#Balanomorpha is a clade of #barnacles of the higher taxon#Cirripedia.As adults these #crustaceans are #sessile with a calcareous #shell to fully retract, secreted by the pouch-like, modified carapax. M.Zhang et al. (2023) isolated the #mitochondrialgenome of the invasive species Megabalanus coccopoma,thus establishing it as a #scientificmodel.
©#StefanFWirth

Please support my science communication, scientific work, art: https://ko-fi.com/sfwirth

Ref
https://doi.org/10.3390/d15010117

#Photos
©S.F.Wirth

🦀🛡️ In the #ChesapeakeBay, the biggest threat to a young blue crab isn't a hungry #fish – it's another blue crab.

A long-term study explains that while these #crustaceans are notoriously cannibalistic, juveniles have a better chance of surviving if they stick to the ultra-shallow waters of coastal estuaries where bigger #crabs can't easily reach them.

👉 https://www.popsci.com/environment/cannibalism-blue-crabs/

#wildlife #marinebiology #science #ecology #nature #biology #underwater

Illustration by Anton Seder, from Das Thier in der Dekorativen Kunst (1896).

Source: The Getty / Internet Archive

Available to buy as a print.

https://pdimagearchive.org/images/727b2b83-b1f1-4d50-aafc-620fa1db6928

#lobsters #art-nouveau #beasts #sea-life #modernism #ornament #crustaceans #art #publicdomain

One of the highlights of my day was when William Harland, a talented ecology undergrad here at #LincolnUniversityNZ, stopped by my office to show me his photos of temnocephalid flatworms. These distinctive squat tentacled flatworms live in colonies on NZ's freshwater crayfish, koura, and eat scraps left over when the koura feed. They apparently cause no bother to the koura.

William found these at Poolburn Reservoir in central Otago.

Amazing!

The photo is CC-BY William Harland: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/341041723
Here are more photos of these crazy flatworms on #iNaturalistNZ: https://inaturalist.nz/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=868829&place_id=6803&preferred_place_id=6803

#invertebrates #flatworms #NaturalHistory #NZ #Freshwater #crayfish #crustaceans #nature #crayfish