#Fishmas 🐟 and #Crustmas 🦀 are fun December topics, let’s add corals and their relatives—Reefmas! 🪸 ✨ Here’s one of my favorites, a trifecta! Species’ names are in the photo alt text. #Reefmas #MarineLife in the Gulf of Mexico
📸 credit: Heidi Thoricht

✨Happy holidays to all! 🎄Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) in mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides). This coral shows notable genetic diversity and connectivity across its range, but such info for the worm species is sparse. #wormWednesday #reefmas 🪱🧬🦑🌎 🪸

🐠 A porkfish (Anisotremus virginicus) cruising through an octocoral garden. 🪸 An indicator of healthy reefs due to their sensitivity to environmental changes. Its populations show strong genetic structure, with limited gene flow shaped by ocean currents. #octocoralFriday #fishmas #reefmas 🧬🦑🌎

🌊 A vibrant Fasciolaria tulipa! 🐚✨The tulip snail’s sturdy, spiraled shell is crafted at the molecular level through biomineralization genes. 🧬 It’s a predatory snail that feeds on bivalves by using its specialized radula to drill holes in their shells. #molluscMonday #reefmas 🪸🦑
📸: Heidi Thoricht

🌊 A spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) 🦞in a giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta)! 🪸Spiny lobsters rely on chemical cues to find each other & avoid inbreeding. Xestospongia spp. have high genetic diversity, 🧬vital for adapting to environmental changes. #spongeThursday #crustmas #reefmas 🦑
📸: me

🪸Fun find! A banded clinging crab (Mithraculus cinctimanus) among Florida false coral (Ricordea florida). The 🦀 is a scavenger and algae grazer with scarce genetic info. R. florida shows complex connectivity, with 2 distinct lineages sharing overlapping geographic ranges. #crustmas #reefmas 🦑🌎

🪸Came across this image of a male rosy blenny Malacoctenus macropus 🐠 photo bombing my attempt to capture the hidden anemone Lebrunia coralligens. Sup rosy? Lol These blennies are highly genetically 🧬connected throughout the Caribbean, two clades—east and west. #fishmas #reefmas 🦑
📸: me

🪸Up close with the rock boring urchin. 🌊 Look at Echinometra lucunter's striking red test & spines! ❤️ This eco-engineer has high genetic 🧬 diversity, thanks to its widespread range & larval dispersal capacity. #reefmas #echinoday 🦑🌎
📸: me

🌊Check out these two! 🦀 Paguristes puncticeps, the white-speckled hermit crab, shares space with (possibly) Pomatostegus stellatus, a star-like serpulid worm (top left). Though genetic studies are lacking, related hermit crabs show both high connectivity and cryptic diversity. #crustmas #reefmas🧬🪸🦑🌎

🐟 A butter hamlet with octocorals! 🪸 As simultaneous hermaphrodites, they spawn in pairs, with mates strongly assorting by color pattern—even when multiple hamlets share the same area. Gulf hamlets are distinct, while Caribbean hamlets are genetically alike.🧬 #fishmas #reefmas #octocoralFriday 🦑🌎

The hidden anemone Lebrunia coralligens peeks out under a lobed star coral Orbicella annularis. 🪸 Its pseudotentacles aid in protection and energy collection via photosynthesis. The coral is genetically structured across the Caribbean but the anemone’s genetics remains unexplored. 🧬#reefmas 🦑
📸: me

kept telling my mom “happy reefmas” because i celebrTed the holiday too hard but then i remember ed it’s reefster because it’s easter and i went and woke her up!!!
to tell her because she also got zooted so bedtime
is 9pm

✨Festive sea frost for #wormWednesday! 🪱 Salmacina huxleyi builds its own home by secreting calcareous tubes, adding to the seafloor’s complexity.🪸 Little is known about their genetics. 🧬 The ocean still holds so many mysteries! #reefmas 🌊🦑🌎
📸: Heidi Thoricht

🌊Another #octocoralFriday garden with a mustard hill coral Porites astreoides 🪸 in the center of it all. This genetically 🧬 diverse, weedy coral is often the first to colonize disturbed areas, thanks to its hardiness. #reefmas 🧪🌎🦑
📸: me

🦐Pederson’s cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoni, a species complex 🧬 from the Caribbean, primarily partners with the corkscrew anemone Bartholomea annulata. Together, they form a cleaning station visited by many 🪸 coral reef fish clients. 🐠🦑🌎🧪#crustmas #reefmas
📸: me

🪸More about the Pederson’s cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoni 🦐 species complex 🧬 here: Titus et al. (2021), www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... #reefmas #crustmas 🦑🧪🌎 @megdaly.bsky.social

The decorator crab 🦀 Coryrhynchus riisei usually camouflages with sponges and algae 🪸 but stands out beautifully on this Aplidium tunicate. 🌊Calliactis tricolor (anemone) hitches a ride for mobility and protection. Genetic 🧬 studies on these three are limited. #reefmas #crustmas #tunicateTuesday 🦑