Michael Middlebrooks

@secretsluglab

Invertebrate Zoologist, Scuba Diver, Adventurer. I teach Invertebrate Zoology at the U. of Tampa and research photosymbiosis, natural history, and ecology of sea slugs in the Secret Slug Lab. I'm interested in things.

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Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· 25d

Really cool colony form on this lace bryozoan I found under a ledge on a reef in Boracay, Philippines. #invertebrates

A photograph of a lace bryozoan colony. The colony is white with a bunch of small holes on it. It is next to some sponges.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· 26d

The animal on the left is a nudibranch sea slug (Phyllidia sp.) but the one on the left is a mimic. It's actually a juvenile sea cucumber! #sluglife #invertebrates Photos were taken in Boracay, Philippines.

A nudibranch sea slug. The slug is white with some yellow bumps on the dorsum. There are black lines crossing the body of the slug and the rhinophores are yellow.

A juvenile sea cucumber that mimics nudibranchs in color and pattern. The animal is what with some black stripes and yellow bumps along the body.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jul 14

I have an entire dive resort to myself in the Philippines!

A photograph of a dive resort overlooking the water. There are some green islands in the distance.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jul 2

One of the coolest things I found on the Great Barrier Reef was a soft coral that had these interesting benthic ctenophores on it. I have never seen this species before! #combjelly #invertebrates #ctenophore

A close up of a benthic ctenophore. The animal is transparent with opaque yellow spots all over its body.

A leather coral that is a pinkish brown color with several yellow benthic ctenophores on it.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jun 20

My latest sea slug article is out today on the microbiome of the sacoglossan Elysia papillosa. www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/16... #sluglife

A photograph of the sacoglossan sea slug Elysia papillosa on a black background. The slug is mostly green with yellow/brown around the edges of the parapodia and on the rhinophores

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jun 11

Conchs are probably the cutest snails and this juvenile conch I found on a night dive on the Great Barrier Reef extra adorable. I love those eyes! #snail #invertebrates #conch

A juvenile conch on the great barrier reef. It's two large eyes are right next to each other. The shell is orange/cream/white. It's adorable.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jun 9

More!

A cream colored nudibranch with purple spots and a purple trim on the mantle skirt.

A blue nudibranch with orange gills and rhinophores. It has a yellow band around the mantle skirt and has a broken black line down the center.

A white nudibranch with a lot of bumps on its back. The gills and the tips of the rhinophores are yellow.

A yellow/cream colored nudibranch with a cool orange splat pattern on the dorsum with a black outline.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jun 9

Some of my favorite slugs I saw while teaching my Coral Reefs course last month on the Great Barrier Reef. #invertebrate #sluglife #nudibranch

A yellow nudibranch with a purple trim around the mantle skirt and purple polka dots with a white ring around them on its dorsum. The rhinophores and gills are also yellow.

A yellow nudibranch with black lines on it.

A white nudibranch sea slug with a yellow edge around the mantle skirt.

A colorful Thuridilla sacoglossan sea slug. The slug is blue with red/orange rhinophores and an undulating blacking yellow line down each side of the parapodia.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jun 1

Mollusc Mix: Great Barrier Reef Edition (mostly slugs of course). These were a few of the wonderful molluscs I filmed while teaching my Coral Reefs travel course in Cairns, Australia. Music: Djapana by Yothu Yindi 🦑 #invertebrates #nudibranch #sluglife

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Apr 16

Really good tardigrade culture in the Invertebrate teaching lab today! #invertebrates #tardigrades

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Mar 17

Green slugs for St. Patrick's Day! Elysia chlorotica, sometimes known as the Eastern Emerald Elysia, is one of my favorite slugs. They can photosynthesize for many months by stealing chloroplasts from the algae that they eat in a process called kleptoplasty. #sluglife

A photograph of two green sea slugs, Elysia chlorotica, on a black background. The slugs are dark green and like a bit like leaves. They have a darker green head and have veins running over their dorsal side.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Feb 23

We have a new chromosomal genome out for the lettuce slug, Elysia crispata, in Wellcome Open Research! It's an open publishing model published prior to peer review (like a preprint) and I love my slug photo in it. Looking forward to the reviews. wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/11-... #sluglife

A photograph of a green sea slug, Elysia crispata, on some green algae. The slug is a lighter shade of green and has yellow-orange bands along the parapodia and some large white spots on the body.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Feb 20

Looking for some ideas on ID for this? We found a bunch of them attached to a sea slug. My guess is Licnophora (?) but this is really not my area. Any help would be appreciated! This is 400x magnification #protozoa #protistsky #microscope #id #ciliate

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Feb 13

Made the cover of the latest issue of the American Malacological Bulletin. #sluglife

The cover of the scientific journal the American Malacological Bulletin. It feature a photograph of the green sacoglossan sea slug Elysia chlorotica.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jan 10

Here's the video from the manatee calf I saw nursing in Crystal River, FL.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jan 6

I had a great time snorkeling with some manatees last week in Crystal River, FL. I even saw some baby manatees nursing. #manatee

A close up underwater photograph of the face of manatee with its mouth slightly open.

