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Chris Martin

@fishspeciation.bsky.social
2K followers 619 following 105 posts

Associate Professor and Curator of Ichthyology at UC Berkeley. #teamfish Lover of all fishes, especially those named after puppies 🥰❤️🐶🐟💀 #pupfish #craniofacial #genomics he/him ib.berkeley.edu/labs/martin Header art by @astrafauna.bsky.social

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Corrie Moreau @corriemoreau.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
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worm @rfksbrainworm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you ever wondered why visible light is those particular wavelengths, it's because life evolved to see in the narrow range where water is transparent
Diagram of absorption of emf by water. There's a gap right that dips in the 500 nm range
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Skype a Scientist @skypeascientist.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We at Skype a Scientist are deeply troubled by the closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences. We urge you to contact Drexel University Leadership and Academy interim leader Trish Wellenbach to urge them to reopen the museum. President Merlo president@Drexel.edu Trish Wellenbach tw958@drexel.edu
a block of text with a statement that reads We at Skype a Scientist are deeply alarmed by the decision of Drexel University leadership and the Academy of Natural Sciences Board to close the Academy’s public museum.

Skype a Scientist is based in Philadelphia with deep roots in our city. Making science accessible, in particular for Philly’s children, is a top priority for our organization. We operate in community centers, at street festivals, and at the intersection of science and art. For the last 10 years, we have worked to engage a broader coalition of Philly residents to care for our local biodiversity. 

Our program does not exist in a vacuum. The work that we do, alongside environmental education centers, our museums, classroom teachers, and more, create an ecosystem of connections with science. The loss of any part of this fragile ecosystem is detrimental. The Academy of Natural Sciences grounds biodiversity education in Philadelphia. With grand fossil halls, historical connections, and engaging exhibits, it is a place where many Philadelphians develop a love of science. Loss of access to this space cannot be tolerated.

We are living through an erosion of public education, particularly in the life sciences. Philadelphia cannot afford to lose our flagship biodiversity museum.

