Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John P. Friel, Ph.D. @friel.bsky.social · 17h

My unsolicited #eel fact for today is that there are ten species of Gulper Eels (Saccopharynx) while there is only a single species of Pelican Eel (Eurypharynx ).🐟

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwD...

Throwback to one of our earliest encounters with a deep-sea gulper eel

YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Compound Interest | Chemistry infographics @compoundchem.com · 1d

We're firmly into autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, so it's once again time to share one of my favourite chemistry infographics on the kaleidoscope of chemical colours found in autumn leaves! 🍂
www.compoundchem.com/2014/09/11/a...

#ChemSky 🧪

Infographic on the chemistry of the colours of autumn leaves. Green is caused by chlorophyll, carotenoids and flavonoids give yellows, and oranges come from carotenoids, which also contribute to reds along with anthocyanins.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 2d

I started a list for scientists and others interested in leaf litter fauna, please share and let me know if you want to be added! Do you love a good hand lens, soil sieves, and Berlese funnels? Perhaps this is the place for you.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Cam Muskelly (Explorer of Deep Time ⏰ ⚒️) @cambriancam.bsky.social · 1d

I had a fun time setting up at the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences for their Fall and Fossil Fest. My friend and former science teacher Diane Akker helped as well. Over half a billion dollars was represented on 2 tables.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Alabama Museum of Natural History @almnh.bsky.social · 3d

𝘊𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘪, or the Saban crab 🦀, made its debut on ESPN College GameDay! This fossil is housed in UA Museums' paleontology collection under the care of the Department of Museum Research and Collections.

LEARN MORE: ➡️ bit.ly/46Mrhxm

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 2d

Showing off the @ummnh.bsky.social Fish Collection for ID Day! #TeamFish

Emily standing at a table filled with fish specimens

Fish specimens on a tray. From left to right: pike, seahorse, monkfish, bamboo shark

Preserved fish on a table. Top is a large swordfish skull. Bottom are left to right: porcupine pufferfish, burrfish, batfish

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 5d

#FossilFriday An unused view of the bizarre tooth-whorl of the Permian cartilaginous fish Helicoprion taken for ‘Fossils. The Essential Guide’.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Dr. Jaimi Gray @jaimiagray.bsky.social · 4d

"What makes us human, I think, is an ability to ask questions, a consequence of our sophisticated spoken language" - J. Goodall.

This #oVertTCN chimpanzee CT scan is available for exploration on MorphoSource: www.morphosource.org/concern/medi...

3D rendering of a whole body CT scan of a chimpanzee, showing the skeleton with a density map where yellow = most dense material, blue = medium density material, purple = low density material. Top shows 3 images of the whole body rendered in a series rotating from front to back. Bottom shows a close up of the head and shoulders. The "oVert" symbol is in the top right corner. In the bottom left corner it reads "Pan troglodytes; YPM:VZ:015959; MorphoSource ID: 0000058004"

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Anthony Tackles Dead Cows @mosasaurologist.bsky.social · 5d

Happy Croctober everyone! We just finished the prototype Deinosuchus schwimmeri, named in honor of David Schwimmer (not not THAT one)

Holy crap this croc is BIG!

30 linear feet of crocodile goodness, with a dinky tyrannosaur in the background

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Dr. Elizabeth Santos @lizmillermacroevo.bsky.social · 4d

I would love to see an effort like this for other fields! Systematic ichthyology anyone...

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core

Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project

www.cambridge.org

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Sternberg Museum Paleontology @sternbergpaleo.bsky.social · 4d

This #FossilFriday, we have our museum's most recognizable fossil: Fish-Within-A-Fish! Featuring Xiphactinus, a large predatory fish, with the smaller Gillicus in its gut contents. It was found and collected by George F. Sternberg in 1952, and is now an iconic part of the Sternberg's collections!

Fish-within-a-fish fossil at the Sternberg Museum. A fossil Xiphactinus with a Gillicus within the gut contents. A dark brown fish fossil within another fish fossil against a light brown background.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Will Gearty @willgearty.bsky.social · 4d

@syracuseu.bsky.social News just published a short piece about a new Shiny-based open-source webapp that I'm working on that is called paleopal!

It's still very much a work-in-progress, but you can check out a working prototype here: williamgearty.com/paleopal/.

news.syr.edu/2025/10/02/o...

Open Source, Open Science: New App Leads Data Reproducibility

Open-source app "Paleopal" facilitates replication and sharing of information among researchers using data science tools to create workflows.

news.syr.edu

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 5d

Anyway the Historic Museum of the Bamoun Sultanate in Cameroon is the coolest building in the world. momaa.org/directory/mu...