A picture of a young manatee underwater next to the tails of some larger manatee.

A underwater photograph of a baby manatee nursing on its mother.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Jan 5

Seen in a McDonald's parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida. A ziplock full of crabs... 🦀

A ziplock bag full of crabs on blacktop pavement.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Dec 23

Someone's getting something very special for Xmas this year. Don't tell...

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

Finally, my student, Lea Hinsley, got these great photos of a Nemertean, aka ribbon worm. #Nemertea

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

Now we have the tube dwelling amphipod crustacean Cerapus sp. #amphipod

The amphipod Cerapas sp. poking out of its tube.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

Here is a short video clip of the sea spider.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

One of my favorite animals to find in the hydroids are Pycnogonids, aka, sea spiders. We had a real treat today because we found one carrying eggs. In sea spiders the males carry the eggs. #invertebrates #pycnogonida

A pycnogonid, aka sea spider. This one has some red stripes on the legs and is carrying eggs.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

Next up a six armed brittle star! This one is in the process of regenerating half of its arms. Does anyone know the ID? I would love to figure out this one.

A brittle star with six arms. Half of the arms are very small because they are regenerating. The arms have brown stripes.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 13

Today in my Invertebrate Zoology course we are doing one of my all time favorite labs where we search through hydroid colonies to find macroinvertebrates. Here are some of my favorite finds from today! First two hydroid feeding nudibranchs! IDs in alt text. #invertebrates #marinebiology #sluglife

The nudibranch sea slug Doto chica. The slug is orange with white grape-like clusters of cerata down the body.

The nudibranch sea slug Dondice jupiteriensis. The slug has long white oral tentacles and a yellow line down the head. The cerata are brown with white tips.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Nov 6

We found oyster spiders today during my oyster lab field trip for my Invertebrate Zoology class! These are marine spiders! They have special setae (hairs) that trap air and let them live underwater. #invertebrates #spider

A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes. The oyster shell is mostly white with some dirty yellow/brown edges.

A marine spider, Paratheuma insulana, on an oyster shell. The spider is brown with some darker brown stripes.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Oct 29

Some lovely nudibranchs for #seaslugday. These photos are from this summer when I was scuba diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. #invertebrates 🦑

An orange cladobranch nudibranch with white tips on rhinophores and tentacles. The slug has a white stripe on the body and some blue dots at the tip of the cerata. It is sitting on an orange sponge.

A dorid nudibranch sea slug. The slug has a cream yellow mantle skirt with a thin black edge. The foot is white. The gills, center of the slug and rhinophores are orange. There is a wavy black line around the orange part of the center of the slug's body.

A very colorful dorid nudibranch. The slug has a brown body with orange stripes. The gills and rhinophores are bright orange. There are also some yellow and blue areas around the head and tail.

An adorable white dorid nudibranch. The slug has black rhinophores and yellow spots that vary in size on the dorsal part of the body. The gills are white with black trim.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Sep 25

I'm so excited to see @puddlespityparty.bsky.social open for Weird Al tonight! The last Puddles show I went to was pure magic. (That's me with Puddles!)

Michael Middlebrooks, a man with glass and long hair, sitting below a large singing clown on some stairs in an auditorium. The clown has on a white clown suit with black trim and is wearing a small golden crown.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Sep 18

We had one of my favorite crabs in the invertebrate teaching lab today! This is Dromidia sp. a carrier crab. Their last pair of legs is modified to carry sponges and other animals as a defensive mechanism. This one is carrying a colonial tunicate. #invertebrates 🦑🦀

A cute carrier crab in an aquarium. The crab is red with large claws and is carrying a white colonial tunicate on its back.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Aug 27

Two for one invertebrates for #InverteFest. Here is the nudibranch Hypselodoris tryoni, in Komodo Indonesia, where you can see the purple eggs of a parasitic copepod sticking out from the slug's gill pocket. #sluglife #nudibranch🧪🦑

A yellow nudibranch see slug with dark purple spots. The spots have a white border around them. The slugs' mantle is has a purple edge. In the gills of the slug you can see some purple parasitic copepod eggs sticking out.

Michael Middlebrooks@secretsluglab· Aug 11

One of my favorite snails, the velutinid Coriocella nigra! Velutinid snails have an internal shell so they often get mistaken for slugs or other organisms. I saw this one while scuba diving in Komodo National Park, Indonesia last month. #molluscmonday #snail #invertebrate #komodo #indonesia 🦑