Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · 15d

Wow, more 'myrids described in "Review of the southern African slender stonebashers, genus Heteromormyrus Steindachner 1866 (Teleostei: Mormyridae), with description of six new species" by Mutizwa, Kadye, Bragança & Chakona, open access in J Fish Biol. doi.org/10.1111/jfb....

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 27d

On the teeth of the Spotted Ratfish

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...

This Deep-Sea Fish Has Teeth on Its Forehead—and It Uses Them for Sex

Researchers suggest the rows of pointed structures on the heads of spotted ratfish are true teeth, offering the first known example of teeth located outside the jaw

www.smithsonianmag.com

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · 28d

Loved this book. Gives one a sense that human progress in understanding the living world is so embedded in culture. Perhaps we’re on the eve of a Buffonian Renaissance.

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Sep 3

Who knew such cuteness was lurking in the eastern Pacific abyssal zone? This is the bumpy snailfish, Careproctus colliculi n. sp., described by Gerringer et al. in Ichs & Herps., sequences now in GenBank. doi.org/10.1643/i202...

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Jul 30

Can speciation leave essentially no phylogenetic signal? A fascinating study of the Caribbean hamlet (Hypoplectrus: Serranidae) radiation by Helmkampf et al. in Science. www.science.org/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Jul 26

Postdoc position (24 mos) in Bioinformatics for Integrative Taxonomy at MNHN, Paris. Develop software tools for taxonomy research. Apply by Sept 7: https://recrutement.mnhn.fr/front-jobs-detail.html?id_job=1294&id_origin=0 #postdoc

Chargé de recherche bioinformatique appliquée à la taxonomie intégrative (F/H) @ Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle

Muséum national d'Histoire naturellerecrute !

recrutement.mnhn.fr

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · May 23

Today at GenBank: sequences from the types of Synodus lautus sp. nov. from "A new species of Synodus from southern Japan, with a redescription of Synodus usitatus Cressey 1981 (Teleostei: Aulopiformes: Synodontidae)" from Furuhashi & Motomura in Ichthyol. Res. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · May 8

Today at GenBank, sequences from the type series of new species Scorpaenopsis gigas (Scorpaenidae) from the Indo-West Pacific, courtesy of Matsumoto & Motomura, published in Ichthyological Research. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Apr 23

Today at GenBank: sequences from the holotype of Labeo niariensis sp. nov. from the Niari River of R. Congo, courtesy of Liyandja & Stiassny in J. Fish Biol. (open access) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Apr 4

Landscape Evolution Drives Continental Diversification in
Neotropical Freshwater Fishes of the Family Erythrinidae
(Teleostei, Characiformes)

Conde-Saldaña et al. @gymnotus.bsky.social 2025 Journal of Biogeography

doi.org/10.1111/jbi....

Shows connection between evolutionary history and geology.

FIGURE 4 | Estimated mean dates for biogeographic events in Erythrinidae on tectonically active (Western) and passive (Eastern) continental
margins. (A) Phylogenies of species in erythrinid genera from Figure 2A. Numbered circles represent biogeographic events dated using the geological
literature (Table S3). Lettered tip labels represent biogeographic areas on the map. Red numbers at tree nodes represent mean divergence time esti-
mates (Ma). (B) Lineage-age distribution of biogeographic events for clades in Panel A. Estimates are reported for minimum, median and maximum
(mean dates from Figure 1) event age (Table S3). Ages of tectonic uplifts are indicated by horizontal rose bars. Note pulsed-age distribution of bio-
geographic events in clades on the active Western margin, while the more continuous age distribution of events on the passive Eastern margin. Note
opposite directions of watershed migration and geodispersal routes. Fish photographs: Hoplias and Erythrinus (Martin Taylor) and Hoplerythrinus
(Jorge García-Melo)

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Mar 31

Can you email me? [email protected]

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Mar 31

Sure. Can we chat on a different app, or is there a chat feature on this?

Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Jan 17

Very proud of this paper led by @lsu.bsky.social students where we examine what ‘Unexplored’ means in a natural history context - we recommend ‘biodiversity blindspots’ instead for places that lack digitized public data

Paper here peerj.com/articles/185...

Video abstract youtu.be/QZ8wUrgJEao

What ‘unexplored’ means: Mapping regions with digitized natural history records

YouTube video by PeerJ

youtu.be

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Nathan Lujan @potamophile.bsky.social · Jan 3

Turns out the Snail Darter, which halted a TVA dam’s construction in the first major test of the Endangered Species Act, was never a distinct species. All species descriptions are hypotheses open to testing.

Ben Keck @tnfishes.bsky.social · Jan 3

Snail Darter = Stargazing Darter!
Here's our paper synonomizing the Snail Darter with the Stargazing Darter. Our work leading to our 2011 phylogeny of darters identified many undescribed species and some, like this, that might suggest synonomy is in order.

Comparative species delimitation of a biological conservation icon

The United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 set a precedent for biodiversity conservation across the globe.1 A key requirement of protectio…

www.sciencedirect.com

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 23

Do you actually work in that amazing building?

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 22

Hey mormyrophiles: Something just made me very happy and I want to share it with you. ChatGPT makes graphing single and multiple EOD waveform files produced by Mormyroscope and taking data from them super easy! Read about it here: mormyrids.efishgenomics.com/en/node/666

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · Dec 21

Fishes of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Ancient Egyptian sculpture of a mormyrid fish.

Korean painted screen depicting fishes in a pond.

Still life showing skate, dogfish, and other sea creatures.

"Watson and the Shark"; painting depicting man struggling in water and a shark about to attack. Several men on a dinghy attempt to spear the shark/rescue the man.

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

The "Oxyrhynchus fish" (Mormyrus god fish) itself is worth a visit to the Motor City. Would love to know how many of these there are in U.S. museums.

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

Low engagement is not the issue. A journalist baselessly called a pedophile and multiple death threats proffered. No consequences. Not off to a promising start.

John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

It probably hasn't been. I'm mostly here for the fish. But when I read the story above my blood boils. Yours doesn't?

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

I wanted to like you Bluesky, I really did. You're a young platform still finding its legs. But if this is designed to be a "safe space" for people with views far left of center with no viewpoint diversity and you can't shut down murder threats against journalists my time here will be short.

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John P. Sullivan @halooie1.bsky.social · Dec 21

The Cruelty Is the Point
open.substack.com/pub/yaschamo...

The Cruelty Is the Point

A blowup on Bluesky reveals what drives those who are most keen to say that they stand for the oppressed.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Dec 20

Quoted in this @nytimes.com article about a revolutionary expedition to Peru and the discovery of some neat new species to science including a blob-headed armored catfish www.nytimes.com/2024/12/20/s...

A Mouse That Swims and Dozens More Species Are Discovered in a Peruvian Jungle

A 38-day expedition in the remote Alto Mayo region, where development threatens wild habitats, turned up one previously unknown animal after another.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by John P. Sullivan

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Dec 19

Two postdocs available to study cryptobenthic fishes

Simon Brandl's postdoc in Texas, with an emphasis in ecology
static1.squarespace.com/.../Postdoc_...

Luke Tornabene's postdoc in Washington, with an emphasis in systematics
static1.squarespace.com/.../Pursuit+....

#ichthyology #TeamFish

static1.squarespace.com

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