Joyeux No-eel: Lampreys as a group are sometimes incorrectly called “lamprey eels." While they do look like eels in that they have slender, snake-like bodies and smooth, slippery skin, lampreys are more primitive, lacking jaws and having a skeleton made of cartilage instead of bone #25DaysofFishmas

My absolute favorite holiday tradition is Lampreia de Ovos, a Portuguese Christmas dessert which contains zero (0) actual lamprey but 50 (!) egg yolks, sugar, and almonds - and is shaped to look like a lamprey. Don’t forget cherries for the eyes! #25DaysofFishmas www.atlasobscura.com/foods/lampre...

FINAL DAY! There have been some fantastic submissions by some awesome #scicomm folks. Don’t miss out on being a part of an amazing week of scicomm at the annual conference. bit.ly/4nTTfxz #IAGLR26 #ConnectedWaters26

Last day to submit an abstract, folks!

Before we head off for the holiday season we wanted to wish you all a Merry Fishmas 🐟 and a Happy New Year 🎆 📷PCU1.3: A festive postcard from Joseph Thomas Cunningham, a marine biologist known for his work on flatfish, to an unknown recipient

Don’t miss out! Last day for abstracts is tomorrow. #scicomm #IAGLR26 #ConnectedWaters26

If you were considering submitting an abstract for SCAS/IAGLR for our EDI session but didn't because you were only allowed to give one talk, you are now allowed to submit a second talk for sessions 7-11! (We're #10 🤓) And you still have 2 days left to submit an abstract! iaglr.org/iaglr-scas26...

Back in the 1960s, 18 American bluegill got a royal welcome in Japan -- and became the center of an ecological catastrophe. Great reporting from Interlochen Public Radio's Points North team (including an interview with our own @helloellower.bsky.social !)

Join the #GLANSIS team in Winnipeg next year at the joint #IAGLR & #SCAS-SCSA conference!

Are you a #GreatLakes #InvasiveSpecies researcher or communicator planning to attend #IAGLR26 in Winnipeg? Submit an abstract to our Session 19 by December 19! bit.ly/4nTTfxz @iaglr.bsky.social #AIS

Our #GLANSIS program manager and I will be chairing Session 19 at IAGLR 2026, though ours is apparently one of SEVERAL invasive species-themed sessions — we’ve got strong overlap with sessions 18 and 52 proposed by our Canadian colleagues, so perhaps we can put our heads together and collaborate!

Quagga mussels - the animal in my profile pic - have caused ecosystem shifts in 4/5 Laurentian Great Lakes They're like kobolds - individually they are tiny and weak but are able to overwhelm the environment with their sheer numbers

Don’t miss your chance to present! Call for Abstracts is now open, offering 70+ sessions to help you find the perfect fit for your oral or poster presentation. The 2026 hybrid conference will take place May 25–29 in Winnipeg. Submit by December 19: https://bit.ly/4nTTfxz

Call for Abstracts is open! With 70+ sessions, there are plenty of opportunities to find the best fit for your oral or poster presentation. The conference will be held May 25–29, 2026, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as a hybrid event. Call deadline, December 19: https://bit.ly/4nTTfxz

Today, as always, we're thankful for the Great Lakes and all the incredible people who care for them

Are you planning on attending the IAGLR & SCAS-SCSA 2026 Joint Conference in Winnipeg on May 25–29, 2026? I will be co-chairing a session (assuming I can secure funding) on Priorities for DEIA in Aquatic Sciences. Please consider submitting an abstract to our session! iaglr.org/iaglr-scas26...

Dear grad students, Reminder: it’s also totally fine to ignore your [uncle] who thinks your research is a waste of time and resources. You don’t owe people an explanation! They don’t have to get it! Or, as someone told me as a life-changing piece of advice: reasons are for reasonable people.

Oil-detecting dogs and battery-powered ships: dive into HazMaTON’s webinar collection for excellent presentations about hazardous material transport, oil spill clean-up, mapping projects, and more: buff.ly/5Awf7x6 @mnseagrant.bsky.social

The U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a set of new rules that would leave millions of acres of wetlands, small waterbodies, and ephemeral streams across the country unprotected — threatening the drinking water of millions of Americans. #GreatLakes #CleanWater buff.ly/8mEJpMf

I’m following Les Mis Letters (reading a chapter a day of the unabridged Les Miserables for a full year) and we have now reached the infamous sewer digression. Victor Hugo is second only to @neorsd.org in their respective passions for wastewater management….

Beyond Chicago's charismatic exotic animals (shout-out to Chance the Snapper), the city's waterways have also become home to less conspicuous - but environmentally harmful - exotic species like weatherfish, goldfish, and red swamp crayfish. A good reminder to never release pets to the wild!

In our #PictureOfTheWeek, invasive carp exposed to an electric shock leap out of the Illinois River. Now, a new and contentious plan aims to keep the fish out of the Great Lakes: buff.ly/avmUipw

I’ll be presenting virtually this time around and am looking forward to our session tomorrow!

NOAA saves lives. We need to save NOAA.

