Note: no "T. rex cells" were used for this. Collagen sequences synthesized from osteological collagen from a Tyrannosaurus fossil were used. The resultant artificial leather lacks the actual microstructures that would have been present in actual T. rex skin. But biotechbros gotta biotech.

Job! Biodiversity science communications. Austin, Texas.

At the beautiful Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet (Natural History Museum of Sweden 🇸🇪 Stockholm) did a behind the scenes tour in the collections (mostly fishes) but couldn’t bring my camera. Saw some Linnean types and the only Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) in ethanol among other curios. #naturalhistory

Museum Resources 🩻 Digital Imaging Our Digital Imaging Division facilitates the production, processing and analysis of two- and three-dimensional digital image data. 🌈 Browse some of the many museum specimens they have worked on: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/digital-lab/...

New preprint from the #NearLab w/@chasedbrownstein.bsky.social The costs of paraphyletic classification in the world's most endangered fishes zenodo.org/records/2063...

🐟 Data from major Portuguese natural history collections have been recently analysed, revealing that the country’s freshwater fish biodiversity is not fully represented taxonomically, geographically, or temporally. Read more: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.186661

🏺 For a new permanent exhibition, the Croatian Natural History Museum evaluated nine different silicone, wax, grease, and rubber sealants to find the best option for ground-glass-stopper jars: doi.org/10.3897/nhcm.3.188287

New merch just crashed down at the Alabama Museum of Natural History! We’re thrilled to feature Bailey Made Art Co. works of native Alabama icons. Visit the Museum and grab a postcard, print, mug, or sticker before they go extinct! 🦖

Art for my new office 😅

We have a fully funded PhD position on European eel! Please spread! 🐟 🪱 Main supervisor Josefin Sundin @josefin-sundin.bsky.social at SLU Aqua Stockholm (scholar.google.com/citations?us...). Apply through the portal: www.slu.se/en/about-slu...

Summer romance is alive and well. Behold this pair of horny toads I spotted on my morning walk with my dogs.🌿 www.inaturalist.org/observations...

CryptoVision "Integrating deep learning, biological hierarchies, and high-resolution imagery to create a new identification tool for cryptic coral reef fishes" Reginato & Brandl 2026 @plos.org #ichthyology #OA journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Me on my way to check out this frogfish photo gallery.

I am recruiting PhD students for my new lab housed in the Sam Noble Museum at University of Oklahoma! If you are interested in fish macroevolution, geometric morphometrics, specimen-based research & phylogenomics please reach out. More info here: fishdiversitylab.weebly.com Please share widely!!!

moray eel and shrimp besties, enjoying another afternoon

The Basking Shark at the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History has for well over a century been hanging from the ceiling of the Dead Zoo (as Dubliners fondly call the museum) but has been moved, which is a challenge to say the least #sharks #museums #SpeirGorm www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collec...

Thursday is collections day, so here's a lungfish burrow from the Permian of Texas, featuring its inhabitant in cross-section (UMMP VP 61142).

Sturgeon fish sex sounds like ‘thunder’ www.scientificamerican.com/article/stur... 🧪🌎🦑🐟

The oldest DNA retrieved from an animal fossil is ~1.6 million years old - a mammoth from icy Siberia where cold temperatures preserve DNA well. But have you ever wondered how long #ancientDNA is preserved in animal remains from sunny & warm Africa? Well, wonder now more! doi.org/10.1016/j.qu...

A new Science Advances study led by Sanaa El-Sayed reveals that many modern fish groups were already diversifying in Egypt less than 4Ma after the extinction of the dinosaurs, providing a rare glimpse into the recovery of ancient marine ecosystems. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec8978

It’s Pride 🏳️‍🌈 Spare one repost for a small creator? 🥺 My science and sci fi pins raise money for homeless LGBTQ+ people. Just sent another £800 to @aktcharity.bsky.social bringing total to £47,521 New for Pride 2026: 🌈Scientist🌈 🏳️‍🌈🐥🦜🦅🏳️‍🌈 🌈pronouns🌈 www.jamiebgall.co.uk/shop

Happy ’Old Croone Day’ - scientists celebrate 4 June 1662 when Dr William Croone presented the Royal Society (London) with “…two embryos of puppy-dogs, which … were put in spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically...” marking the beginning of fluid preservation of animals still in museums today

For those interested in the tradition of geological Gesamtkunstwerk in natural history museums, check out Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel's recent article: shttps://valuepast.hypotheses.org/6678. Not sure I'd actually noticed the pterodactyls on the columns of the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social.

Led by the incomparable Sanaa El-Sayed, a study out today in Science Advances throws open an important new window on marine fish diversity during the critical few million years following the K-Pg mass extinction. Below: artistic vision of the new fauna by Ian Baylatry.