A building with two mirrored entrances, shaped like python heads in full color. The second floor is shaped like a huge, broad spider.

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John P. Friel, Ph.D. @friel.bsky.social · 5d

Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds🐟🧪

Juan Liu @liujuan.bsky.social · 5d

New in @science.org, meet Acronichthys maccagnoi, a new species from Late Creatacous Canada that changes what we know about the origins and evolution of one of the most successful fish groups on Earth.

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John P. Friel, Ph.D. @friel.bsky.social · 5d

A new study of 65-million-year-old crab and shrimp #fossils from central Alabama has identified new species and genera. One of the newly named crabs is dedicated to Coach Nick Saban, honoring his achievements for The #UniversityOfAlabama and the state. #RollTide

almnh.museums.ua.edu/meteorite-su...

Carapace of the new, ~65-million-year-old crab Costacopluma nicksabani with a 2 mm scale bar. Photo: Dr. Adiel Klompmaker

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Armin Reindl @arminreindl.bsky.social · 5d

A happy day 2 of #Croctober (lets see how long I can keep this going)
Crocs are well known for their parenting, but did you know that we even have fossils of them on their nest?
This specimen comes from Germany and clearly shows a Diplocynodon mother that died on her nest

A photograph and a line drawing of a fossil crocodilian (Diplocynodon) curled up above its nest. The head is moderately long and somewhat blunt and the body curles around the animal so that the tail curves around the skull. The illustration highlights the presence of several eggs surrounding the fossil.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 5d

This Sunday is ID Day at @ummnh.bsky.social ! Come bring in your collected objects and specimens to be identified by an expert! I will be at the fish table to ID any fishes brought to me 😉

Flyer for University of Michigan Museum of Natural History ID Day event on Sunday October 5, 2025 from 11am to 4pm.

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John P. Friel, Ph.D. @friel.bsky.social · 5d

Dr. Matt Girard, a Research Biologist in the NMNH's Department of Vertebrate Zoology, introduces us to the little-known world of marine-fish larvae, which can be as different in appearance from the adults they will become as caterpillars and butterflies. 🐟

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGSn...

Big Discoveries from Little Fishes: Dr. Matthew Girard, Research Biologist

YouTube video by Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Kenneth De Baets @djbirddanerd.bsky.social · 5d

The first #leech body #fossil predates estimated hirudinidan origins by 200 million years

peerj.com/articles/199...

@peerj.bsky.social #Annelida

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 5d

🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪

Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674

A job ad with multiple images, including the exterior of the museum, a view of collections (jars on shelves), and pictures of some cool, tropical fish but I don't know enough about fish to describe them other than to say they're pretty colors of yellow and blue/green

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 7d

It may look as if this little one is practicing their dance moves — slow-slow-quick-quick — but we’re pretty sure fish can’t dance. It's more likely this bellowfish, or Notopogon sp., is taking advantage of snacks in the sediments, stirred up by the ROV's robotic arm during #uruguaysub200.

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Jimmy Bernot 🦐🔬🧬🏳️‍🌈 @jimmybernot.bsky.social · 7d

This is my 1st time catching my pet archer fish, Legolas, spitting on camera. Archerfish use modified jaw and tongue bones to fire a jet of water to knock down bugs from over hanging vegetation. Here Legolas is shooting down a fruit fly 🪰 🐠🧪

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

bioGraphic @biographic.bsky.social · 8d

The Alabama sturgeon is one of the rarest fish in North America. No one has seen one for nearly two decades. But environmental DNA shows that these ancient fish persist, propelling a tiny group of scientists to keep trying to find--and save--them. Read more:

Shadow Fish

The modern race to save an ancient and vanishing species.

www.biographic.com

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Reposted by John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Dr. Headbutt 🌈🧪 @nicoleackermans.com · 7d

A perfect example of why my research is needed. The tagline "woodpeckers don't suffer brain injuries" is not entirely true!
My review on why is out soon! 🧪
newatlas.com/drones/swift...

Crash-proof drone inspired by the head of the woodpecker

Despite the fact that they bang their heads against trees on a daily basis, woodpeckers don't suffer brain injuries. Inspired by the tough-headed birds, scientists have developed a fixed-wing drone th...

newatlas.com

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John P. Friel, Ph.D. @friel.bsky.social · 7d

Lefteye Flounders get a facelift.

Integrated Molecular and Morphological Analyses Resolve Long-Standing Classification Challenges in the Sinistral Flatfish Family Bothidae (Teleostei: Carangiformes). 🐟🧪

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Composite photographs showing examples of representative fishes from four families of Lefteye Flounders.

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