The K/Pg extinction created a buffet for open-ocean fishes. A new paper shows that Pelagiaria underwent an adaptive radiation following the extinction based on new jaw shapes to fill the vacuum @knapprew.bsky.social @evoswami.bsky.social @sternarchella.bsky.social academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

New paper! Here we look at shape evolution of the mandible in Pelagiaria, a group of open-ocean fishes that includes tuna and mackerel. We find that shape disparity accumulated rapidly at the origin of the clade at around the K/Pg boundary... academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

This paper has been in the works for a long time for various pandemicky and other reasons, and I thank all of my excellent coauthors for their hard work and patience! @evoswami.bsky.social @friedmanlab.bsky.social @sternarchella.bsky.social @gilespalaeo.bsky.social @gizehrdelazaro.bsky.social

MicroCT scan of crypt galls induced by the cynipid wasp Bassettia pallida in branches of the southern live oak, Quercus virginiana. Hiding in the crypts are a second parasitoid wasp, the crypt-keeper - Euderus set! @sternarchella.bsky.social #biodiversity

Stoplight Parrotfish, just a ridiculously beautiful animal. #scuba #diving #oceans 🦑

Took a long time but we are finally growing baby clownfish in the lab!

I love it when art and science connect! The newest art exhibit at Rice’s Moody Center features stunning representations of fish anatomy by @sternarchella.bsky.social and some of his students!

ICB From the Evan's lab! Developmental and Functional Interactions Structure Patterns of Variational #Modularity in the Lunar #Wrasse Skull by Hugi,& @sternarchella.bsky.social et al doi.org/10.1093/icb/... Evans lab koryevans.weebly.com/people.html

91 years is a good long run for most but too short for someone like Jane Goodall. Damn.

Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91

Checkout the write up for our latest study! news.rice.edu/news/2025/an...

Thrilled to see our PNAS paper out! Such an amazing journey and couldn’t have asked for a better experience working with the Evans Lab 💙🐟

We have a new paper on the icefish adaptive radiation led by @mayaranevesbio.bsky.social, a new PI at UFPR 🧊🐟

New paper alert!!!🚨 in our new study we find that Antarctic icefishes added a new module in their skulls during their adaptive radiation special shout out to @mayaranevesbio.bsky.social who led this project! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Episode 62 launches this Friday! Join us as we chat with @sternarchella.bsky.social, Ichthyologist and professor of biosciences at Rice University. Dr. Evans chats with us about fish evolution, particularly through the lens of fish skulls. A fascinating discussion, fresh in your podcatcher Friday!

Join us!!! We’re hiring an Assistant Professor of Evolution! apply.interfolio.com/173889

Wing pelage is suggested to have a functional role in bats — and it’s not just to make them cuter. Check out the publication below to learn more! #academia #academicSky #PhDSky #bats #science

Super proud to share the first first-author paper from @ashockney24.bsky.social and our first official Rummel lab publication! Check it out here: nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Loved this write-up of our fieldwork in Tanzania this summer, led by grad student Annie Finneran and undergrad Caroline Pollan. I felt very lucky to join them to catch some bats there! news.rice.edu/news/2025/ba...

Went fishing for gar in Buffalo Bayou, didn’t catch anything but we saw this incredible alligator snapping turtle!

Another active night at Buffalo Bayou watching the bat emergence. The bats come out before sunset, and so do the predators, with hawks catching them mid-air and herons plucking them from their roosts

Every fish that we catch has a story, some are crazier than others. We caught this unicornfish during a night dive in Okinawa last year. The trip was memorable because we had to end the dive early when North Korea fired a missile in our general direction and we had to take cover

Kory Evans @sternarchella.bsky.social taking on Modularity promotes the evolution of complex biomechanical systems #JMIH25 #ASIHin3D

Our new REU student Darla found something interesting in one of her CT scans! Looks like this fish was halfway through eating a big snail and some coral rubble when @mwestneat.bsky.social caught it last summer in Okinawa!

Almost home from Tanzania and reflecting on a great trip. I got to SCUBA dive in the Indian Ocean for the first time and I saw so many new species for the first time. My favorite was definitely this gold bar wrasse that I saw in Zanzibar.

Safari is done. One of my favorite sightings was this Serval cat. Small cats are often reclusive and tough to spot but this one walked right up to us

Get your 3D glasses out for #3DThursday! And click the link below to see syGlass on the really big screen at the @mit.edu MIT Museum last week. (guys it's my first syGlass blog ...) 📝: www.syglass.io/blog/a-night... 🥼: Kory Evans @sternarchella.bsky.social , Rice University 🎥: syGlass.io #syGlass

Doing some safari stuff and we saw this amazing exchange between a cheetah and a hyena that was trying to steal a kill that it thought they had. There were 3 cheetahs here and the Hyena easily ran them all off

Found this little guy in our mist nets in the Udzungwa National forest a few night ago. I thought it was a delicate spiny reed frog but I could be wrong

Really nice write-up of our collaboration with San Jacinto College! We are working together to listen to 🦇🦇🦇around Houston. Shout out to @ashockney24.bsky.social for getting this project off the ground!

Our parrotfish have OnlyFins accounts down here in Coral City😉🚦🦜🐟 #stoplightparrotfish #onlyfins #parrotfishjungle #parrotfishcapitaloftheworld #strikeapose #lookbackatit #parrotfish #protogynoushermaphrodite #intermediatephase #coral #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity

How do fish swim together in a school? Why do orcas wear fish hats? What is the smartest animal in the ocean? Check out Marine Biologist Support with @sternarchella.bsky.social ! youtu.be/2YquYkNcF7I?...

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

Just reached Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and was greeted by thousands of fruit bats flying over the city.

Made a Pokemon Snap reference to my class today and no one got it. This is the oldest that I have ever felt

Dr. KoryEvans and I were interviewed on the Gulf Streams podcast about #biodiversity! @ricesustainability.bsky.social @sternarchella.bsky.social #EarthDay2025 www.podbean.com/ew/pb-w2xfj-...

I am pleased to announce The Macroevolution Lab at Ohio State opens this August! We will be housed in the Museum of Biological Diversity 🐟🐠🐡

Got minor revisions on a manuscript and a personal best redfish today!

Hot take here, but I don’t really care that the wolves only have like 14 dire wolf genes. And I don’t care that they’re calling them dire wolves. It’s fun and objectively cool, and I’m counting as a win given our current ahem…climate

May I interest you in a cute gar scan on this dreary Wednesday morning? These fishes have the best weird toothy skulls and always have a bit of a grin on them

We had a truly spectacular emergence at Waugh Bridge last night! 🦇

Battle of the wings at Buffalo Bayou (the bat got away 😮‍💨🦇)

Two new studfish! Thanks to the Sandel Lab for letting me tag along :) www.mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Next up is morphological work to further explore species limits. CT scans by @sternarchella.bsky.social

Easy breezy beautiful cover girl!!

We got the cover of Nature Eco Evo for our anglerfish study!! Shoutout to our graduate student HoWan Chan for the slick image. Read to study here www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Love the hawk vs bat drama that plays out every night in Houston

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025! Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide! #scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

Grad student Kate checking out some bats in a local colony. Glamorous fieldwork!

In the process of digitizing the fish prints from Okinawa and the results are stunning