I'm in this photo and I don't like it.

Slid under my office door. I taught them well. 😂

🎶It’s beginning to look a lot like #Fishmas🎶 There’s no better fish to kick off this year’s #25DaysofFishmas than the aptly-named Christmas darter (Etheostoma hopkinsi)! We get our road trip started down in the southeastern US with this small species of fish who has big holiday spirit all year long

Every time I think I'm done with this nonsense, some fish nerd pulls me back in ... 😅

The Cane Creek Canyon final field trip is always a hit with the Ecology class. Have some nature.

ARTISTS! I need your help! In collab. w/the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, I'm organizing a group of artists to come to our Jan. meeting! We're looking for artists to create based on what they learn at the conference. $1000 stipend. Application is V short! forms.gle/ah1i8KwNJinZ...

Uh oh. My parrot is asking, "Is everything okay?" I should probably check on him 😅

IT'S SO FLUFFY!!

I just refilled the feeders and was rewarded with the first junco of the season. Welcome back. ♥️ #snowbird

The aurora borealis is visible in Alabama again!!

Henlo!!

This arrowhead orbweaver was pretty cool. She literally ate.

🎵 H-O-T-T-O-G-O... Joro spiders hot to go🎵

Yyyyyyyyup. It's her all right. 😅Ms. Thang making me do paperwork #JoroSpider

I know what it is. I'm just letting myself live in denial for just a bit more. Guess I'll file the report tomorrow. *sigh

I'm at the symphony for the Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons, and I feel very underdressed... because I'm not in a chicken suit. 🐥

Congratulations to our champion, Paramecium aurelia! Won the popular vote AND the petri dish smackdown. See you next semester for the rematch!!

#Inktober2025 Day 31: Award #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 30: Vacant #Inktober

The young journalists at the IDS stood with me during one of the darkest times of my life. As an alum, I stand with them. May they always speak truth to power. They may never know whose lives they save when they do.

#Inktober2025 Day 29: Lesson At first Murdoch was NOT pleased when we brought home a kitten... but he quickly realized he could train her. First lesson was on proper play technique. #Inktober

As a snake owner, I am 0% surprised by this. Clementine the python is a massive cuddlebug. CW: snake

#Inktober2025 Day 28: Skeletal A couple of my favorite anatomically incorrect Halloween skeletons. 😅💀 #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 7: Onion #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 26: Puzzling Gabe loves pistachios, but he has to work for them. I often give him dog puzzle toys to solve for the coveted treats. #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 25: Inferno

Now if I could just get him to do his Fart Dance on camera ...

Gabe knows his animal sounds!! What animal sounds should I teach him next?

#inktober2025 Day 24: Rowdy 3 am is RUN AROUND THE HOUSE TIME #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 23: Firefly I recently learned that female fireflies in the genus Photuris will mimic flash patterns of females of other firefly species (such as Photinus), lure in males of those species, and then devour them. They're sometimes called "femme fatale" fireflies.

#Inktober2025 Day 22: Button I used to take care of the "buttonquail" at the Huntsville Botanical Garden. They were so TINY scurrying around the butterfly house. I'd like to keep a few someday. #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 21: Blast "What is this, a crossover episode?!" #Inktober

Dubia breeders are like "Don't use the females as feeders because you need them for breeding and don't use the males because you need them for breeding and don't use the babies because they need to grow up and start breeding and" 😵‍💫

#Inktober2025 Day 20: Rivals Males of many species of darter engage in territorial combat over breeding sites. Here is a pair of scrapping redline darters (Nothonotus rufilineatus). They circle each other, dog at the gravel, and even nip each other's tails. It gets intense! #Inktober

#Inktober 2025 Day 19: Arctic A handful of psychrophilic bacteria that love frigid temperatures. Some even live in the Arctic ocean! Here they are all bundled up ready to play in the cold. #Inktober

Interested? Scan the QR code or contact one of our guest editors for more information! (Psst!: that's me, I'm a guest editor).

Calling all freshwater parasitologists! There's still time to submit a contribution to our upcoming special collection in J. Freshwater Ecology: Parasites in Freshwater Ecosystems! Deadline to submit is March 6 2026. Ask about our available APC discounts.

#Inktober2025 Day 18: Deal ... now I want cheap street tacos. #Inktober

I guess this is what I will look like after tenure. 😅 Very funny, colleagues.

#Inktober2025 Day 17: Ornate The Japanese white-spotted pufferfish creates elaborate geometric circles in the sand. This "sand art" is thought to attract females, making his work truly a labor of love. #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 16: Blunder This actually happened to me. Mommy skunk and her five babies were adorable, but EEK!! I don't know how I avoided getting skunked, but I'm pretty sure that was my fastest 5K time ever. 😅 #Inktober

Gah! Just stepped off the elevator in my building and was face to face with this lovely lady. Guess I'm in charge of the department skeleton this Monday (Mandy Bull). Eh... come get candy!

#Inktober2025 Day 15: Ragged Yeahhhh... Cardinals look pretty rough when they're molting. #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 14: Trunk I always picture Mimics (from tabletop RPGs) with pharyngeal teeth. Side effect of being an ichthyologist, I guess. Put a rasping tongue on this one too for good measure (love you forever, cyclostomes). #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 13: Drink This beetle in the Namib desert has no access to water except when the fog rolls over the dunes. Then it sticks its abdomen straight in the air and collects condensation that rolls down to its mouth. ...Yep, it drinks with its butt. Heh. Bottoms up! #Inktober

#Inktober2015 Day 12: Shredded #Inktober

The parrot is now arguing with me that it is "Murdoch bed" (the cat), not his own bedtime, and we allegedly need "warter" immediately. 😑 Can I claim him as a dependent *now*?

#Inktober2025 Day 11: Sting #Inktober

#Inktober2025 Day 10: Sweep

#Inktober2025 Day 9: Heavy #Inktober