Is it an animal, vegetable or mineral? As my ‘coral guy’ likes to tell people, corals are part animal, part plant and part rock. There’s the actual invertebrate, the algae that live inside their tissue and the calcium carbonate skeleton they make as they grow.  Clearly corals are difficult for a round of 20 Questions! Not only are they beautiful, but they provide habitat for many tropical organisms.  Unfortunately, coral bleaching is becoming prevalent in many reefs worldwide.  Within the last few years I’ve seen some instances of bleaching on my trips to Micronesia and the US Virgin Islands.  Learn more with this week’s comic: urgent (coral) care

P.S. if you have a favorite invertebrate you’d like to see highlighted, don’t forget to let me know on the Contact page!

Being on the West coast makes me miss my East coast invertebrates.  And my East coast friends that love East coast invertebrates.  A good friend of mine rocked a killer horseshoe crab costume this summer at the labs for which she won the Blue Blood prize (did you know horseshoe crabs have blue blood?)…well deserved! Check out this week’s comic: horseshoe crab heritage to learn more about why horseshoe crabs are especially cool!

Following up with the ‘pickles’ theme from last week’s pyrosome comic, here are some more vegetable-like invertebrates.  Check out the cool adaptations of sea cucumbers in the cucumber defense

Pyrosomes are pretty cool!  I recently saw many on the research cruise I was on in August off the coast of Oregon.  Using the cameras on the remotely operated vehicle onboard the ship (think underwater robot), we got a sneak peak at pyrosomes in action as the vehicle descended through the water column to the seafloor.  Their bioluminescence was beautiful to watch, especially in the middle of the ocean with no other lights in sight.  Have you seen bioluminescence? Learn more in today’s comic: pickled pyrosomes

Thanks everyone for a great inaugural week here at Interviews with Invertebrates! It’s really nice to see such an interest from a wide range of folks.   Keep tuning in every Wednesday for new comics.  If you like what you see be sure to subscribe to get notifications of new posts sent straight to your email.

Check out the newest comic to learn about zooplankton migrations in marine migration

I am excited to officially launch the comic Interviews with Invertebrates!

Need a pick-me-up in the middle of the week?  New comics will be released every Wednesday so be sure to check back for new content. Get in touch with me to request that your favorite invertebrates be highlighted.  Happy invertebrate-ing!

Introducing your invertebrate host, Ophiura, in: introducing ophiura

Excited for weekly installments of invertebrate themed comics?  The first comic strips will be posted shortly!