Michigan lawmakers want to greatly increase funding for invasive mussel control research in the #GreatLakes to $500 million over the next 10 years - as Great Lakes Fishery Commission's Greg McClinchey says in this article: "Mussels are this generation’s sea lamprey" bridgemi.com/michigan-env...

I think I'm pivoting from "everyone call your Senators to stop this" and am going to swing into "everyone call your Senators to tell them you're still pissed and you're coming for them in a primary season and we're not going to forget"

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee' The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead When the skies of November turn gloomy 🧵

While the Edmund Fitzgerald is the most famous, the #GreatLakes are home to an estimated 6000 - 10,000 shipwrecks. Many wrecks occur in fall due to the "November Witch" winds caused by a clash of cold Canadian air from the north + warm Gulf air from the south www.discovermagazine.com/as-an-underw...

Gordon Lightfoot's iconic song tells the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, lost 50 years ago this month. As we sing along, take a moment to connect with some of the other stories that unite us around a shared Great Lakes heritage: buff.ly/5YqgUrb

The shutdown has left NOAA's network of cooperative research institutes locked out of federal labs and cut off from federal collaborators. In some cases, it's affecting research aimed at public safety—like toxic algae monitoring in the Great Lakes. My story 🔏 & quick 🧵 www.eenews.net/articles/shu...

Not much is scarier for a #GreatLakes fish than the invasive sea lamprey, sometimes called vampire fish 🧛 But while they're more trick than treat in their introduced range, they're actually threatened in parts of their native range of the Atlantic coasts of Europe + North America - that's scary!

#FoodieFriday This colorful fish dish with rice noodles and herbs is sure to brighten up any dreary day. It's a riff on cha ca, a grilled Vietnamese dish famous in the city of Hanoi, but El Lower has tweaked the classic to feature any lean, mild local fish cooked up in a pan.

Long after the Halloween season has ended, some Great Lakes’ invasive species remain a scary sight: blood-sucking parasites with suction-cup mouths, thousands of rotting fish carcasses washed ashore and sharp mussel shells that puncture the feet of beachgoers ☠️ www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/10/grea...

You have until Sunday SUNDAY Sunday to order a Biology is Bigger than Binaries shirt. I don't have room in my house for piles of shirts so our shirts are always time-limited. Designed by @franzanth.bsky.social, supports @skypeascientist.bsky.social, looks cool as hell. Get one: SquidFacts.net

125 years after the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was built to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and connect the river to the Mississippi, there is a push to rename the waterbody. Public voting on the new name is open until November 7. news.wttw.com/2025/10/24/1...

"NOAA has built a reputation for world-class research...For every dollar invested in NOAA, the country’s return is orders of magnitude greater in productivity, transportation, farming, fishing, business development, and savings to communities in insurance and public safety."

As federal expertise erodes and critical positions disappear, the future of Great Lakes science and stewardship hangs in the balance. Discover why this moment demands our attention. Latest Lakes Letter issue: https://bit.ly/4olHWPg

A federal court has stopped the Interior Department from laying off over 2,000 employees, including 108 from the USGS Great Lakes Science Center, 79% of the Center’s staff. More here:

Speechless. A fisheries science center that has a 100 year history in Ann Arbor.

This would be a major blow to #GreatLakes science

"The Great Lakes Science Center in Michigan would lose 108 of 137 positions." via @eenews.bsky.social

“We don’t do this work for money or job security. We do it because we believe in the Great Lakes… It’s our home, driving us to protect and preserve it for future generations.” — Abby Hutson, Assistant Research Scientist Latest Lakes Letter issue: https://bit.ly/4olHWPg

The lowly muskrat could be an unexpected ally in the push against aquatic invasive plants:

Erica Lord, the Codes We Carry, beaded DNA #sciart for Indigenous Peoples Day ericalord.com

Russell Vought, OMB Director, is using this shutdown to further the aims of Project 2025. He is slashing the federal workforce, and dismantling our agencies. This is not just a shutdown standoff — it's finishing the job of DOGE. Take action for federal workers here! zurl.co/up9de

IF YOU HAVE A CLEARANCE CALL A NATSEC LAWYER BEFORE YOU CALL THE TIP LINE My info is in my profile. Or call @bradmossesq.bsky.social if you can't reach me.

BIG NEWS! IAGLR has received a 3-year grant from the Fred & Barbara Erb Family Foundation. This support will expand our science communication, strengthen inclusive research, and mentor the next generation of Great Lakes scientists. https://bit.ly/3IDeWUi

This was such a fun episode — thanks to the folks at IISG for inviting me back on the show (and to my fellow guests for letting me talk about the self-cloning crayfish we ALL wanted to discuss! 🦞🦞🦞)

Podcast title: "Spoiler Alert: This is Not Fine"

Shoutout to all our awesome co-authors on this paper! @helloellower.bsky.social @t-campy.bsky.social Sam Chan Neha Savant Brendon Larson @meganweber.bsky.social Virginia Rhodes Lindsey Cathcart Jillian Naveh @nicholeangell.bsky.social