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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Greater Flamingo from Isabela Island, Galapágos 🪶

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Having an OK time @improvsports.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes 😩

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Liz Ronan, PhD @elizabithian.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

C elegans can sense sound AND serve as a genetic model for an understudied form of human hearing loss! As the moderator mentioned- what CAN’T worms do?? 🤩 🪱 #worm25

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

A little Galápagos finch on Santa Cruz Island all fluffed up during a rainstorm #birds #photography

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

One of my favorite shots from my recent trip to the Galápagos Islands, the domed-shaped Galápagos Tortoise from Isla Santa Cruz

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Reposted by Alexia Hilber

Charles Gaba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 14/06/2025

Jesus. The juxtaposition of these two posts back to back is just...

10:30am:

"Brevard County Sheriff Sheriff Wayne Ivey: "If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at, because we will kill you graveyard dead."

10:49am:

law enforcement officials say they made a proactive check at Rep. Hortman's home after a lawmaker who lived nearby was shot and found a "police vehicle in the driveway with emergency lights and what appeared to be a police officer at the door coming out of the house." He was actually the gunman.

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

For the past few weeks, our PI Dr. Kerstetter, graduate student Alexia Hilber, and undergraduate students ventured to the Galápagos Islands as a research trip for their Ecology of the Galápagos Islands class. (1/3)

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Natural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Like flamingos, roseate spoonbills' colour comes from the food they eat. Shrimp and crabs contain pigments called carotenoids that help turn their feathers a beautiful shade of pink. 🪶

A photo of a wader bird with a beak that is flat and wide at the end stretching its wings out to show beautiful shades of deep to light pink in its feathers.

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

I love when an ID session lines up perfectly with literature. Here’s a Parorchis (catoptrophon?) from a Night Heron. My sample -> morphology sketch -> literature

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Reposted by Alexia Hilber

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 27/04/2025

It’s true! www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rosem...

Adorbler: any bird of the wood-warbler family Parulidae. The term was coined by author Jeff VanderMeer. Wood-warblers are small, round, and often brightly colored, and their cuteness is powerful enough to overwhelm even the most hardened soul. You can detect the presence of Adorblers by paying attention to the calls of nearby birders; listen for phrases such as “Oh hello, little buddy” and “Well, look at you,” as well as a soft, high pitched eeeeeeee.

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ALT Fish and Wildlife Service @altfws.altgov.info · 09/04/2025

This post by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demonstrates clear defiance of the Endangered Species Act. He states that regulation is not the solution. Innovation is needed- in concert with regulation- to find new paths to recovery while protecting what still exists. #Resist

Post by Doug Burgum on de-extinction technology related to the dire wolf.

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

The 2025 Undergraduate Student Symposium was a success! Congratulations to two of our awesome undergrad researchers, Kevin Rafferty and Katie McKimmy, for presenting their hard work yesterday!

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

During the presidential campaign, I wrote an op-ed about how Trump’s proposed policies would be bad for ocean science and conservation, and senior members of my field told me I was being unprofessional. Thinking about them as I read a news story called “the darkest day in scientific history.”

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/04/2025

"I don't want a Disney vacation of our history! I don't a whitewashed history, I don't want a homogenized history. Tell me the wretched truth about America, because that speaks to our greatness" -- 20 hours into his speech, Cory Booker is spitting absolute 🔥

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

I’ll be there Sunday! Come stop by :)

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Tortuga through the years! 🌊🌴☀️ Did you know the lab has hosted a booth at Rock The Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival for multiple years in a row? We are so honored to have been invited back for another year - and it’s just 10 days away!

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petnoodle @petnoodle.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

So many great signs at the DC @standupforscience.bsky.social rally today, but I think this had to be my favorite:

A hand-drawn sign in marker on a brown piece of cardboard. The text reads "I LOVE WORMS" and there are three cute lil worms, I think an annelid, a polychaete (?), and maybe a roundworm or something. LOVE THIS

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Great news! 🌊 Our lab is partnering with Rock The Ocean for Tortuga Music Festival 2025! Here is a thread to learn about this collaboration.

