I'm kinda digging the new definition of a "productive day" now that I'm retired...

My neighbor really wants us to clean our community dock, but I've been inspired by some dock foulers on instagram because there is decades worth of nudibranch habitat under that dock. I do still tie the boat to it now and then, but don't mind the mess so much, and I like that there's a buncha nudibranchs and other life down there.

#pnw #dogsofmastodon #retirement #nudibranch #dockfouling

This may possibly be my all time 2022 favourite photo. A skeleton shrimp (Caprellidae family) in silhouette. These aren’t shrimp at all, but amphipods!

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #northsea #sea #ocean #biology #wildlife #nature #dockfouling #amphipod #skeletonshrimp

Oh the colours in this photo! Another favourite from my dock fouling experience in Plymouth. I found this colonial sea squirt Botrylloides violaceus in several different colours at this location.

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #seasquirt #englishchannel #sea #ocean #biology #wildlife #nature #dockfouling #tunicate

Another favourite from 2022. This is the potato crisp bryozoan (Pentapora foliacea), and it has its lophophores out for feeding (the little fluffy bits). Found whilst dock fouling in Plymouth.

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #bryozoan #englishchannel #sea #ocean #biology #wildlife #nature #bryozoan #dockfouling

I could post a million favourite photos of the plumose anemones (Metridium senile) I saw dock fouling in Plymouth this autumn. This was one of my top finds because it was so chonky!

#marinebiology #dockfouling #sea #ocean #biology #seaanemone #wildlife #nature

I adore this image so much. I think it looks like a painting! Sea squirts from a marina in Suffolk. 2022 was the year I first went dock fouling. 😍

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #seasquirt #seasquirts #tunicate #tunicates #northsea #sea #ocean #biology #wildlife #nature #dockfouling

A stunning plumose anemone (Metridium senile) from Devon.

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #sea #ocean #biology #marinetaxonomy #wildlife #nature #seaanemone #dockfouling

I can’t wait to go dock fouling again. This colonial sea squirt Botrylloides diegensis was pretty special.

#marinebiology #marinebiologyuk #tunicate #northsea #sea #ocean #biology #tunicates #marinetaxonomy #wildlife #nature #seasquirt #dockfouling