We call on the leaders of Drexel University and the Academy board to reverse their decision to close the Academy’s public museum. The children of Philadelphia and future generations of Philly-made scientists are counting on you.
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
You're gonna need a bigger chart
Chart showing the daily sea surface temperature for the Nino region of the Pacific, with a red line for 2026 shooting off above every other year in record-setting territory, with the latest spot right at the top of the chart
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Congratulations!!!!! 🥹🥳
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AZ Faust @azfaust.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I (and pretty much everyone in biomedical research) would love nothing more if we never had use another animal in our experiments. But our ability to model organ-level biology is nowhere close to that.
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Dcmfox @dcmfox.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Red Lip Bat Fish I swear they are real
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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Apparently people are sharing this far and wide on social media, which I think is horrible. This could cripple ICE operations. PLEASE do not share this.
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Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 31/08/2026
NIH's Aug 2026 proposal would scrap exact scores and percentiles for three broad bins (top = top 25%). With funding rates at 5% or lower, too much then rides on administrative discretion. It devalues peer review and is a deterrent to engage. Tell NIH before Oct 13. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-26-088: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Changes to Reporting Outcomes from NIH Peer Review NOT-OD-26-088. NIH
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Matt Kustra @matt-kustra.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
New preprint led by amazing undergrad @ogolwala.bsky.social! Within ~10,000 years, sperm traits have diverged between trophic specialists in this young radiation of pupfish. Hybrids are fertile, but show transgressive sperm kinematics and reorganized integration. With @fishspeciation.bsky.social.
Density plots of sperm straightness comparing two species of pupfish (molluscivore and scale-eater) and their hybrids. Hybrids have straighter sperm than the parental species.
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Moi Expósito-Alonso (MOILAB) @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
We are looking for an **assistant professor in ecology** in our integrative biology department, a vibrant dept focused on ecology, evolution, organismal biology, with several linked centers including natural history collections! PLEASE APPLY! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05489
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
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CAKE @thebandcake.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
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Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
One day, it will be on the front page of every newspaper, and the fact that I don’t even have to specify what “it” is says it all
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I put a call out for mural walls yesterday and I got a lot of VERY good walls for projects of a variety of scales. Unfortunately I have only sold enough shirts this summer to cover 2 of those walls. This means more people need to buy shirts. Thems the breaks. More shirts more art. SquidFacts.Net
a bunch of people in our shirts, including our biology is bigger than binaries shirt, adam whose poor head got cut off in his montage in our plant native plants shirt, a blonde dude in the shrimp shirt, and Jay in oue firefly squid shirt  in the dark forest
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Welcome, muhahahahahahahahaha Shellies were also the first cichlid that I spawned!!!
static.klipy.com
Emperor Palpatine's 'Gooooood'
ALT: Emperor Palpatine's 'Gooooood'
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
“It could take at least a year for OMB to respond to the comments and amend the draft rule”. Friends, this is a direct result of our collective action. The OMB Rule that would require political review of grants has prompted at least 50K comments. Thanks to all who commented, and you still can.
nytimes.com
A Proposed Rule Would Politicize Medical Research. Scientists Are Not Happy.
In tens of thousands of comments, researchers, doctors and others warned the rule could hamper progress on important health issues.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 04/07/2026
1. A bit of evolutionary biology. I'm really intrigued by a new perspective piece from Steve Frank that explores connections between how natural selection creates systems that generalize and recent work in machine learning about the surprising capabilities of massively overparameterized systems.
academic.oup.com
Generalization as the great leap in evolvability: insights from machine learning
Abstract. Natural selection encodes learned information in the genome. Learned solutions may be tuned specifically to past challenges, failing in altered e
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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
This is the NIH grant screening disfavored words list published by Nature: media.nature.com/original/mag...
media.nature.com
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sadvil 😎 @sadvil.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
literally watergate
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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 22/06/2026
lol
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 06/06/2026
Let's Streisand-effect these people. Here's the editorial that somehow merited calling the cops. Read and share.
diabetesjournals.org
Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
The opinions expressed in this editorial are the personal views of the authors (S.E. Kahn, C.A.M. Anderson, J.B. Buse, and E. Selvin) and do not represent
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Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Twenty five years on from Dolph Schluter's book "The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation" that reshaped the way adaptive radiation was studied, this review revisits key questions raised to evaluate the progress made over the past quarter century, 8 of which remain unresolved...🌍🧪👇
doi.org
‘The ecology of adaptive radiation’ revisited: A 25-year reflection
Abstract. Twenty-five years ago, the book The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation by Dolph Schluter presented a testable framework that integrated ecology, genet
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 29/05/2026
NEW: A lot of bad has happened to American science over the last year but nothing comes even close to what’s about to happen if we don’t speak out in opposition to the OMB rule changes and I hope @aaas-socsci.bsky.social @apsphysics.bsky.social and others will launch public campaigns about this. 🧪🔭⚛️
news.chanda.science
It's the End of American Science As We Know It
We have 45 days to express our opposition to catastrophic changes.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/05/2026
impartial scientific research is the enemy of despotism and so naturally vought wants to destroy it
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feña Palominos @fishfena.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Feeling like it's officially #pupfishweek, so here's another one of my favorite videos but this time from the field! I took this video of a cutely colorful male #Cyprinodon beltrani while swimming in less than a meter of water in Laguna Chichancanab during our last field season with … 🧵👇
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
And, I must credit one of the original things that inspired me in this quest - this video! Watch to learn more about the role of lanternfishes in the global carbon cycle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Kp...
youtube.com
How this tiny Fish is Cooling our Planet
YouTube video by Deep Dive
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I became obsessed with these questions around 2021, leading to my first Scripps (1-day) research cruise in 2024 with @arciladk.bsky.social where we collected the specimens sequenced for this project.
The Mexican lampfish, Triphoturus mexicanus, collected off San Diego in 2026. Note the iridescent photophores forming a species-characteristic pattern on the side of the fish.
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
What's the most abundant vertebrate on earth? Forms a crucial link in the global #carbon cycle? And why don't we have any idea whether this group is adapting to #climate change and ocean #acidification? Led by my postdoc @evolbyo.bsky.social and #NSF funded - now we know! #lanternfish 🐟🏮💡🌊
biorxiv.org
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
NIH funded peeps: This is insane and coming for us.
For FY 2026 RPPRs:
If there are any publications with a foreign co-author, a statement submitted through the Signing Official (SO) confirming the author will no longer publish or collaborate with the foreign partner is sufficient to show the collaboration has ended. Also indicate that no IDeA money was transferred via subcontract to an institution in a foreign country. This path will minimize delays.For FY2027 RPPRs onward:
Pls are required to submit prior approval requests for any publication co-authored with individual(s) affiliated with a foreign institution(s).
Per NOT-OD-26-026, prior approval requests must be initiated and submitted by a SO for the recipient organization.
In addition to noting the foreign site and the name of the foreign investigator, the prior approval request should provide information about the nature of the research being conducted; why the involvement of the foreign site is necessary; and whether any data will be transferred.
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Three panel comic. Panel 1: a girl sitting across from someone at a table in a restaurant. There’s a basket of some fried food and a glass of wine on the table. The girl, looking off, says “ever since your head got swapped with a viperfish—“ Panel 2: she continues, “it’s like… you’re a totally different person.” The girls expression is one of quiet pain. Panel 3: a guy with a viperfish for a head is sitting across from her at the table. He points to the food between them and asks, “were you gonna eat that last calamari?”
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Skye @simplyskye.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Mamdani: I cannot help but think of the words of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan. He famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the govt & I'm here to help'" I think nine more terrifying words are actually, "I worked all day and can't feed my family"
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Congratulations, Emily!!!
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 15/05/2026
Just laughing at how it’s possible for a black woman to be so beautiful and talented that she sends a racist into a six day public stroke
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 08/05/2026
One side is like “can we disenfranchise all the Black voters by this weekend” and the other is like gotta follow the rules that govern the rules that control the rulebook
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I'm on NPR "All Things Considered" today talking about the near-extinction of the Devils Hole pupfish this past year and the federal agency management chaos that ensued! 🐟😈🕳️ www.npr.org/2026/05/07/n...
npr.org
As federal scientists faced turmoil, the Devils Hole pupfish reached a crisis point
The Devils hole pupfish lives in just one spot in Death Valley. Wildlife officials have managed this iconic fish for decades, and last spring, just as the Trump administration was laying off all kinds...
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Oh fun! Well, keep us in mind if you're ever on a cruise collecting myctophids that no one wants! We'd love to collaborate! Also --- we are openly looking for someone / anyone with marine snow samples from known depths that are well preserved in a -80 or liquid nitrogen. Do you know of anyone?!
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Are you collecting Myctophids or Cyclothone on this cruise? Or tossing them overboard?
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HulloThere @jethroreading32.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Move over "cellar door", "distinctively ornamented ichthyolith" is the new most beautiful phrase in the English language
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Mike Feher @saxmike71.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Same energy:
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Exactly 💯 I did the same with our funded NSF climate change adaptation grant in 2025
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
You ever try to code switch at work and fail? 😂
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I hate when fantasy films I made a long time ago begin to come true in real life.
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Chris Martin @fishspeciation.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
AOC all the way!!!!!! Siemens high school science fair award winner, too ☺️
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Colton the fish sp💀💀ker 🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Tiny shellear fish in central Africa scale a 50-foot vertical waterfall using suction cups and tiny hooks. This convergent evolution places them with some island gobies and Brazilian bumblebee catfish, who all do world class bouldering. 🐟🌍 phys.org/news/2026-04...
phys.org
Tiny African fish caught climbing to the top of a 50-foot waterfall
For over half a century, people in Central Africa have told tales of the fish seen climbing waterfalls, but these claims have never been officially confirmed. Now, these fish have finally been caught ...
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andy™ @andylevy.net · 03/04/2026
you, a naive fool: i do believe there are some things the nytimes won’t both sides the nytimes:
actual nytimes headline 

