Matt

@xenomatt

Scuba, nerdery, science, and what makes people tick. Expat Brit in Canada. Pics mine unless otherwise credited.

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Matt@xenomatt· 17d

White-spotted Hermit Crab (Dardanus megistos). Pic from Arborek, Raja Ampat #MarineLife 🦀🌿 #Wildlife #Invertebrates

An orange hermit crab. It is covered in many black-ringed white spots, and has brown eye-stalks and white antennae. It is in a striped brown shell.

Matt@xenomatt· 20d

Blackfin Barracuda (Sphyraena qenie). Pic from My Reef (yes, it's really called that; I have no idea why), Raja Ampat And yes, they look just as grumpy as every other barracuda I've come across. I've never seen one smile. #MarineLife #Wildlife 🌿🐟

Two long, silvery fish. They have dark bars along their flanks and darker tails with a black margin. They have large eyes and thick lips.

Matt@xenomatt· 22d

🦀 see a crab, post a crab 🦀 Zebra crab!

A black-and-white striped crab on the red surface of a sea urchin

Matt@xenomatt· 23d

A Funeral Jorunna (according to the book) or a Mourning Dorid (according to iNat). Jorunna funebris, Raja Ampat 🌿 #MarineLife #Invertebrates #Wildlife

A white nudibranch with black rhinopores and gills, and black spots with white speckles on them

Matt@xenomatt· 27d

Turtle flyby! This was a big girl, and she really didn't care much about puny humans getting in the way. Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), Sawandarek, Raja Ampat #MarineLife #Wildlife 🤿

The turtle is now very close to the camera as it passes

Matt@xenomatt· 29d

Soft coral polyps at night. Pic from Misool, Raja Ampat. #MarineLife #Invertebrates #Nature #Wildlife

A branching soft coral pictured against a black background. The coral has pale pink branches and bright red polyps, which have their tentacles extended to feed

Matt@xenomatt· Jul 12

Is #SnapperSunday a thing? I have no idea... but just in case, here's a Two-spot Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar) from Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Mind the teeth! #MarineLife 🐟 #Nature

A fairly large silvery fish, swimming towards the camera. It has dark fins and its mouth is slightly open, revealing large teeth. The outline of a reef is visible in the background on the right.

A silvery fish swimming past the camera with a reef in the background. It has dark fins and the pectorals are noticeably pointed, It has a groove in front of its eye.

Matt@xenomatt· Jul 9

Experiments with wide-angle macro. I'm pretty terrible at it. Blue-spotted urchin (Astropyga radiata), Lembeh #MarineLife #invertebrates #Wildlife

A wide-angle macro shot of a red sea urchin with long spines, sitting on a sandy seabed. A scuba diver is visible in the background.

Matt@xenomatt· Jul 7

Soft coral at Misool, Raja Ampat #MarineLife #Nature

A magenta branching soft coral contrasting with the sea behind it. Small silhouettes of fish are visible in the background

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 28

Sunday sunbeams... hanging out under a boat at the jetty at Saporkren, Raja Ampat 🤿 #Nature

The silhouette of a boat with two props visible. Sunbeams pierce the water around the edges of the boat; a few fish are passing by

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 22

It is 🦀 Day (in Japan, at least), so... Voila! Channel Clinging Crab, or a West Indian Spider Crab, if you prefer (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) from Cozumel #MarineLife #Invertebrates #Wildlife

A large red-brown crab with relatively long legs and claws. It is on sand between a couple of algae-covered rocks.

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 19

When you go for a dive in the Lembeh Strait, and instead of critters you meet @infinitescream.bsky.social. AAAAAAHHHH!!!! #PhycologyFriday #MarineLife #Nature

A small growth of seaweed on black sand. It resembles a person with their arms raised.

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 18

It's #WormWednesday, so here is a Sand Striker (Eunice aphroditois). Pic from Lembeh. It's a pity you can't see the terrifying jaws all that well because of the sand in there, but I like the way the iridescent hairs on the body have come out in this one. #MarineLife #Invertebrates #Wildlife

A worm projecting vertically from the sand. Large jaws and antennae are visible at the top. Short appendages are visible on each segment of the body, and lines of iridescence run vertically down the body as well. The worm is a light yellow/tan colour with darker spots arranged in rings.

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 16

These guys are pretty common, but it's nice to get one that isn't trying to hide. Anemone Porcelain Crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus). Pic from Saporkren, Raja Ampat 🦀 #MarineLife #invertebrates #Wildlife

A crab on a the sea anemone where it lives. The anemone is dark green with relatively bulbous tentacles. The crab is white, wit brown patches that on closer inspection are made up of a lot of tiny red dots.

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 14

One of the easier fish to recognize... a Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus). I think the grouper perched in the background is a Bluespotted Grouper (Cephalopholis cyanostigma) Pic from Keruo Channel, Raja Ampat #MarineLife 🐟 #Wildlife

A fish with striking colours. It has a white body with broad black bars at the head and rear; the tail is also black. The white has a yellow patch over it at the rear of the fish. It has a black-edged orange stripe over its elongated snout, and the dorsal fin extends into a long filament which trails behind the fish. It is swimming in front of an outcrop of finger-shaped coral; another fish (brownish with blue spots) can be seen perched in the coral.

