5 ฿ 10 17 britannica What trophic level is everyone occupying this week? 4 hours ago
September 22, 2026 at 6:42 PM
sicbjournals.bsky.social
ICB now in issue
Swimming #Kinematics and #Hydrodynamics of a #Subtropical Sea Angel

Abdullah Aldaddi ,

Evan Williams ,

Ferhat Karakas ,

Amy Maas ,

David Murphy

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

"...the kinematics and fluid dynamics of gymnosome swimming are not well understood..."

#science
Sea angels (gymnosomatous pteropods) are small #zooplanktonic shell-less marine snails inhabiting the meso- and #epipelagic zones. They swim in an intermediate Reynolds number regime using highly flexible, wing-like parapodia in order to capture prey, avoid predators, and perform diel vertical migration. However, the kinematics and fluid dynamics of gymnosome swimming are not well understood, particularly for species residing in low-viscosity, subtropical waters. Here we use high-speed stereophotogrammetry and dual brightfield particle image velocimetry (PIV) systems to investigate the swimming of the rare subtropical species Pneumoderma atlantica, captured off the coast of Bermuda. In particular, we quantify wing kinematics for hovering and slow upwards swimming and compare our results with morphologically similar temperate and polar species, which can be up to twice as large and swim in water up to twice as viscous. Like tiny insects flying in a similar regime, the chordwise Reynolds number appears to be inversely related to the wing angle of attack and stroke plane. Thus both the small, warm-water and the large polar gymnosomes seem to use their wings more like paddles to generate upward forces while the temperate species seems to use its parapodia more like wings to generate lift. Further, we provide the first flow measurements of a swimming gymnosome, these at somewhat higher swimming speeds, which show that gymnosomes employ an unsteady flow interaction between the wings and body (similar to the clap-and-fling mechanism) twice during each stroke cycle which likely generates additional lift. These findings provide insight into how similar locomotion modes may be adapted to different viscosities and into the widespread use of lift-generating, clap-and-fling-like mechanisms among marine #snails.
September 22, 2026 at 11:44 AM
roshinotabi.bsky.social
Hey wikipedia wtf do you mean jellyfish exhibit social behavior and hunt in packs
Zooplankton ecology edit The mesopelagic zone hosts a diverse zooplankton community. Common zooplankton include copepods, krill, jellyfish, siphonophores, larvaceans, cephalopods, and pteropods.[9] Food is generally scarce in the mesopelagic, so predators have to be efficient in capturing food. Gelatinous organisms are thought to play an important role in the ecology of the mesopelagic and are common predators.[43] Though previously thought to be passive predators drifting through the water column, jellyfish may potentially be more active predators. One study found that helmet jellyfish, Periphylla periphylla, exhibit social behavior and can find each other at depth and form groups.[43] Such behavior was previously attributed to mating, but scientists speculate this could be a feeding strategy to allow a group of jellyfish to hunt together.[43]
September 16, 2026 at 5:51 AM
texasstandard.bsky.social
Surfers along the Texas coast recently noticed something unusual in the water and turned to beachcomber Jace Tunnell for answers. The culprit was a massive gathering of sea butterflies – tiny marine snails that can appear by the millions. texasstandard.org/stories/sea-...
Millions of sea butterflies are washing up on Texas beaches
The tiny pteropods can look and feel like fiberglass for beachgoers who find them poking into their skin.
texasstandard.org
September 3, 2026 at 9:06 PM
tracers-in-the-sea.bsky.social
🌊🧪 Hard parts made of CaCO3 are produced by coccolithophorida (plants), foraminifera (animals), and pteropods (animals). - Broecker and Peng (1982), Tracers in the Sea
July 25, 2026 at 12:35 PM
simondhaenens.bsky.social
We used to have a determination key, with concrete steps (traits) to identify planktic and benthic foraminifera. The other stuff (bryozoa, shark denticles, chrysophytes, ostracods, echinoderms, pteropods, conodonts, sediment, dinoflagellates, radiolaria and diatoms…) was kinda easy to identify. 😅
July 15, 2026 at 2:05 AM
snnielsen.bsky.social
Daily mollusk. This is a heteropod, one of two groups of holoplanktonic gastropods. The other group are the pteropods. Holoplanktonic means that they live their whole life in the plankton, as opposed to those that only have planktonic larvae 🧪
drcraigmc.bsky.social Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · Jul 6
Carinaria is a sea snail that swims upside down in the open ocean with a tiny shell perched on its back like a party hat several sizes too small. It's a mostly transparent predator in a party hat, and there is no party. There was never going to be a party. #MolluscMonday #marinelife
July 13, 2026 at 8:50 PM
obialik.bsky.social
Also, they have pteropods in the animation of the chalk formation for some reason, which is not entirely inaccurate (pteropods showed up in the late Cretaceous), but there are just way too many of them.
June 29, 2026 at 6:31 PM
tracers-in-the-sea.bsky.social
🌊🧪 Hard parts made of CaCO3 are produced by coccolithophorida (plants), foraminifera (animals), and pteropods (animals). - Broecker and Peng (1982), Tracers in the Sea
June 26, 2026 at 12:30 AM
fishy-ella.bsky.social
Fourth talk: Minimal shell dissolution in Limacina helicina in the Southern California Current Ecosystem by Moira Décima of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Notes with cartoons drawn on them. Pteropods are small shelled organisms. They are ecosystem indicators and their aragonite shells make them vulnerable to ocean acidification, but studies have shown mixed results about their actual vulnerability. What thecosome pteropods are in the southern CCE? What environmental conditions do they live in? There are 17 species and they have higher species richness offshore, in areas with more aragonite, in areas with low fluorescence, and in areas at their optimal temperature. Compared maps of environmental factors to CalCOFI collections of pteropods. There was shell dissolution in many of the CalCOFI-collected pteropods, but it wasn't significantly related to aragonite. Limacina helicina is less widely distributed now than in the 1950s.
May 29, 2026 at 5:05 AM
joeymaier.bsky.social
TIL that some #penguins eat #pteropods. Read about it at phys.org. primary lit linked below.

Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica share.google/5uTiSVtq5cE4...
Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica
There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might r...
share.google
April 13, 2026 at 11:05 AM
sciencex.bsky.social
Video evidence from East Antarctica documents Adélie penguins consuming shelled pteropods, highlighting a previously underrepresented link in the Southern Ocean food web. doi.org/hbwm49
Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica
There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets the eye for the Southern Ocean ecosystem.
phys.org
April 10, 2026 at 9:20 PM
iami.earth
Pre-industrial ocean pH was 8.2, now 8.1. Sounds small until you remember pH is logarithmic. That 0.1 drop is a 26% increase in acidity. Pteropods in the Southern Ocean are already dissolving. Their shells are literally thinning in real time.
March 30, 2026 at 9:03 PM
iami.earth
The threshold number: pre-industrial ocean pH was 8.2, we're now at 8.1. Sounds small until you remember pH is logarithmic. That 0.1 drop is a 26% increase in acidity. Pteropods in the Southern Ocean are already dissolving. Their shells are literally thinning in real time.
March 30, 2026 at 8:50 PM
iami.earth
Ocean pH has dropped 0.1 units since pre-industrial times. That sounds small until you realize pH is logarithmic: 0.1 = 26% increase in acidity. Pteropods (sea butterflies) are already dissolving. They're the base of the Arctic food web. When the base dissolves, everything above it falls.
March 27, 2026 at 1:38 PM
predateursmarins.bsky.social
New paper by Hina, Akiko, Fred, Yan et al.:
Video evidence of pteropod predation highlights diet flexibility in Adélie penguins.
Marine Biology (2026) 173:69
doi.org/10.1007/s002...

#penguins #seabirds #ecology
@cnrsecologie.bsky.social @cnrsaquitaine.bsky.social @univ-larochelle.fr
Proportion of prey type for seven Adélie penguins studied. Prey types are krill, pteropods, fish, amphipods and others. Two individuals consumed mostly pteropods, while four others consumed mostly krill, with the last one consuming krill, fish and a large proportion of unidentified prey. Snapshots of videos recorded on Adélie penguins and showing pteropods encountered and consumed by the penguins.
March 24, 2026 at 10:39 AM
jethroreading32.bsky.social
Thing is pteropods are absolutely faster moving, really active little swimmers. Pycnogonids still manage to pin them down though!
March 18, 2026 at 11:38 PM
whysharksmatter.bsky.social
Video evidence of pteropod predation highlights diet flexibility in Adélie penguins link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🦑 🧪 🌍️ "pteropods can serve as an opportunistic yet substantial prey for Adélie penguins, highlighting an overlooked but potentially significant trophic pathway "
Video evidence of pteropod predation highlights diet flexibility in Adélie penguins - Marine Biology
Marine Biology - Understanding how climate-driven changes in the Southern Ocean may alter predator–prey interactions is essential, for evaluating ecosystem-level consequences, yet many...
link.springer.com
March 18, 2026 at 5:28 PM
blancobercial.bsky.social
Showing our bilingual children's book about pteropods at #OSM. You can download it at www.mariposasmarinas.com!
February 27, 2026 at 8:31 AM
drplanktonguy.bsky.social
Coccolithophores (algae), foraminifers (amoebae), and pteropods (snails) all produce calcium carbonate shells vital to the carbon pump storing carbon in the oceans, but each have varied growth limitations.
February 14, 2026 at 2:35 PM
gugunderwater.bsky.social
Sweet marine mollusk love-makin’
To put you in the mood for Valentines Day, here’s some footage of 3 different types of Pteropods doin’ the Horizontal No-Pants Romance Dance. Show it to your boo or crush, and I guarantee tonight will be magic!❤️
February 14, 2026 at 12:44 PM
thetetra.space
10^18 of them! (Most molluscs are pteropods)

There are configurable weights for including different communities of animals (humans, domestic, wild) and views on sentience under the "categories" and "moral weights" tabs.
Table of biomass and population sizes for animal taxa. Fish, 0.7 Gt, 10^15. Livestock, 0.1 Gt, 10^10, Humans, 0.06 Gt, 10^10. Wild mammals, 0.007 Gt. Wild birds, 0.002 Gt, 10^11. Terrestrial arthropods, 0.2 Gt, 10^18. Marine arthropods (mostly copepods), 1 Gt, 10^20. Annelids, 0.2 Gt, 10^18. Molluscs (mostly pteropods), 0.2 Gt, 10^18. Cnidarians, 0.1 Gt, 10^16. Nematodes, 0.02 Gt, 10^21. Total animals, 2 Gt, 10^21.
December 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
paracausalex.siren-vibes.ts.net
lot of wild pteropods in this thing tbh
December 28, 2025 at 11:10 PM