Michael Middlebrooks

@secretsluglab.bsky.social

1222 Followers 319 Following

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. https://go.ted.com/michaelmiddlebrooks

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.
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 photograph of a dive resort overlooking the water. There are some green islands in the distance.
Close up of a barnacle
A close up of a benthic ctenophore. The animal is transparent with opaque yellow spots all over its body.
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
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.
A cream colored nudibranch with purple spots and a purple trim on the mantle skirt.
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 series of clips of molluscs on the Great Barrier Reef. The clip includes a cuttlefish, an octopus, a sacoglossan sea slug, a snail, a disco clam, a giant clam, and several different species of nudibranchs.
Video of a tardigrades crawling around on some green algae and a blue thread filmed under a microscope.
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.
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.
A video clip of a small ciliated organism viewed under the microscope.
The cover of the scientific journal the American Malacological Bulletin. It feature a photograph of the green sacoglossan sea slug Elysia chlorotica.
An underwater video of a manatee calf nursing with its mother.
A close up underwater photograph of the face of manatee with its mouth slightly open.
A ziplock bag full of crabs on blacktop pavement.
There is some Frank Sinatra music playing and a jewelry box. The box is opened to reveal...a moon pie.
A light brown Nemertean ribbon worm.
The amphipod Cerapas sp. poking out of its tube.
A pycnogonid, aka sea spider. This one has some red stripes on the legs and is carrying eggs.
A pycnogonid, aka sea spider. This one has some red stripes on the legs and is carrying eggs.
A brittle star with six arms. Half of the arms are very small because they are regenerating. The arms have brown stripes.
The nudibranch sea slug Doto chica. The slug is orange with white grape-like clusters of cerata down the body.
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.
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.
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.
A cute carrier crab in an aquarium. The crab is red with large claws and is carrying a white colonial tunicate on its back.
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.
A photograph of the velutinid snail Coriocella nigra. The snail does not have a visible shell because it is covered by the mantle. The snail is velvety black green in color and has five large lobes on the dorsal side plus a siphon sticking forward which looks similar to the lobe. The snail is sitting on some red calcareous algae next to some orange coral polyps which are retracted.
A small flatworm photographed under the microscope. The flatworm has two small eye spots towards the head and a bright orange band in the middle of the its body.
A small red hermit crab poking out of a shell that is way too large for it. The crab has black eyes and is sitting in the sand.
The sea slug Elysia diomedea. The slug is green with some white spots on the body. The parapodia are quite ruffly with some yellow around the edges. The rhinophores of the slug have black and yellow stripes running from the tip towards the eye of the slug. The eye is a small black dot on the head. The slug is sitting on a mixture of red algae.
Several different nudibranch sea slugs crawling on coral reefs and in seagrass beds in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. The slugs are multi-colored.
Video of a large Komodo dragon walking around.
Two extremely attractive people posing behind a large Komodo dragon. The people are wearing grey shirts and smiling. The Komodo dragon looks like it might be smelling a flower, but probably is just resting near the flower.
Scanning electron micrographs of the radula from Elysia chlorotica. A, Complete radula of E. chlorotica. B, Leading tooth of E. chlorotica. C, Leading tooth magnified to illustrate serrated cusp of tooth on the leading edge and housing depression on the trailing edge.
A composite photo of two specimens of the sea slug Elysia chlorotica. The slug is green in color and looks almost like a leaf with small rhinophores on the head. The photo on the left, labeled A, is a lighter green color and is the specimen from Tampa Bay. The one on the right labeled B, is from Massachusetts, and is a darker color green. There is a 1cm scale bar on the image.
A photograph of the sea slug Elysia zuleicae. The slug is brownish green with a pointed tail and large rhinophores. The eyes are small black dots at the base of the rhinophores. The slug is crawling over a flat mass of filaments of the green algae Udotea.
A very colorful lettuce sea slug, Elysia crispata. This slug has frilly parapodia that are white at the tip followed by a red band and then a yellow band. The body of the animal is green, but parts of it are blue and it also has some large white and yellow spots. The slug is sitting on some limestone on a coral reef.
Photograph of several scuba divers cleaning coral nursery trees. The trees are an arrangement of PVC suspended in the water with small coral colonies hanging from them.
A big cookie cake that is decorated with a picture of a green Elysia chlorotica sea slug. The cake also says "2025" down each side, "Congrats" at the top, and "Abbie, Anja, Grace" at bottom.
The nudibranch sea slug Plocamopherus lucayensis. The slug is a red/orange color with some purple spots on its body. There are purple rings around the base of its rhinophores. The gills are white. The slug is crawling on a brown colony of bryozoans.
Some plants in them sitting on a balcony. The plant in the center is has long light green and somewhat spikey leaves.
A hermit crab with red/orange striped legs wearing a shell that has barnacles and a large anemone on it. The anemone has a small nudibranch feeding on it.
A pair of juvenile Elysia crispata sea slugs. The slugs are mostly green with rolled rhinophores and ruffly paradpodia.
Several blades of the invasive seagrass species Halophila stipulacea which was part of a much larger seagrass bed.
A headshield slug with an orange/red body and blue and black stripes in a seagrass bed.
A orange headshield slug with blue and black stripes laying eggs in a seagrass meadow.
Chelidonura hirundinina, an orange headshield slug with blue and black stripes, crawling in a seagrass bed.
A small green filefish next to some seagrass and green Udotea algae.
A Tambja mullineri nudibranch sea slug with a dark blue boy and lighter blue stripes running from the head to the tail. The rhinophores are also dark blue and the gills also have the contrasting dark and light blue pattern on them. The slug is against a mostly red background of coralline algae growing on a rock plus some lighter colored debris. Photographed in the Galapagos Islands.
Video of the sacoglossan sea slug Stiliger fuscovitatus feeding on the red algae Ceramium sp. The slug feeds by piercing the algal cells with a microscopic radular tooth and then sucking out the cellular contents. While the slug is feeding on the algae it shakes the filament. Filmed under the dissecting microscope. The end of the video shows a close up of the algal filaments before the slug feeds on it and then afterwards showing the cellular contents that have been removed. The video has instrumental piano music in the background. It is a song called "The Epic Hero" by Keys of Moon and is used under a Creative Commons (BY-NC 3.0) license.
Photograph of a leopard tortoise sitting on a hardwood floor.
A cute little porcelain crab. The crab is orange/red with lots of white spots ringed in red all over its body.
A sign for a store called "Drug & Gun" that is advertising "Christmas sale on guns and gifts". Also there is a big dumb pickup truck.
An orange and white emperor shrimp riding on the back of a large nudibranch with yellow polka dots and a purple trim.
A red and orange hermit crab that is wearing a staghorn coral instead of a regular snail shell. The staghorn hydrocoral is yellow and has four points on the colony.
A photograph of the copepod Critomolgus walteri taken under a dissecting microscope.