Zee 🏳️🌈🪲🐈🏳️⚧️🤿🛶
@zeesm
PhD in Entomology & certified scuba instructor. Queer trans masc neurospicy leftist invertebrate ecologist, scuba diver, kayaker, weightlifter, TTRPG gamer, scifi reader, cat lover, professional pessimist.
Lewis's Moon Snail (Neverita lewisi) eggs. The female lays eggs in a gelatinous sand/mucus matrix called a sand collar (for obvious reasons). This species is the largest moon snail & the sand collars can reach impressive sizes as well. 🐙 #scuba #pacificnorthwest #gastropods #donttouchthoseeggs
What a thing it is to be a Pacific Northwest diver! Luckily this craptastic viz was confined to a band between 15 & 30 feet, so we were able to get out of it. #scuba #diving #HoooCanal
Patterns: maidenhair fern & the most beautiful bark beetle galleries I've ever seen. #northwestnature #pacuficnorthwest
Who doesn't love nudibranchs? What look like little horns are actually rinopores, chemosensory organs for taste and scent reception. 🦑 #sc uba #diving #oceranlife #HoodCanal
A delicate ribbon of nudibranch eggs. 🦑 #scuba #diving #NAUIdiver #southpugetsound #marinelife
First kayaking of the year - a work trip on the lovely Santiam River. Unfortunately, flows are already troublingly lower than normal due to our very low snowpack this winter. #waterislife #rivers #water #kayaking
Copper Rockfish are common in Hood Canal, lounging on rocks like they were in hammocks. Egg fertilization and development occurs internally followed by live birth of larval fish,and a lot of these girls were just stuffed with eggs. 🦑 #scuba #diving #NAUIdiver #oceanlife #fish #HoodCanal #SundRock
If you live in Portland, you pretty much have to grow roses. #organicgardening #urbangarden #roses #bloomd
Painted greenling (Oxylebius pictus) is one of the prettiest fish in the Pacific Northwest. It's the only species in the genus; the "oxy" part of the name means "sharp" and refers to the shape of the snout. 🦑 #scuba #diving #oceanlife #fish #PugetSound
It's a great day for diving. #scuba #divibg #hoodcanal #pugetsound #water
Seeing lots of painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) around Portland. Also known as the Cosmopolitan for its broad distribution, this entire genus is known for periodic population surges and migratory behavior. 🦋 #insects #entomology #lepidoptera #butterflies
Mack & Miska sharing the heated cat bed on a chilly morning. #caturday #catsofbluesky
The slightly intimidating beauty of the Green Moray. 🦑 #diving #scuba #coralreefs #Bonaire
I find Harlequin Bass (Serranus tigrinus) very scooty when approached so I have few photos. Fish often have funky biology and these are no exception; they are synchronous hermaphrodites (have male & female reproductive organs) & can take on a male or female role in spawning & self-fertilize 🦑
Common Green Darners (Anax junius) will be returning north this spring. A. junius is one of 5 migratory dragonfly species in North America; some nymphs hibernate through the winter deep in their local wertland, others emerge as adults in late summer and fly south. #entomology #dragonfly #insects
Things you learn while playing bar trivia with dive buddies: "sole" is derived from the Latin solea (sandal), which is derived from the equally Latin "solum" (bottom). So, a fish that looks like a sandal or the sole of a foot and lives on the sea floor. 🦑 #etymology #fish #scuba #diving
Old Man Miska had to get some senior blood work done today & now he's sleeping off the trauma with several Churu in his belly. #caturday #catsofbluesky #rescuecats
The news is horrifying infuriating depressing so here's my grrrl Io being a happy little harbor seal. #caturday #catsofbluesky
Porcupinefishes are like the corgis of the fish world - chonky, oddly-shaped, and with a perpetual slight smile. They are fairly fast swimmers but tolerant of a slow respectful approach. #fish #oceans #scuba #diving #coralreefs
A beautiful day to take scuba students through their final day of open water checkout dives. #WashingtonState #scuba #diving #pacificnorthwest
Dreaming of spring butterflies on a dreary gray day. This Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) is a cheerier sort of gray. #butterflies #Lepidoptera #pacificnorthwest #insects #entomology 🐙
It's easy to get fixated on cool underwater wildlife, but the variety of textures and patterns is pretty neat as well. 🦑#scuba #diving #oceans #coralreefs
Mack the Knife has discovered the heated cat bed. #catsofbluesky #caturday
One reason I take so many sea cucumber photos is they don't run away from me, but there's something enticing about a creature that resembles an unfortunate sausage and feeds with tentacles that look like the diagram of a complex nervous system. 🦑 #oceans #Scuba #diving #pacificnorthwest #echinoderm
Are you talkin' to me? Are YOU talkin' to ME?!?!? Slender cancer crab (Cancer gracilis) ready to throw down. 🦑 #diving #scuba #NAUIdiver #crabs #crustaceans #oceanlife #oceans #PugetSound #pacificnorthwest #invertebrates
Helmet crab (Telmessus cheiragonus) hanging out in the sediment, as they do. 🦑 #oceans #scuba #diving #crustaceans #crabs #invertebrates #pacificnorthwest
Io is a ridiculous creature, but I envy her perfect & deep contentment. P.s. the belly is not a trap. 🐈 #catsofbluesky