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Amanda K. Pinion

@akpinion.bsky.social
1.1K followers 119 following 72 posts

PhD in Ecology & Conservation Biology. Ichthyology, phylogenetics and systematics. Mostly posting about fishes. akpinion.com Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Dresden, Germany. scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&…

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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A fish pic, just because. Sinobdella peeking out from some vegetation
A species of spiny eel (Mastacemblidae), Sinobdella, peeking out from some vegetation
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Wayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The Tree of Life web project is back! A phylogenetic view of biodiversity way ahead of its time (ca. 1995!), conceived and led by David Maddison, collaborative & human-curated, widely used in teaching. Defunct technology had doomed it until Travis, Danny, and Andrew revived it. 🥳🎉 🧪 #evolbiol
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David Maddison @bembidion.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Tree of Life Web Project is back online! tolweb.org Thanks to Travis Wheeler (@wheelerlab.org), Danny Mandel, and Andrew Lenards, the original programmers for ToLWeb, for retooling the code to work on a modern OS! It is hard for me to believe it lives again.
tolweb.org
Tree of Life Web Project
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Holly Casio @hollycasio.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Here a compilation of stupid things library consultants have said to me in solidarity with library pals at Lambeth Libraries where genius consultants has decided that a qualified head of library service post isn't really essential.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Just out- a really distinctive new species of the miniature fish genus Priocharax, Priocharax ajuru, named for a modified snout that houses a massive olfactory organ: (PDF can be requested from Researchgate at following link): www.researchgate.net/publication/...
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Looking at some soft-CT data we gathered last year. Here you can really see the tubercles in this male North American minnow
Soft-CT scan of a minnow
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Open access paper: Dolan, E. P., Fields, A. T., Bean, M. G., Doege, R. L., Hatt, J. L., Conway, K. W., & Portnoy, D. S. (2026). Conservation genomics of Pecos pupfish (𝐶𝑦𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠). Journal of Fish Biology, 1–15. doi.org/10.1111/jfb.... onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Conservation genomics of Pecos pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis)
The Pecos pupfish, Cyprinodon pecosensis, is an imperilled freshwater fish found in arid regions of Texas and New Mexico (USA). The species faces multiple challenges to persistence including reductio...
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Some video of the new species 𝘎𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘬 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘢, the blind loach discovered from a well in Northeast India www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDhl...
youtube.com
Neue Fischart in Brunnen entdeckt // New Fish Species Discovered from a Well
YouTube video by SenckenbergWorld
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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪
An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Just published: A very unusual fish, described here as a new genus and species of loach, and the first groundwater-dwelling fish reported from Northeast India. Meet 𝑮𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒌 𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒂! Open access article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I really should double check things I think I remember. It wasn’t an essay, just a entry from “In Our Time” about cultural icons of the 70s. Here it is in full:
THE DIGITAL CALCULATOR
This marvelous machine was the 1970s' most notable contribution to the impressive list of time-and-labor-saving devices that have made it possible for Ameri-cans, since the Second World War, to waste time in job lots and get less and less done-with sleekness and precision of style. The time you can waste (I speak from experience) going chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk on your calculator and watching the little numbers go dancing across the black window—all the while feeling that you are living life at top speed —is breathtaking. Earlier additions to the list: the direct-dial long-distance telephone, the Xerox machine, the in-office com-puter, the jet airliner (not to mention the Concorde). The jet airliner, for ex-ample, encourages you to drop everything, hop on a plane, and go to Los Angeles, or wherever, at a moment's notice. Later on you can't understand how the better part of a week got shot. In light of my own not exactly staggering literary output, I have become interested in the life of Balzac. I am convinced that the reason this genius was so productive-he published at least sixty booksbetween ages thirty and fifty-one-was that he enjoyed no time- or labor-saving aids whatsoever, not even a typewriter. He dropped nothing and went nowhere on a moment's notice, not even to Maisons-Laffitte, which was twelve miles from Paris. He didn't ring up anybody in Brittany, much less London. He either wrote a note by hand or said the hell with it. There
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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 05/02/2026
If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff. Democracy dies in oligarchy.
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Ben Mullin @benmullin.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."
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David Bapst @dwbapst.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Today's front-page of the Bryan Eagle showcases the very large protest for academic freedom held on the Texas A&M campus by @tamu-aaup.bsky.social last night
Front-page of the Eagle for 01-30-26, headline 'Students, Faculty Decry Censorship; Hundreds rally for academic freedom"
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Adam Summers @fishguy.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Every other summer we run a fish biomechanics course at Friday Harbor Labs. It is an awesome opportunity to learn the tools of biovisualization while experiencing the rich fish diversity of the Salish Sea. Come join us! 🧪
A flyer for a fish biomechanics course at the Friday Harbor Labs this summer.
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Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
If, you me, you have NO WISH WHATSOEVER to have some annoying and un-asked-for bit of AI constantly begging for attention... you can UNINSTALL the thing.
Darren has uninstalled copilot
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Kevin is right -- holy hell! -- but among many other things, this obit demonstrates the possible price of resistance.
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Nora Levine @nlevine.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Watchingamerica.com “…makes available in English articles written about the U.S. by foreigners, often for foreign audiences, and often in other languages. We are a unique window into world opinion.”
watchingamerica.com
Watching America | Discover What the World Thinks of U.S.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Phylogenomics of Cypriniformes, the most diverse order of freshwater fishes: consensus, challenges and limitations Hiranya Sudasinghe, Ralf Britz, Michael Matschiner, Kevin Conway, Heok Hui Tan, Maurice Kottelat, Rajeev Raghavan, Neelesh Dahanukar, ... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Phylogenomics of Cypriniformes, the most diverse order of freshwater fishes: consensus, challenges and limitations
Cypriniformes, the most species-rich order of freshwater fishes (~5,000 species), represents a key lineage for understanding vertebrate diversification in freshwater ecosystems. This clade includes se...
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
9 years ago (2016) - Yegua Creek, Brazos River
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jörg.freyhof @jfreyhof.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Our new open-access book has been published today. Please download and share www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
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Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
When it comes to creative and artistic works I have NO interest in anything included in the AI catchall (caveats required because machine-learning has its place WRT handling data). I will never use it. Do I want an AI copilot? No no no, no I do not; I despise the fact that I am even asked.