FEMA Official Says He Teleported to Waffle House. Experts Are Dubious.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Omg! Huge shoutout to San Francisco, CA! Ocean Beach, you crushed it! 🌊
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
If we want to motivate voters of all ages, we have to try something different. I propose kindness, authenticity, and unapologetic progressivism. People power over entrenched power. That’s the future.
USA TODAY STORY: 

Kat Abughazaleh is speaking to Gen Z. Democrats should listen. | Opinion

What I hope Democrats glean from Kat Abughazaleh's campaign, regardless of whether she wins, is that Gen Z is not content being fed the same talking points Democrats have been making since 2016.

By Sara Pequeño USA TODAY
Updated March 16, 2026, 11:29 a.m. ET

Photo of Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh addresses supporters in Chicago after pleading not guilty Nov. 12, 2025, to charges filed in connection with a protest against the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. Michael Lori/USA TODAYDuring a February debate hosted by Fox 32 Chicago, Kat Abughazaleh said everything I've seen my friends say on Instagram in the past two years.

And there was no skirting around sensitive subjects during her answers. The candidate running for Illinois' gth Congressional District in the U.S. House called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Abughazaleh called the actions of Israel a "genocide" and labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal." She brought up concerns about artificial intelligence and plugged her campaign office, which doubles as a mutual aid hub to help constituents in need.

The former journalist and content creator had several moments where she looked directly into the camera and talked to viewers directly - at one point even pulling a brief "Office"-style glance at the camera while her opponents, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and state Sen. Laura Fine, bickered over the involvement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the Democratic race.

Yet throughout everything, Abughazaleh's values shine through.

Her campaign office's mutual aid hub has served thousands in the community and is proving to Democrats that there are things they could be doing now to help their communities. She has been admonished by Democratic politicos who feel her campaign is radical, yet the same people want to see the party capture authenticity like hers.

Photo of Kat, main headshot."So much of our campaign has been experimental and honestly laughed at by a lot of people who have been in politics for a long time," Abughazaleh said. "And then they see that it works, and then they get mad."

They get more than mad - they get scared. They're scared of losing power, and they're scared that someone with no political experience but the values they're scared to espouse is getting so much attention for being what the Democratic Party has been scared to be.

"It's been almost a year now, and this campaign has been run by the hard work and faith of so many incredible people from our staff to our volunteers, and the entire time we have been told that we have no chance, that we have no shot, that this could never work," Abughazaleh said. "And now organizations like AIPAC are panicking because they realize that we're going to win. And we knew the entire time."

What I hope Democratic leaders glean from Abughazaleh's campaign for U.S. Congress, regardless of whether she wins, is that Gen Z is not content being fed the same talking points Democrats have been making since 2016. We want to see the party take charge and do everything in its power to help people. And if we don't get it from those now in office, we will happily run to replace them.
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted. What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards. Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success.

Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
The boycott of OpenAI(ChatGPT) has now surpassed 4 million. We’re also seeing many small businesses (and even some mid-sized companies) cancel their subscriptions. One of the most amazing things over the past year has been watching consumers remind big corporations just how much power they have.
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