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David Kerstetter, Ph.D. @fishguydave.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Happy International Women & Girls in Science Day 2025! Just a few of the amazing students I've had the privilege of working with over the last 17 years in my @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social lab here at NSU. Thank you for all your inspirational efforts! #WomenInScience #womeninSTEM

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Enjoy this STUNNING Nephrostomum I pulled from a Cattle Egret last week. New genus to add to my dataset :)

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Dr. Catherine Macdonald @drcatmac.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Every scientist, long before they were a scientist, was a little kid who stood in front of a fish tank or stared up at the stars or turned over a rock to look at the bugs underneath and said “wow”. On the best days, working in science still feels like that.

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Jeremy Koster @jeremykoster.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Congratulations to Shelby Boyles, who presented her current thesis work at day 2 of the HCAS Research Graduate Symposium last week! The Preferred Menu of Two Stingrays: A Wide Selection of Small Invertebrates and More

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Day 1 of the HCAS Research Graduate Symposium was a success! Congratulations to our 3 lab members who presented yesterday. Good luck to Shelby Boyles who presents her stingray diet content work today at 10:00 am!

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Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD @jacasiegel.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Happy International Day of Women in Science. The National Science Foundation’s list of flagged words includes both “Women” and “Female.”

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

I've written a post about some mistletoe-on-mistletoe action. Mistletoes are parasites of trees, but some mistletoes parasitise other mistletoes, and they gets *really* thirsty. So when a parasite gets its own parasite, who pays the price? 🧪🌿 #botany dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2025/02/lysi...

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

<i>Lysiana exocarpi</i>

Sometimes parasites get their own parasites too, and if you think that "enemy of my enemy is my friend", then you'd think this would be good...

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Here’s a thread of words that result in the National Science Foundation rejecting grants under the Trump administration’s bigoted and anti-intellectual executive order. Among other things, about every shark paper I’ve ever written has included the word “female” referring to *FEMALE SHARKS*

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David Kerstetter, Ph.D. @fishguydave.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

minor erratum: yes, sphyrnids have *scroll* valves, not spiral - same basic idea about maximizing surface area, but different structure. Anyway, here are some of those cestodes found in that scroll valve yesterday:

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Anyway, sometimes you make lemonade from lemons? While sad to see, at least some science can come from this GHH's death. Thanks to the Hollywood Ocean Rescue crew, Derek Burkholder, and Alexia and Logan for collecting the samples. (Lab PI @fishguydave.bsky.social) 11/11

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Yesterday our lab PI got a call from Hollywood about a large great hammerhead (GHH) shark on the beach... and do we want it for the lab? Not the first time we've gotten calls like this! Here is a short thread about what fish biologists can do with even a dead animal. (Warning: graphic images) 1/11

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Finally going through some pictures from @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social conference in San Jose, CR. Here’s some scenery favorites :)

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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

please fill out this form if you are a part of AFS or fisheries science in general, they are also voting to remove CLIMATE CHANGE from their 5 year plan - absolutely horrendous behavior 🧪🌎🐠

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Jordan Zulli @jordanzulli.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

On a separate note, today is Penguin Awareness Day. I had the privilege of working with the critically endangered African penguin for 2+ years. Unfortunately, we’ve already lost over 97% of the population due to habitat loss, lack of food availability, climate change, etc. They deserve protection!

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Briana Zaffiro @brizaff.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

One of @alexiahilber.bsky.social ‘s very pretty worms :)

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Some parasitic isopods go through an awkward developmental phase where the back half of its body reaches maturity while the front half of its body is still a juvenile. Puberty for cymothoid isopods is kinda wild. #Invertebrate 🧪 journal.kagoshima-nature.org/046-093/

Three specimens of Nerocila phaiopleura isopods.
Left: An ovigerous female individual, Centre: a transitional-stage individual in between juvenile and adult, Right: A juvenile individual.

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Congratulations to Trinity Loftis and Alexia Hilber for presenting their research at the Waterbird Society-Pacific Seabird Group meeting! Incredible work ladies! 🪶🪱 Huge thank you to Rock the Ocean for supporting our research through funding. We couldn’t do it without this great organization! 🌊

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NSU Fisheries and Avian Ecology Lab @nsufishnbirdlab.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Wow! Our students never cease to amaze us! Alexia Hilber was awarded Best MS-level Student Oral Presentation at the Waterbird Society-Pacific Seabird Group meeting for her work on endoparasites of the invasive gray-headed swamphen, advised by Dr. Chris Blanar and Dr. Dave Kerstetter.

