After the excitement of the blogs of the last two weeks (I found them exciting), I thought this week I should tone it down a bit and write about an animal that is considered a little more run of the mill, and less out of the ordinary. Then I thought, stuff that for a silly idea, I’m going to present to you the most exciting object I have in my field of view from the front desk, which is where I was at the time. By pure coincidence, it just so happens to also be one of my top five specimens out of all 68,000 currently held at the Museum, which I think is introduction enough, and so- this week’s  Specimen of the Week is… (more…)

Whilst looking for a sponge in the coral case, I came across something far more stupendous than both irritatingly-hard-to-tell-apart-at-times-I’m-not-really-an-idiot-I-swear-groups (ok I was having a dense moment). Although a few specimens of this species grace shelf two of case six (for when you are sure to pop in for some Specimen of the Week reconnaissance), this particular specimen is especially beautiful. You’ll think you know these animals well, but this specific genus exhibits a dollop of uniqueness, within the tentacled family tree. This week’s specimen of the week is.. (more…)