Malacology Monday

MM Malacology Monday
Gastropods and Pelecypods are just the beginning. Photo by Image Kid

You already know that Deep Sea News provides expert reporting, in-depth analysis, first-person research, and sarcastic mockery of contemporary topics relevant to our ocean world. Unlike other popular science sites that can be wildly imaginative and dangerously inaccurate, DSN’s crew of scientists cut through the pop-science b.s. and re-posted misinformation to deliver ocean news that you can trust.

Malacology Collection Alexandre Isidore Leroy de Barde Choix de coquillages c. 1810
Artistic rendition of a malacology collection by Alexandre Isidore Leroy de Barde titled “Choix de Coquillages” circa 1810.

But did you know the DSN Facebook site provides even more delicious science nuggets each week for your inquiring mind to chew and savor? Beginning this week, as a premium for our Facebook friends, each and every Monday from now until eternity* will feature the shell of a different marine marine organism in an ongoing DSN internet event called Malacology Monday.

Dipping into the vast marine science collection from the Lobos Marinos International Marine Science (& Cocktails), we will bring you the dazzling array of evolutionary innovations, complex architecture, and endless aesthetics that sea shells deliver. For each species featured we will also communicate bona-fide scientific information and curious facts about the ecology and adaptations of extant and extinct mollusks, as well as the long human history with marine shellfish and their impact on our own culture.

MM humanities spectrum
Of Man & Mollusk. Left: Lower paleolithic marine gastropod shells drilled for use as a necklace; ca. 85,000 years before present, Morocco; Middle: Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”, ca. 1486; Right, Gary Busey attempts to digitally stream movies using a seashell instead of Amazon Fire, 2014.

If you like mollusks, and in particular malacology, this is a much-need intravenous drip of taxonomic enlightenment and morphological bliss, and if you aren’t yet in the cult, Malacology Monday will be the digital gateway drug to a soul fulfilling and mind expanding appreciation of our underwater world. So start each week with a stiff shot of mollusks on Deep Sea News’ Facebook Page.

Malacology Monday Bangles3
Despite their horrifically embarrassing later hair-pop years, they were once a good band, as seen & heard here and here.

*Eternity not exclusive of time away for expeditions, conferences, vacation, last-minute pre-deadline grant-writing, finals week grading, benders, mandatory time at the honor rancho, amnesia, malaise, or the untimely demise of the concept’s host.