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David Kerstetter, Ph.D. @fishguydave.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Congrats to my students Alexia and Trinity, who presented at this week's joint Waterbird Society-Pacific Seabird Group meeting -- special shout-out to @alexiahilber.bsky.social who won the “Best MS-level Student Oral Presentation" for her research on parasites of invasive grey-headed swamphens.

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Kevin Keel @ucpath.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Everybody seems to have a weekday theme, so I'm calling this wormy Wednesday! This is a very nicely cleared Fascioloides magna from a cow. I think the branching structures are the intestinal tract. Even flukes can be beautiful! #parasite #parasitology #veterinary #trematode

This is a large liver fluke (Fascioloides magna) that has been made translucent (cleared) so that internal organs are visible. The worm is lanceolate or leaf shaped with a narrower end at the top (the head). A small cup shaped structure (oral sucker) is present on the tip of the head. A round structure (the ventral sucker) is a short distance back from the oral sucker. Overall the worm is dark yellow. Along each side of the body a long dark tube extends toward the caudal end of the worm and many branches extend from this towards the sides of the worm. Dr. Lauren Camp provided the worm. I took the photo.

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

2024 recap: •Started MSMS marine science program at NSU •Shark tagging w/ @whysharksmatter.bsky.social 🦈 •Fish survey in the Bahamas •Mentored 4 undergrads, 2 presented posters and won 1st place 🥳 •Passed 300 birds & 40 parasite genera for my thesis •Spoke at one conference & student research panel

My undergrads who tied for 1st place for their poster presentations at LSSF 🥳🥳

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 21/12/2023

🚨 Don't eat uncooked snake! Your eyes & lungs can be parasitized by pentastomids, which are a CRUSTACEAN. Adults lack so many features that they weren't believed to be arthropods at all until their DNA was sequenced (and sperm morphology, but that was not widely accepted). Yet, they are! #Crustmas 🧪

Adult male (small) and female (large) of Armillifer sp. Looks like a big and small crinkle cut french fry, also with paired hooks at the front.

Both photos from this paper:
https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0000320

Adult female Linguatula serrata. Looks like a wrinkly tube, a bit wider at the front and tapering to a tail. There are some hooklike bits at the front.

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Veronica @leapinlemurs83.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

The chionodraco icefish seems to be the fish of this dive 767 by SOI in the Southern Ocean. The last two photos is actually the same fish, but with a really funky pink flexible parasite on the top of its snout. #IntoSouthernOcean #MarineLife

A gray and dark gray striped fish, with what appears to be a white parasite on the top of it Ted. Sitting on top of some yellow sponges

A gray and darker gray striped fish sitting above what appears to be gray blobs on the seafloor that I think are tunicates. Also a cluster of brittle stars at the top of the screen

Gray and darker gray striped fish above a sediment covered seafloor covered in tuna kits, brittle stars and feather stars. On its nose is a pink fleshy parasite

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

In honor of the last day of #garweek here are some gar @jordanzulli.bsky.social, Logan Exton, & I found while slogging in Big Cypress National Preserve!

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Alexia Hilber @alexiahilber.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Absolutely gorgeous acanthocephalan from today! Host is a Clapper Rail, I’m thinking the worm is from the Arythmorhynchus genus.

Acanthocephalan proboscis highlighting the hooks. Genus is Aryrhmorhynchus

Clapper Rail wading through water at night.

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Dax Kellie @daxkellie.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

✅ Do you use R or Python? ✅ Are you an ecologist/biologist? Then you might find our website ALA Labs useful! ALA Labs is full of how-to articles to visualise or analyse biodiversity data. Some are for beginners, others are advanced/experimental 😀 labs.ala.org.au 🧪🌏 #rstats #python #quartopub

An animated scroll through an ALA Labs post, showing code, text and visuals to make a data visualisation in R. The article is on how to make a hexagon map of Australia, where each hexagon is an area of Australia, and each point in the hexagon is positioned and coloured to represent a species.

Examples of dataviz that ALA Labs posts show how to make in R. They are colourful and fun. One of them is even 3D!

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Jordan Zulli @jordanzulli.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Check out my blog post on Florida AFS’s site to learn more about my master’s research and why age/growth/repro studies are crucial to the survival of understudied species🤗 flafsstudentsubunit.wordpress.com

flafsstudentsubunit.wordpress.com

Reefs to Rivers: Florida Fisheries Science

Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Student Subunit

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