A few weeks ago, one of our graduate students Mary Gardella went out with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for her thesis work. Mary is using passive acoustic telemetry to track the movement of Bluntnose stingrays in the Indian River Lagoon, FL.

For the past few weeks, our PI Dr. Kerstetter, graduate student Alexia Hilber, and undergraduate students ventured to the Galápagos Islands as a research trip for their Ecology of the Galápagos Islands class. (1/3)

And that’s a wrap for Tortuga Music Festival 2025! Huge thank you to Rock The Ocean for hosting this incredible event that allows us to share our research with the community. We are so grateful for this partnership! We had nearly 500 guests visit the booth. Hope you all had as much fun as we did! 💙🌊

We had WAY too much fun setting up our booth in preparation for Tortuga this weekend. Want to find out what the pool is for? You’ll have to stop by!!! We can’t wait to see you 🌊🌴🎶

Here are some more fun posters and great work from the 2025 Undergraduate Student Symposium!

The 2025 Undergraduate Student Symposium was a success! Congratulations to two of our awesome undergrad researchers, Kevin Rafferty and Katie McKimmy, for presenting their hard work yesterday!

Tortuga through the years! 🌊🌴☀️ Did you know the lab has hosted a booth at Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival for multiple years in a row? We are so honored to have been invited back for another year - and it’s just 10 days away!

Four-leaf clover or parasite? 🤔 Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the fish and bird lab! Pictured is a tapeworm called Rhinebothrium that was found in a stingray by MSMS student Sarah Sargent who is studying the parasite communities of two stingray species! 🍀

Great news! 🌊 Our lab is partnering with Rock The Ocean for Tortuga Music Festival 2025! Here is a thread to learn about this collaboration.

Congratulations to Shelby Boyles, who presented her current thesis work at day 2 of the HCAS Research Graduate Symposium last week! The Preferred Menu of Two Stingrays: A Wide Selection of Small Invertebrates and More

Day 1 of the HCAS Research Graduate Symposium was a success! Congratulations to our 3 lab members who presented yesterday. Good luck to Shelby Boyles who presents her stingray diet content work today at 10:00 am!

Today marks 10 years of celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 👩🏼‍🔬🐟🦈🌊 So grateful for the opportunities I have been blessed with and the amazing women I have had the privilege of working with.

The Next Generation of Black Women in Marine Science

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Today marks 10 years of celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day that highlights the vitals roles that women play in STEM fields. We take this opportunity to thank the women that have contributed to the advancement of marine science and paved the way for future generations.

A nice thread (with graphic images warning!) about the research that we can do in my lab with the occasional beach wash-up of a dead elasmobranch. Best part, though, is getting to work with the NSU grad and undergrad students... seriously, look at those smiles!

minor erratum: yes, sphyrnids have *scroll* valves, not spiral - same basic idea about maximizing surface area, but different structure. Anyway, here are some of those cestodes found in that scroll valve yesterday:

Very sad, but informative, thread about important opportunistic #shark science action!

Yesterday our lab PI got a call from Hollywood about a large great hammerhead (GHH) shark on the beach... and do we want it for the lab? Not the first time we've gotten calls like this! Here is a short thread about what fish biologists can do with even a dead animal. (Warning: graphic images) 1/11

We are only one month into the year and we’ve already had students present at two different conferences! Congratulations to Sarah Sargent who presented her research at the International Symposium of Fish Parasitology this past week in Mexico.

Wow! Our students never cease to amaze us! Alexia Hilber was awarded Best MS-level Student Oral Presentation at the Waterbird Society-Pacific Seabird Group meeting for her work on endoparasites of the invasive gray-headed swamphen, advised by Dr. Chris Blanar and Dr. Dave Kerstetter.

Congratulations to Trinity Loftis and Alexia Hilber for presenting their research at the Waterbird Society-Pacific Seabird Group meeting! Incredible work ladies! 🪶🪱 Huge thank you to Rock the Ocean for supporting our research through funding. We couldn’t do it without this great organization! 🌊

HUGE congratulations to lab graduate TJ Morrell who had his thesis manuscript highlighted as the Feature Article in the Bulletin of Marine Science. His work focused on the quantification of “observer effect” in the United States Atlantic pelagic longline fishery. 🦈

Karli Corey, who defended her thesis last Friday (see previous post), was featured on Rock the Ocean’s Instagram! Her entire project was funded by Rock the Ocean. Check out the post here:👇🏻👇🏻 www.instagram.com/p/DDex0Uhy-v...

Congratulations to Karli Corey for defending her thesis this past Friday: Metabolic Response of the Code Goby (Gobiosoma robustum) to Estuarine Climate Change Forecasts. We are so proud of your hard work! Such a great week of defenses! 💙🩵

Congratulations to Mariah France for defending her thesis on Monday: Understanding Bigeye Scad (Selar crumenophthalmus) in Southeast Florida: Age-growth, Reproduction, and Diet We are so proud of you! 🌊

It’s that time of year! #D🤺 Congratulations to Ben Share who defended his thesis on Monday: Comparing Metabolism and Hypoxia Tolerance of Native and Non-Native Florida Freshwater Fishes in Climate Change Scenarios The lab has been so lucky to have you! 🐟

Happy World Fisheries Day! Today and everyday, our lab highlights the critical importance of sustainable fisheries. Through studies analyzing gear type to reduce bycatch to general life history assessments of overfished populations, we are pushing for a healthier and well-managed ocean.

Welcome to NSU’s Fish and Bird Lab (PI @fishguydave.bsky.social) where our mission is to provide high quality and applied and basic research on coastal and pelagic fishes and birds that supports management and conservation in the marine environment🌊🦈🐠🪶