Have you ever wondered if fish yawn? (and if they do, what that tells us about yawning?) The first preprint from the lab and a serendipitous observation ⬇️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Fish as fluid as the ocean. 🌊 All California sheephead start life as female and move through an array of colors and body shapes as they mature. Some female adults may transition to male as social and environmental factors shift, balancing the delicate ratio of individuals in their population.

Introducing the undulating tripod gait, the walking strategy used by many fishes. We tracked the fishes, built a model, a robot, and found that 3 body segments, 2 fins, and friction are all it takes. No specialized anatomy required. Out today in Nature Communications www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out #Wonder, the great #podcast by Anthony Reid and Holly Cooke that delves into Earth’s natural wonders. Some awesome #geology guests include Heidi Allen, Alan Collin’s, Jackie Halpin & more! Latest episode features yours truly… FISH! www.youtube.com/watch?v=60o3...

The American eel is one of the coolest fish species found in the #GreatLakes (objectively), but they face a whole gauntlet of challenges to actually get there www.michiganpublic.org/podcast/beyo...

🗡️ At first glance, could you tell which of He-Man's allies were inspired by what reptile species? Nefti Camacho, Collections Manager of Herpetology (and resident Masters of the Universe superfan!), shares the lore.

Friends...it's the start of Pride Month, so I'd like you to meet the amazing ribbon eel. Ribbon eels (likely) all start out male & then all become female later in life. And they rock both ways.

CT technician position available at the U-M Museum of Zoology/Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

At the recent Sharks International 2026 conference, I was invited to present my research on the causes and consequences of public misunderstanding of shark conservation. Here's what I told Sharks International attendees. #SI2026 🧪🌍🦑🦈 #SciComm www.southernfriedscience.com/i-just-told-...

The use of shark teeth in weaponry was a phenomenon that spread across the Asia-Pacific region during the middle Holocene. They were possibly used for conflict, butchery or even ritual combat. 🔗 from 2023 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

Happy #FossilFriday from the only complete skull of the giant Kansas coelacanth Megalocoelacanthus! I dug on this skull back in 2005-6 and found the only other specimen from the Niobrara (an isolated lower jaw) a few years later. Coming in around 3m long, this is a BIG lobe-finned fish

I am still in my social media break, but take this meanwhile: a stone eating worm covered in a 1707 German journal, "Ein Wurm der Stein frist". En passant: the article to this starts with worms eating human brains ("Gehirn-Würmer"). Yes, this is part of my current book project on news. #skystorians

Paleontologists and other field scientists: have you ever been advised on best practices for taking photos, video, etc at your field sites that would be most useful for exhibits and other outreach? Is that something you'd be interested in?

Tired: Hit & Run Wired: Shit & Run

New paper. Modern hagfishes (Myxiniformes) have radically reduced eyes. When did these reductions happen, and how? Leveraging the diverse hagfish fauna from Mazon Creek, we show this happened gradually in animals occupying shallow marine environments royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...

Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds. 🐟🧪

Our paper on turtle origins is finally out in Current Biology, with two major implications for our understanding of reptile evolution 🐢 #Paleontology #Turtles #Evolution www.cell.com/current-biol...

New video on our Fish Leather Workshop at @uwmadison.bsky.social! Kudos to our communications team for always being excellent! @uwiscseagrant.bsky.social youtu.be/Tnv7U3KdUYU?...

The Turtle Death Layer coughed up a fossil with teeth marks, revealing a conflict between turtle and gar! 🐢 Paleontologist Jason Bourque recently described a new, extinct species of musk turtle that lived in Florida during the late Miocene. Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/anci...

A closeup of the ‘split’ eyes on Anableps dowei, the ‘four-eyed’ fish that can see above and below water simultaneously and equally well (LSUMZ 15116 collected in El Salvador). #LSU_Fish the topic of tonight’s #lsusciencecafe @lsu.bsky.social @lsuscience.bsky.social @lsuresearch.bsky.social

NSCA expresses profound concern about the future of the Academy of Natural Sciences of #Drexel University. The Academy is a globally important natural history #collection & center for #biodiversity #research. #naturalhistory #NSCA nscalliance.org/statement-on...

Goblin mode activated!

This Memorial Day 🇺🇸, remember those who ✨️evolved✨️ before you! Listen to Episode #68 Are We Not Fish 🎣? Ray Troll and Dave Strassman have a fun conversation about the argument that we are fishes, physically and metaphorically. Enjoy, kick back, and listen: 🔗 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/dave...

Alvin vs. the swordfish "During a 1967 dive off Florida, a startled swordfish rammed the famed submersible Alvin—lodging its sword in the hull and forcing the crew to abort the mission" www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feat...

Subterranean allopatric speciation... news.yale.edu/2026/05/21/u...