Darren pointing at screen during a technical check at Lightroom, saying "So that is an AI monster - do not use", while working with two other people.
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kelly jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
I'm a little wrong here, y'all! We have a couple more weeks to fight for the IMLS. It'll be through the House Appropriations Committee on July 21. Get on the phone. Get in inboxes. Your messaging? The Murder Bill is going to make libraries *even more crucial* now. appropriations.house.gov/schedule
appropriations.house.gov
Schedule
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Nitish Pahwa @nitishpahwa.com · 08/05/2025
did some reporting on the impact of DOGE's cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the court cases that are preserving the agency (for now), Trump's threats to slash federal arts spending, and the importance of IMLS to libraries and schools everywhere: slate.com/life/2025/05...
slate.com
Why Would Trump Dismantle This Tiny Little Agency That Does So Much Good?
Judges are on the IMLS’ side. But the budget battle is still to come.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
New paper out by Kole Kubicek, Ralf Britz & Kevin Conway in Biology Letters 🧬 Heterochrony & Innovation: What the Pectoral Fin Spine of Catfish Reveals About Evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...
royalsocietypublishing.org
Heterochrony leads to evolutionary novelty: the catfish pectoral-fin spine (Teleostei: Siluriformes) | Biology Letters
Studies of sequence heterochrony have revealed changes in developmental timing during skeletogenesis, which are widespread among major groups of tetrapods and may be associated with major changes in m...
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
www.npr.org/2025/04/17/n... But worry not - dems will soon be on board, as signalled by their reception of the bullshit ideas peddled by the authors of "Abundance". Nature will be the first to suffer while the left tries to scrape their wav back
npr.org
Destroying endangered species' habitat wouldn't count as 'harm' under proposed Trump rule
The Trump administration is reinterpreting a key word in the Endangered Species Act that could have big consequences for the habitats of species at risk.
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Bad media science takes can kill off whole species. Gene edited puppies are NOT actually dire wolves, any more than an especially hair mouse is a mammoth. Endangered Species Act is NOT rendered moot by this publicity stunt www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
Trump team cites wolf ‘de-extinction’ as it seeks to cut endangered species list
The interior secretary hailed a biotech company’s claim to have brought back the dire wolf, while the administration and GOP push to roll back species protections.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Quite certain there has been a recent influx of bots to Bluesky, based on my recent follows and the content of their pages.
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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Of course mainstream media keeps rolling over for Colossal, providing uncritical hype and coverage in exchange for exclusivity and “wow.” What Colossal is doing is wrong and they can’t even deliver what they promise. How many times do we have to go over this?
Cover of TIME magazine showing a genetically-modified wolf, said to be a dire wolf but is not, with the headline “extinct” with a strikethrough, above the text “this is Remus. He’s a dire wolf. The first to exist in over 10,000 years. Endangered species could be changed forever” by Jeffrey Kluger
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Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Ancient rat brains ever crossed your mind? If so, you're in luck! Here, brain morphology of Pliocene spiny rats Eumysops chapalmalensis was studied using endocasts, uncovering unique morphology that may indicate a niche not explored by extant species! 🌍🧪🐀 academic.oup.com/zoo...
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jörg.freyhof @jfreyhof.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
When I came to Berlin 25 years ago, moor frogs (Rana arvalis) were quite common. After years of predation by invasive racoons (so sweet...) and serious droughts, the populations have collapsed. What to do? No idea.... #stadtnatur, #berlinbiodiversity, #berlin, #urbanbiodiversity
blue male moor frogs (Rana arvalis)
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Tiny banan
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
And here's @joshtpm.bsky.social wrestling with the question. To me, the key sentence is: "The current executive orders explicitly say that the end game is a government the size of the shutdown size." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/looki...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Looking Squarely at a Shutdown
It’s hard to write clearly when you’re being flooded with new information....
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Matthew L. Miller @matthewlmiller.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
I'm a lifelong collector, reader and user of field guides. At a young age, as much as anything, field guides ignited a love of wildlife and travel.
blog.nature.org
A Lifelong Love of Field Guides
A celebration of field guides, the little books that changed the way we interact with nature.
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Texas Standard @texasstandard.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
The new anthology “Voices of the Rio Grande Valley: Vol.1” lifts up the regional stories written by the folks who’ve lived them.
txst.us
‘Voices of the Rio Grande Valley’ uplifts stories from the people of an often-overlooked region
The collection of creative nonfiction stories is written both for the community and those interested in the region.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
One of my former students. I’m so proud, and so angry.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 06/03/2025
Let's talk about this Nature piece in more detail. I've rarely read something so anti-scientific anywhere short of the National Review. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Three AI-powered steps to faster, smarter peer review
Tired of spending countless hours on peer reviews? An AI-assisted workflow could help.
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Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
So that's the beginning of the end for US Old Growth Forests then, prepare for massive biodiversity and carbon loss, here billed as the opposite www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... 🌎
whitehouse.gov
Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Hey everyone! @co2ley.bsky.social — who was fired by NOAA yesterday as the Director of the Ocean Acidification Program — is now here on Bluesky! Follow her! Also, someone please offer Sarah a job! 🌊
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Museum für Naturkunde Berlin @mfnberlin.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Women in natural history have long been overlooked. FIND researches their stories and brings them into focus. 👩‍🔬✨ @svmering.bsky.social explores this in her talk: 🎤 "Invisible – Forgotten – Rediscovered" (in German) 📅 5 March 2025, 18:30 📍 @nhmwien.bsky.social Watch on the NHM YouTube channel! ▶️
A mounted musk ox in the Mammal Collection. In the historic photograph, two women sit on the animal, each holding a preserved spectacled bear.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Four years ago to the day, me in Friday Harbor and him in Texas. We are still doing Zoom dates but now I’m in Germany… Bonus FHL fish from that time
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
zenodo.org/records/1488... Brilliant photos and really cool study.
zenodo.org
Putative Batesian mimicry of gelatinous zooplankton by larvae of marine fishes: a closer look based on in-situ images by blackwater photographers
Examination of photographs and videos of living epipelagic oceanic larval fishes and invertebrates obtained during night dives provided heretofore unavailable information on the appearance and behavio...
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Snow
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Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Public Statement on Recent Attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives Sincerely, the Executive Board of the ASIH (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists) #TeamFish #TeamHerps #ASIH www.asih.org/2025-asih-ex...
Public Statement on
Recent Attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

