William B. Ludt, PhD
@planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
2K followers 150 following 71 posts
Curator of 🐡🐠🐟🦈 @nhm.org Exploring the diversity of fishes by fishing, diving, and searching through museum collections. www.wbludt.com
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Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
daveyfwright.bsky.social
🚨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
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Attention students: the deadline for our fall collections study award coming up soon! Use the funds to come out and use our LACM specimens for your research.
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
Flyer for the award. Has images of three students interacting with collections materials; text reads:

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Student Collections Study Award
October 1st, 2025 Application Deadline
Application and Details:
https://nhm.org/student-collections-study-award
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Over the past 5 years some rare Pacific Footballfish have washed ashore in California. How rare? 41 individuals ever recorded, rare. So @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @frable.bsky.social, Michelle Horeczko, and I wrote a short note summarizing this species. Check it out here: doi.org/10.51492/cfw... 🐟🦑
Four large female Pacific Footballfish (a rare species of anglerfish) that have washed ashore in California recently and been preserved in museum collections for documentation and future research.
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
A great opportunity if you’re interested in fish macroevolution!
lizmillermacroevo.bsky.social
I am recruiting graduate students to begin August 2026. Apply by Nov 15th!
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Every year this is a phenomenal resource for postdocs or others on the EcoEvo job market. Keep an eye on it for great job postings!
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Great opportunity to work with a fantastic community of museum evolutionary biologists at the LSUMNS!
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
While scanning some fishes yesterday I came across this Bonytail Chub collected near Blythe, CA in 1933. You can't find this species in Blythe anymore, nor in the rest of California as it is critically endangered. Museum collections like @nhm.org showcasing yet again our changing planet 🐟🐠
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
prosanta.bsky.social
"Save The NSF" - a little blogpost I wrote to amplify the #SaveTheNSF mission.

The National Science Foundation is one of the world’s premier funders of basic science research; proposed federal cuts would derail how we do science in the U.S.

aguidetoacademia.blogspot.com/2025/07/save...
Save the NSF
The National Science Foundation is one of the world’s premier funders of basic science research (i.e. the fundamental di...
aguidetoacademia.blogspot.com
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Being part of @prosanta.bsky.social's lab was a large, and formative, part of my academic upbringing. Glad I got see so many past and present lab members at this year's #JMIH25 meeting
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
And that’s a wrap on #jmih25! Great posters were presented by @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @jessdflores.bsky.social, @romanferraro.bsky.social and others from the @nhm.org Dept of Ichthyology. Overall a good time in St. Paul, MN!
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
This will be a great resource for future studies on neotropical fishes! 🐠🐟
gymnotus.bsky.social
New paper alert: 42 ecological traits for all 6,000+ valid species of #Neotropical_freshwater_fishes, the most diverse continental vertebrate fauna on Earth. A foundation for future studies on the ecology and conservation of tropical aquatic biodiversity.

nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
kunhm.bsky.social
We're hiring! 🎉

The KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum is seeking applications for a full-time Museum Education Coordinator. Application reviews begin Monday, June 9, 2025.

To apply or learn more about each job, click the link ➡️ rockcha.lk/xvx
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
I'm thrilled to announce that the Entomology department at the NHMLAC is hiring a full-time collections manager! 🪰🐜🕸️🦋 I'm biased, but the museum is a great place to work, and our department is full of fun, thoughtful people. Job description and information for applying are here:

shorturl.at/iRqOB
Recruitment
workforcenow.adp.com
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
nhm.org
There are hidden worlds all around us, too small to see with our own eyes. Ahead of this weekend’s annual #BugFair, explore those hidden worlds and the behind-the-scenes research made possible with this fantastic equipment in the Scanning Electron Microscope Lab! bit.ly/NHMSEM
Even the most minuscule ants like this Strumigenys elongata get huge under the SEM. Courtesy of Giar-Ann Kung, Los Angeles, CA, 2009. © Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Think you know everything about fish feeding? Check this out! So cool to see this paper come out by @mikemihalitsis.bsky.social and colleagues
mikemihalitsis.bsky.social
Super excited that our new paper is out today in
@pnas.org. Title: Lateral jaw motion in fish expands the functional repertoire of vertebrates and underpins the success of a dominant herbivore lineage.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Really cool paleo work by NHMLA's very own @jvelezjuarbe.bsky.social!
jvelezjuarbe.bsky.social
Our new paper, published today in @royalsociety.org Proceedings B, documents the presence of #sebecids in the #GreaterAntilles from the early #Oligocene through the early #Pliocene. Sebecids were apex-predator crocodylomorphs adapted to life on land.
#CaribbeanPaleobiology 1/11
A sebecid preys on its prey, a megalocnid sloth, during the Early Pliocene of Hispaniola.
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Coelacanths having a great week! First a new live sighting of the Indonesian species, and now this fantastic work on their musculature by Aléssio Datovo and the late Dave Johnson
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
As the school year comes to a close I always try to get the whole lab together before students leave for summer. Super grateful for this group of hard working employees and students that truly represent the positive impact that federal funds can have on lives and careers. I can't thank them enough!
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
realfishdoc.bsky.social
Stumbled across our Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, in the collections earlier today. Look at that weird pelvic fin!
planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Proud advisor moment seeing @jessdflores.bsky.social give her first conference talk and @jazminenoamie.bsky.social give their first conference poster yesterday at the SCAS conference
jessdflores.bsky.social
Had a great time at SCAS yesterday, and did my first conference presentation!
Reposted by William B. Ludt, PhD
agneselanzetti.bsky.social
Check out the latest paper on a jawless fossil fish, and this time we were able to recreate a full 3D model! Thank you Lisa Schnetz, @nitroshutter.bsky.social, @gilespalaeo.bsky.social, @euphanerops.bsky.social et al. for having me on this
@nhm-london.bsky.social #fossilfish #CTscan #palaeotology
3D model of jawless fossil fish