Michael Middlebrooks

My latest sea slug paper is out now, and it features a nice photo I took of the slug! link.springer.com/article/10.1... #sluglife #academicsky

I mailed in my ballot yesterday. If you are voting by mail send it in early. They are trying to gum up the works and stop you from voting.

I watched the documentary First They Came For My College about the hostile right wing takeover of New College in Florida. It's really well done and I highly recommend everyone see it or try to get it screened at your local movie theater or campus. www.firsttheycameformycollege.com #academicsky

Several members of UTampa AAUP went to watch the First They Came For My College Documentary at the Sun Ray Cinema this afternoon, and were able to experience a panel of those who played a vital role in the documentary. We strongly encourage other chapters/schools to request a showing in your area!

I just backed A New Home for Live Music in Tampa Bay on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/fma...

I am doing a public talk on sea slugs with the Bailey Mathews Shell Museum on September 16th. It is free and live broadcast over Zoom, but you have to register in advance: shellmuseum.org/learn-and-ex...

Very cool looking porcelain crab from Anilao, Philippines for #invertfest. There were a bunch of them hiding in this sponge! 🦑🦀

A few nudibranch sea slugs for #invertfest. These photos were taken in Anilao, Philippines. #sluglife

This one cracked me up. A nudibranch sea slug hanging upside down in over a moray eel. This photo was taken in Anilao, Philippines. #sluglife 🦑

One way you know Dolly Parton lived life the right way: I don’t think anyone’s going to get fired for accurately quoting Dolly Parton today.

I think it's time we forgot about Dre.

A new mollusc mix for Mollusc Monday! This one was all filmed in Anilao, Philippines and is of course, mostly slugs. #sluglife #invertebrates 🦑

While in Boracay, Philippines for the GIGA IV meeting we were able to sneak in a little scuba diving. Here are some of the fantastic nudibranchs we saw. Photos by @secretsluglab.bsky.social Did you see any cool critters while at GIGA IV? Please share them with us!

Research Assistant/Aquarist position at the School for Field Studies in the Turks and Caicos: fieldstudies.catsone.com/careers/7681...

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

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.

There is a proposal to build a marina that will likely ruin one of the very best shore diving locations in Florida, the Blue Heron Bridge. Here is a petition to try to stop it: c.org/xgB2TjwJ7h

We have a visiting teaching line in the Biology Department at the University of Tampa. We are hiring soon so apply now if you are interested: #academicsky

Last month I was in Iceland and I tried to do some tidepooling, but I kept getting attacked by the arctic terns nesting nearby! Here are a few of the cool inverts I was able to find on some boulders when the tide was low. #invertebrates

Just spent 30 minutes and ~$20 getting my boarding pass reissued from Philippines Airlines because it didn't have the "Jr" on it. (There is not a spot for it on their website). Moral: Don't add a suffix to your children's names.

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

Wow, I got an e-mail from Skin Care Awards letting me know that my recent article on a sea slug microbiome has been selected for the best researcher award. I'm sure that's not a scam...

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

🦑🌎Imagine if the media covered The Gulf of Mexico’s algal “dead zone” as enthusiastically as it covers the algae in an 18-inch-deep reflecting pool.

My university published a short article about my Coral Reefs course! www.ut.edu/news-and-uta...

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

I taught Invertebrate Zoology at New College one semester before I landed a full time professor position in Tampa. It was a very special place. It is an absolute shame what Ron DeSantis did to it. youtu.be/jFMc07F1UUU?...

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

Don't miss your last chance to submit your abstract to gigavi.org! Abstracts are due May 15, 2026. The conference runs July 6-10 in Boracay, Philippines. We hope you can join us! #invertebrates #genomics #conference

Lots of people have reached out asking how they can support us after the devastating fire in the MSL building, the heart of @cmarinescience.bsky.social Here’s one way, a GoFundMe organized by our graduate students - gofund.me/4373c6ff3. Please share widely, and thanks for helping our community!

I'm about to spend a lot of time this summer on airplanes and waiting in airports, I need some book recommendations! I prefer fun/interesting fiction books for my summer reading (scifi, mystery, eco/climate fiction, and especially any books that will make me laugh).

Abstract submissions for GIGAIV close this Friday! Don't forget to send in your abstract: gigavi.org

We are pleased to introduce Molluscan Horizons, a diamond open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal born from a joint effort of Latin American malacological societies, led and funded by the Brazilian Society of Malacology. To learn more, please visit our website: www.molluscanhorizons.org

The abstract deadline for GIGA VI is just a few weeks away! Submit your abstract and register to join us in Boracay, Philippines to learn all about cutting edge Invertebrate Genomic Research. gigavi.org

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

Break up all of the monopolies. www.npr.org/2026/04/15/n...

The Bailey-Mathews Shell Museum has a job opening for Science Director and Curator! #mollusc #academicsky shellmuseum.org/careers-inte...

The Florida Association of Aquatic Biologists has an upcoming taxonomic workshop on leeches, May 5-7 in Gainesville Florida! www.floridaaquaticbiologists.org/events.html

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

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

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