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 11

Crinoids have pretty cool feet. Or at least, I think they do. Pic from Raja Ampat. #Invertebrates #MarineLife #Wildlife

A close-up of the lower part of a crinoid perched on the lip of a coral plate. The white legs it uses to hang on with are clearly visible. Above this, the reddish arms splay out to catch drifting food particles

Matt@xenomatt· Jun 4

If we're doing pink crabs, I don't think we can leave this one out of the conversation :)

A small pink crab sitting on a purple gove. It has black eyes and is covered in spines. Pic from NOAA

Matt@xenomatt· May 23

While I process all the pics from my recent trip... here's an old one. A Grey Angelfish in grayscale. Pomacanthus arcuatus, Cozumel. #MarineLife 🐟 #UnderwaterPhotography #BlackAndWhite

A black-and-white photo of a laterally-compressed fish swimming past the camera. It has a white mouth, a darker head, and the body appears mottled with light reflecting off it.

Matt@xenomatt· May 16

Dive trips are great, but now I have a ton of stuff to do at home and then there's all the photos to process. But this was a great place to spend a couple of weeks! 🤿

A two-masted ship at sea with the sails set. The ship is white and the sails are dark brown; the sea is calm and there is a blue sky with a few fluffy clouds in the background.

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 21

Dude, there's no point hiding in that salp. It's transparent. We can still see you. I think that's a male argonaut peering at us from the middle of the photo Pic from a blackwater dive at Balayan Bay, Anilao 🦑🌿 #invertebrates #MacroPhotography

Two salps, which are transparent except for an organ at the bottom and their translucent spine and outer surface. One has a small octopus in side it at the base; its mantle is a mottled orange and its curled tentacles are almost white.

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 16

This mass of tentacles is a close-up view of a tube anemone. Pic from Anilao #MarineLife #Invertebrates 🌿 #UnderwaterPhotography

A close-up top-down view of a tube anemone: the larger outer tentacles and smaller inner tentacles are all that can be seen

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 14

A goby (Bryaninops sp., I think) on a gorgonian in Anilao #MarineLife 🐟🌿 #MacroPhotography

A small, elongate red fish perched head-down on a white branch of a gorgonian soft coral. The fish has red and gold rings around its eye, a translucent dorsal fin, and some scattered white markings on its body. The polyps of the gorgonian are open.

#Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #UnderwaterPhotography

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 8

Feather duster worm, Anilao #WormWednesday #MarineLife #Invertebrates 🌿

A white feather duster worm protruding from a coral reef

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 7

The Artemis crew may have seen a lot of stars today while they flew around the moon, but they didn't see this guy! Starry Blenny (Salarias ramosus) and its fabulous eyebrows (okay, cirri, if we must). Pic from Anilao #MarineLife 🐟🌿 #UnderwaterPhotography #WildlifePhotography

A small fish perched on a coral outcrop, with dark sand in the background. It has a brownish body covered in small white spots, and some larger white patches. The eye has a striking red-and-white striped iris with branched cirri projecting above it

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 5

BBC's live update is interesting. You can feel the sweat dripping from the editors' brows as they try to walk the line between decorum and accurately covering the news, and realize that line no longer exists. I'm glad they did the right thing in the end. www.bbc.com/news/live/cm...

Screenshot from BBC breaking update:

Trump issues expletive-laden social media post
published at 09:39
09:39
Breaking
Warning: The below post contains very strong, uncensored language that some may find offensive.

US President Donald Trump has published an expletive-laden post on his Truth Social platform, in which he threatens Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

He references targeting civilian infrastructure and tells Iran they will be "living in Hell" if the vital shipping lane is not opened.

The post comes ahead of Trump's self-imposed deadline to Tehran to reopen the strait by Monday, which has been effectively closed since war broke out at the end of February.

The paragraph below contains very strong language.

Trump says: "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 5

CBC, at www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...

Extract from a news article:
In an expletive-laden post Sunday morning, Trump expanded upon earlier threats, promising strikes on Iran's power plants and bridges. He vowed the "crazy bastards" would be "living in Hell" if the waterway isn't opened to marine traffic by Tuesday. He ended his post with "Praise be to Allah."

Matt@xenomatt· Apr 4

The splendidly-named psychedelic batwing slug (Sagaminopteron psychedelicum). Pic from Anilao #MarineLife #Invertebrates 🌿 #WildlfePhotography

A sea slug crawling over a rock covered in red algae. It is white with a striking pattern of orange blotches all over it, except at the margin. The sides are raised, giving it a rolled-up appearance.

#Wildlife #Nature #UnderwaterPhotography #Macro #MacroPhotography

Matt@xenomatt· Mar 28

Slender Grouper (Anyperodon leucogrammicus), Anilao. I saw very few groupers or other fish more than a few inches in length, and those I did see were *really* skittish. Spearfishing will do that - they have learned that divers are a threat. #MarineLife 🐟🌿 #Wildlife

A light green fish. Its body is covered in rows of orange spots and it has four white stripes running down its head and body; the upper ones are broken into irregular spots and dashes.

#WildlifePhotography #UnderwaterPhotography

Matt@xenomatt· Mar 23

A shrimpfish of some sort from Anilao. Pic unfortunately not good enough for a positive id between a razorfish or a rigid shrimpfish. #MarineLife 🐟🌿

Two elongated fish hanging head-down in the water. They have very reflective skin/scales and are silver with a darker stripe along the middle. They have elongated beaks and translucent fins.

#Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #NaturePhotography #UnderwaterPhotography

Matt@xenomatt· Mar 21

I am just so fed up with <gestures at everything> right now. This guy looks like I feel. I really just want to sit on the bottom and sulk until it all goes away. Pic from Anilao. Not sure what kind of fish it is; I may have the energy to figure it out in the morning. #MarineLife 🌿🐟