friel.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

One of many secret projects that is finally seeing the light of day this summer, we just delivered the first copy of Deinosuchus schwimmeri for #FossilFriday Here is am this past winter assembling the 3d printed prototype of the upper skull 🧪🐊

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Chondrichthyan-free lakes feature on t-shirts sold in every Michigan beach town. But the Michigan basin yields fossils of stem chondrichthyans from the Devonian seas that once covered the region, like this ischnacanthid jaw (UMMP VP 119596) and Machaeracanthus spine (UMMP VP 61686) #FossilFriday

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Crikey! @almnh.bsky.social received a special delivery from Triebold Paleontology today for #FossilFriday, and museum staff are already bonding with our new life-size #Deinosuchus friend as we get it ready for a future exhibit.

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A nice costal fragment of a Late Cretaceous (upper Santonian to lower Campanian) soft-shelled turtle that I found in Greene Co., AL. Fossil trionychids from the Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation represent the oldest record of this family east of the Mississippi River. #FossilFriday

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Pushing to the Fishes! and Science feeds. 🐟🧪

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🚨Research alert! Two new studies, led by Museum scientists, suggest that biofluorescence in fish dates back ~112 million years & has evolved independently 100+ times, with the majority of that activity happening among species that live on coral reefs. Learn more ⬇️ amnh.link/4nlyBrk

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Trade in a mythical fish is threatening real species of rays that are rare and at risk

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Extremely pleased a species we described in April 2025, discovered using the same methods that demonstrated the Snail Darter is not distinct, is empowering local residents and hopefully leading to protection of the lovely and imperiled Birmingham Darter insideclimatenews.org/news/1606202...

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Paleontologists often find crappy fossils. These can teach us a lot about Earth history, and are important for dissuading ideas that fossils are fakes. Please read and share! open.substack.com/pub/fishhist...

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Tonic immobility in cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes): function, evolutionary history, and future directions 🦑🧪🐟🦈 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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I lived through Hurricane Ida in 2021 in Houma/Terrebonne Parish, and it taught me firsthand that no matter how prepared or wealthy a place seems, disasters overwhelm local and state resources. This thread: my experience, the stats, and why FEMA matters.

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The Hidden Language Of Shark Scars www.forbes.com/sites/meliss... Decades of shark photos are helping scientists decode the hidden life history of white sharks, starting with their scars.

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The Gilded Triggerfish (Xanthichthys auromarginatus) is a common and widely distributed fish. But because it prefers deeper waters (usually below 40m) in places with a lot of current, it's rarely seen. I photographed this beautiful male in the Maldives at about 70m depth.

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Have you ever wondered if non-avian dinosaurs got fleas, or are you NORMAL? The first fleas evolved in the middle Jurassic from scorpionfly ancestors, meaning that not only did dinos HAVE fleas as 'ectopoarasites', they were among the first animals on Earth to experience this scourge.

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Carrie Adeline Barbour (1861 – 1942) was a paleontologist and educator. As an assistant curator of paleontology at the University of Nebraska State Museum and an Assistant Professor of Paleontology, she was among the earliest women paleontologists in the United States. #WomenInSTEM

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Really happy with the response to this. If you’d like to see deeper dives into fish science please check out my blog and subscribe for free at open.substack.com/pub/fishhist...

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In the latest @pensoft.net guest blog post, Dr. Kelly Carruthers (@crazbuglady.bsky.social) ‬explains how students in Georgia's Science Olympiad entomology exam were given real insect specimens to engage with, rather than just images, to encourage hands-on learning. blog.pensoft.net/2025/06/09/s...

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Out of sight and out of mind? The conservation status of subterranean biodiversity in the United States and Canada By @niemiller.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Wake up, babe, a new phylogeny and classification of coelacanths just dropped. 🐟🧪

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#FossilFriday‼️🦀🦞🦐 Next week, together with Danish colleagues, I am organizing the 9th Symposium on Fossil Decapod Crustaceans in Faxe, Denmark. Abstract and program books are printed. We will welcome everyone starting on Monday! Website: tiny.cc/fx4m001 #fossil @almnh.bsky.social #paleontology

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Carnivorous plants have evolved over and over again through millions of years. And while some get big, none have ever reached Audrey II size. In my latest for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social, I look into why. 🌱

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Name change is not just for taxonomic revisions, but it is certainly less expensive. #RollTide news.ua.edu/2025/06/bare...