On 10 February 2025, the ASIH Executive Committee voted in support of the following statement:

11 February 2025 

The Executive Board of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is concerned about recent turmoil at the United States federal governmental agencies established to promote the advancement of science. Many of our members are supported by federal funds in their scientific pursuits, and this funding is paramount for better understanding the diversity of our natural world. Inquiries into amphibians, reptiles, and fishes have resulted in major breakthroughs in the medical industry, serve as models for our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes, and have even been used to better prepare our armed forces for international conflicts. Federal funding has supported many of these endeavors. While we understand that funding models change over time, we adamantly condemn any model that does not incorporate cooperation between politicians and the greater scientific community. We also condemn any model that does not fairly provide funds to scientific investigators through peer review by experts in the scientific community. 

The suggested changes in governmental funding practices centered around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have resulted in confusion amongst members of ASIH, and the greater scientific community. The Executive Board of ASIH fully supports the idea that diversity and inclusivity of the scientific community leads to greater discoveries in ichthyological and herpetological research and ultimately strengthens us as a community of scholars. Similar to DEI initiatives at ASIH, these initiatives at the federal level are designed to foster and protect diversity in STEM education and research. 

We want to reaffirm our mission and commitment to all of you: ASIH condemns the recent attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initia…
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Current favorite album to listen to while writing 🎼📝
Album cover of Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left"
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Adam Summers @fishguy.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
I have never been an author on a monograph before. Kevin Conway and @westozfish.bsky.social let me help out with this description of 4 new clingfish species in a new genus! All are tiny, but the males are showy. The clearing and staining is outstanding. www.researchgate.net/publication/... 🧪🐡
red and blue stained skeleton of a clingfishGreen male and red/brown female clingfishventral views of clingfish heads and sucker disks.CT scan of clingfish skeleton - lateral, dorsal, and ventral views.
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Is the journal Zootaxa on here? If not, why not?
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Amanda K. Pinion @akpinion.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Why
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