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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

@oceanfilly.bsky.social

3.4K followers 280 following 590 posts

It's me, the sea lady. I study Sexual Selection, Host Sex/Parasite Interactions, and Behavior (also interested in Bio Ed!) Currently looking for a postdoc position! Biologist/Photographer/Artist/Jedi/Autistic https://bfitzwater.wixsite.com/bfitzwater

bfitzwater.wixsite.com

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · Aug 4

Hi, I'm Brooke (she/her)! I'm a recent PhD graduate with research interests in sexual selection, mate choice, host-parasite interactions (especially those involving host sex), and animal behavior. I'm looking for a postdoc position!

I also create short-form videos and I'm a photographer and artist.

Film photograph of the beach with cacti and large rocks

Long exposure photo of the intertidal zone

Watercolor illustration of a spiny lobster with paint materials surrounding the art piece

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 1d

One of the coolest gastropod groups: Saccoglossans! #LetsChangeThat

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

IBD Doctor @ibddoctor.bsky.social · 1d

Every once in a while I need to fiddle with long category labels in #rstats ggplot2.
It always helps me to refer back to this excellent blog post by #AndrewHeiss @cararthompson.bsky.social
www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2022/06...

Quick and easy ways to deal with long labels in ggplot2 | Andrew Heiss

Explore different manual and automatic ways to rotate, dodge, recode, break up, and otherwise deal with long axis labels with ggplot2

www.andrewheiss.com

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Emoji Aquarium @emojiaquarium.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Greg Copenhaver @copenhaverlab.bsky.social · 1d

The @uncchapelhill.bsky.social Department of Biology is searching for tenure-track Assistant Professor in Plant Molecular Biology. Chapel Hill is a wonderful place and Biology is an amazing group of people. To apply, see:
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 1d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 1d

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Milton Tan @mtanichthys.bsky.social · 1d

The internal conflict of hoping I made a great and impactful first impression on someone but that they conveniently forget all of the awkward little things I did or didn't say or do

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 2d

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 2d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 2d

MY QUEEN

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 3d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology @sicb.bsky.social · 2d

#SICB job share- an opening for

Assistant #Professor of #Vertebrate #Physiology

towson.taleo.net/careersectio...
Email Dr. Vonnie Shields
[email protected] with any questions

#biology #physiology #anatomy #research #PhD

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 2d

The group may have its problems, but they are pretty! Polychaete Worms #LetsChangeThat

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology @sicb.bsky.social · 7d

Did you know about #SICB 's job page?

sicb.org/jobs-and-fel...

Do reach out to the [email protected]

for jobs to be posted there and

if you'd like a post created social platforms also, feel free to email a link to the #job to

[email protected]

Help spread the word about opportunities!

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely devastated to hear about Jane Goodall's passing. She was a champion in the field and for women biologists. She will be sorely missed, but her memory will live on to inspire generations of biologists and conservationists.

Jane Goodall looking off camera in front of a fence and some bushes, she is smiling

Jane Goodall mimicking a chimpanzee that is flaring its lips.

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 6d

Our final fun carnivorous sponge: The Harp Sponge. #LetsChangeThat

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 7d

Another carnivorous sponge for you: The Ping Pong Tree Sponge! #LetsChangeThat

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 8d

So... can they get the bends? 🤔

Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 27d

Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

A submerged water anole (Anolis aquaticus) with a bubble of air held on its head. Photo credit: Lindsey Swierk.

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 8d

Taking matters into their own spicules: Carnivorous Sponges! #LetsChangeThat

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 11d

in regards to the original post here- how come "tr*nnies should die" is a challenging idea i should entertain for the sake of democracy somehow, but "trans people have always existed and are just trying to live their lives" isn't a challenging idea conservatives likewise need to hear? hmm??

a quote-tweet. first, the original post, from David Axelrod, which is a quote itself from a linked Atlantic article: "To be educated for democracy means hearing different, even disturbing views- seeking them out, engaging and arguing with them, learning from them, without giving an inch of ground to democracy's erosion." The the quote, from some freak named PoliticalMath: Every college professor needs to identify a conservative they admire. They need to spend department money to sponsor that person to come to campus to talk. If they cannot do this, they should be fired."

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11d

🚨NEW: For the first time in history, the single largest group of people arrested in the interior and sent to ICE detention is people with NO criminal record.

As of yesterday's data release, 40%(!) of those arrested in the interior and detained by ICE had no prior conviction or pending charges.

Chart shows Detention Population, Among Those Arrested by ICE in the Interior, by Criminal Record. The chart shows three lines; Prior conviction, pending criminal charges, and no criminal record. From 2019 through September 2025, the largest group is people with criminal convictions, with much further down people with pending charges. But starting in January, those without criminal records spikes dramatically. In July it crossed pending charges and in the latest data it jumps above criminal convictions.

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 11d

Not all first impressions are accurate. Meet the Telescope Fish. #LetsChangeThat

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 13d

This fall, @megstampede.bsky.social & I are collaborating to create a 2026 calendar!

Each month features a different animal, facts about them, & actions we can take to help them!

Sales will fund our '26 Native 🌱 Project

Order before 10/1 to get a free plant sticker!
www.etsy.com/listing/4366...

two cuttlefish hover over a reef where the female has laid eggs with tiny little baby cuttlefish in them. It's the month of December

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Joanna Robinson @jowrotethis.bsky.social · 13d

Oh hi hello it’s only the most important podcasting moment of my life. open.spotify.com/episode/4diX...

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 13d

This is my Superbowl!!!!!!!

Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 13d

Also giddy that my silly hat that says "Women want me, fish fear me" is in an official publication 🙈

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 13d

Happy to share that @taorminalepore.bsky.social and I are featured in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social's continuing series sharing disabled scientists in ecology and evolution spaces! www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Disability in ecology and evolution

In this TrendsTalk series, ‘Disability in ecology and evolution,’ in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, we will be hearing from people about their experiences being disabled in ecology and evolution. We...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 13d

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

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