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RANGER RICK came to my talk at the @nationalwildlife.bsky.social meeting this week!!!!!!!!!🥹 *NWF publishes Ranger Rick (children’s nature magazine), and that’s how I first learned about gars!) blog.nature.org/science/2020...

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Harnessing natural history collections for collaborative pandemic preparedness Paul et al. 2025 BioScience "Despite their potential for contributing to pandemic preparedness, natural history collections are underused" academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

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Saw one of the greatest freshwater fishes of all time this morning in Tanzania. The Goliath tigerfish is a formidable predator with some of the largest teeth that you will ever see. There was a local fisherman selling them door to door

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An infuriating article from U. Rochester school newspaper in 1957 that reflects the scientific attitude at mid-century towards taxonomy, biodiversity, and the perceived value of specimen collections.

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After 6 months in review & 11 months in press, Plethodon paper is finally out in Herp Review 55(3), Sept 2024 (😂) issue: Newman CE & Austin CC. Clarification of cryptic species of Plethodon in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, USA. drive.google.com/file/d/15Poe...

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Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds. 🐟🧪

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Anglerfish ancestors once roamed the seafloor. Here's how we know : Short Wave : NPR

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Really proud to have worked with my 14-year-old, Anjali, on this new and free kids' book on #evolution. Published in time for the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Please check it out and share! www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...

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🧵New paper + open database drop! The Marine Organismal Body Size ( #MOBS ) Database is now live—85,000+ marine species, from plankton to whales, with standardized size data. A huge leap for biodiversity, conservation, and climate science. #science #marinelife onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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I saw needlefish while snorkeling in the Caribbean and it was so exciting! They’re so COOL!

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Biodiversity allows for sustainable fisheries, better nutrition | Cornell Chronicle 🦑🌎🧪🐠

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Dazzling deep-sea ribbonfish🎀 These sightings are all of fish in the genus Trachipterus—members of the ribbonfish group, aptly named for their thin, ribbon-like bodies. As these fish mature, they change from dark red to shiny silver, and their frilled caudal and pelvic fins are greatly reduced. ⁠

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Dozens of scientists and collection experts collaborated to identify opportunities to better utilize data stored in natural history collections in order to support and inform the broader scientific community working on pandemic preparedness. Story + paper: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/pape...

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If you see this, post a sword.

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Anytime a fish has stripes or spots, they all have to be painted on at the end, after I’ve nearly completed the painting. It always makes me nervous! This is Percina caprodes, the common logperch. #teamfish #sciart

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🩻Force, form, and function: New method explains stingray skeleton architecture. Find out more about the research of @uofwa.bsky.social mechanical engineering student, John Michael Racy, with co-authors including @fishguy.bsky.social. www.aa.washington.edu/news/article...

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New paper alert 🚨 🧪🦈 Sora Kim, Megan Balk, Elizabeth Sibert, & I wrote an open access review paper! Diving Deeper: Leveraging the Chondrichthyan Fossil Record to Investigate Environmental, Ecological, and Biological Change www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

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My latest “ask a marine biologist” tackles the mysteries of shark sleep www.scubadiving.com/do-sharks-sl... 🧪🦑🌎🦈

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It's #Fishmas in July (er, June) at #IAGLR25! 🎄🐟 Come out to N207A this morning for the #scicomm symposium "Creating Resilience in Science Communication in the Age of Misinformation" - I'll be talking at 9 AM CT on what #25DaysofFishmas can teach us about using social media for communication.

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I'm proud of our li'l Schoolhouse Rock for Insect Taxonomists cartoon, but if you're not in Bug World here are some annotations for you... www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYSI... cc @danlwarren.bsky.social

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Shark Skeletons Aren’t Bones. They’re Blueprints. Scientists have mapped the nano-architecture of shark cartilage and discovered unique structures that resist damage and store energy. www.forbes.com/sites/meliss...

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Jumping stick (Apioscelis tuberculata) from the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. This goofy-looking grasshopper evolved to look and behave like a stick, very much like stick insects. However contrary to phasmids, jumping sticks are superb jumpers, thanks to the muscular "drumstick" hindlegs.

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments