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Will Bugg

@wbuggiii.bsky.social
2.3K followers 815 following 52 posts

Liber Ero Fellow PhD from the University of Manitoba. Postdoc with UBC and PSF. Conservation and physiological responses to environmental stressors. From NC -> AL -> MB -> BC.

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Reposted by Will Bugg
Seth Finnegan @sethf.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My home department (Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley) is searching for an assistant professor in ecology—please distribute widely! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05489
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
Assistant Professor –Ecology- Integrative Biology
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
in the phase of realizing getting grants means actually having to do what’s in the grant what do you mean i can’t just play with sturgeon in the field?? plz send help 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🦑🐟🌐 (anyway here’s a pic of the cutest baby sturgeon ever)
a small juvenile sturgeon held in a yellowsampling sling submerged in water
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
happy #sturgeonsaturday on sunday! we’re so back baby! 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌐🌎🦑🐟 in addition to the population stressor sampling I’ve been doing we’re adding acoustic telemetry to track where sturgeon are and how they are doing at the same time this will let us analyze stress patterns and habitat use together 🫡
madison and morgan holding a white sturgeon after sampling prior to release
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
happy #sturgeonsaturday !! In honor of my field season starting tomorrow please enjoy this beautiful and chaotic sturgeon release from last season lmk if there is something yall wanna see or ask about sturgeon while we get ready for our first day on the river this year!! 🌐🌎🧪👩🏻‍🔬🐟🦑
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ProfColinBean @profcolinbean.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Atlantic Salmon post-smolt migration from Canadian rivers to the Labrador Sea: routes, timing, and influence of sea surface temperature. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 83: 1-31. doi.org/10.1139/cjfa...
doi.org
Atlantic Salmon post-smolt migration from Canadian rivers to the Labrador Sea: routes, timing, and influence of sea surface temperature
Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) populations are at historic lows, primarily due to poor marine survival, and knowledge gaps regarding their migration limit our ability to identify population-specific st...
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Dr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
GARgantuan thank you to @governorwalz.mn.gov for recognizing the value of our native fishes! FINtastic meeting him AND getting getting a photoGARph! #NativeFishDay
Several native fish conservationists, anglers, scientists, and agency managers stand with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen…with a big plush gar!
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Dr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Enthusiasm from @governorwalz.mn.gov to hold the gar was real! Also appreciate him getting pics with the NEXT generation of native fish conservationists! Thanks again to Minnesotans and folks everywhere for their support of native fish! #NativeFishDay
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Will Bugg @wbuggiii.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
New research detailing high throughput sturgeon molecular tools developed by @biologyhossein.bsky.social is now live! Here we developed and tested assays across sturgeon species to evaluate impacts across a variety of pathways induced by thermal stress 🧪🌎🌐🐟 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Juvenile lake sturgeon
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Hossein Haghighi @biologyhossein.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Our new paper is out! We developed a multispecies OpenArray™ chip to study cellular stress response in Acipenser species. The chip was used to measure the effects of acute thermal stress on Atlantic, lake, and shortnose sturgeon. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
High‐throughput multispecies quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays to study the effects of acute thermal stress in three species of Acipenser sturgeon
Fishes experience thermal stress in their natural environment that can be caused by natural or anthropogenic factors and can directly affect their physiology. In this study, we developed a multispeci...
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Stephen Murphy (smurph) @smurph.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I'll add only that if you're not already aware, Dr. @wbuggiii.bsky.social has been working with this lab. I'm not affiliated nor a genomics expert but the work they do is the *keystone* to resource management, restoration (that is me), & conservation per founder & now emeritus lead Dr. Kristi Miller
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
super super important read!! DFO cuts are directly gutting pacific salmon research and conservation by cutting a CRUCIAL lab & associated members responsible for identifying the stressors and pathogens leading to population decline!!! 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌐🌎
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Will Bugg @wbuggiii.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Ongoing DFO cuts to the Genomics Program and across the organization further compromise the capacity to conduct critical research evaluating the impacts of cumulative stressors and pathogens on salmon survival and to aid in the conservation of imperiled stocks 🧪🌎🌐🦑🐟 thetyee.ca/News/2026/04...
thetyee.ca
Salmon Scientists Warn the DFO Is Killing a Crucial Lab | The Tyee
The genomics program opened up the ‘black box’ of wild fish research. Former and current staff say it’s been gutted.
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Louie Lopez @pinoyplankton.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
New Perspective paper is out! We reviewed how eDNA is currently used for biodiversity monitoring in Southeast Asia and developed recommendations to strengthen its regional application. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Louie Lopez @pinoyplankton.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Our paper is out, focusing on design, validation, and implementation considerations for species-targeted eRNA assays to detect presence and physiological state! Some new ideas to ponder. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Design, Validation, and Implementation Considerations for Species‐Targeted Environmental RNA Assays to Detect Presence and Physiological State
Environmental RNA (eRNA) is emerging as a promising tool for detecting species presence and physiological condition, with its broader adoption expected to benefit from continued refinement of assay d...
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What happens *after* enemy release? In a new paper, we present 7 years of infection & immune trait dynamics in 16 lake populations of stickleback. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... This is definitely the longest-scale study I've done in my career, I'm very excited to see it out. 1/6
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UN Environment Programme @unep.org · 04/04/2026
Migratory freshwater fish are in steep decline due to pressures along their paths, including dams, altered flows, habitat degradation, pollution and unsustainable fishing. Restoring rivers and habitats cannot wait. Read the #CMSFreshwaterFishes report: www.cms.int/publication/...
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Benjamin Larue, Ph.D. @benjaminlarue.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Less dams, more fish! 🐟🏞️ Restoring rivers and habitats cannot wait.
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
i made a sparkly moon mug in honor of the incredible scientific feat NASA astronauts are undertaking today 🌕 🌙💫 🧪🌎🌐👩🏻‍🔬 #nasa #moon #pottery
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
happy #sturgeonsaturday (on sunday)! 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌐🦑🌎 did you know that sturgeon rely heavily on scent & feel to find food rather than eyesight? in the photo you can see the barbels (like whiskers) & the 2 nostrils - which are basically the same size as the eye! these strong sniffers are quite impressive 👃
a large sturgeon in the Fraser river held by a smiling Madison on the nose and Chris on the tail. you can see the sturgeons face clearly highlighting the size of the nose and eyes
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
i mixed my two most frequent pastimes: worrying & pottery, with my love for the sea 🫶🏼 i always need to fidget with things, these are a sensory dream with a smooth & rougher side and i love them sm :) if this resonates with you the link is below💫🌞🌀 www.madisonearhart.com/pottery-coll...
speckled sand colored clay stones filled with a blue and white glaze that resembles the ocean and a wave crashing, on a hand  many speckled sand colored clay stones filled with a blue and white glaze that resembles the ocean and a wave crashing, on a white counter
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
happy #sturgeonsaturday ! this is the time of year that sturgeon wake up from their overwintering cuddling and move around in search of food! in the Fraser River, BC this usually aligns with the eulachon spawning run, a crucial sturgeon food source, full of fat after a long winter 🍽️ 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐🦑🐟
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
wanna follow a suuuper cool group of people leading a variety of conservation efforts??? look no further!!! @libererofellows.bsky.social starter pack is here 🤩 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🦑🐟🌐🌎
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
hiiiiiiiiii it’s me!!! i am so thrilled to announce i’m now a liber ero fellow!!! 🫶🏼💫🥰 so excited to start this journey and continue working in white sturgeon conservation i’ll be identifying population stressors that could be leading to mortalities and declines across british columbia 👩🏻‍🔬🧪🌐🌎🦑🐟
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libererofellows.bsky.social @libererofellows.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
We are pleased to announce the 2026 Liber Ero Fellows! liberero.ca/meet-the-fel...
liberero.ca
Meet The Fellows - Liber Ero Fellowship Program
We are pleased to announce the 2026 Liber Ero Fellows!     Mirjam Barrueto Project: Toward one hundred quiet zones: predicting, locating, and managing wolverine reproduction, connectivity, and source-...
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
new paper and illustrations 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐 We asked are embryos understudied in conservation physiology? Turns out, despite the increasing recognition of the ecological importance & sensitivity of embryos, we found no evidence that embryo research has gained traction over the past 10yrs paper link below👇🏼
Differences in the relative percentage of life stages exposed to climatic stressor(s) (a, c, e) or assessed for physiological traits (b, d, f) across the traits (top row), taxa (middle row), and climate change stressors surveyed (bottom row). Studies categorized in “development” yet assessing adult animals are studies measuring whole animal size, growth or measuring multiple life stages. Other stressors not captured by these broad categories (i.e. diet, UV radiation; n = 6) and studies investigating interactions between climatic and non-climatic stressors (n = 138) are not displayed for clarity. Note that the values do not correspond to strict percentages of studies because some studies have investigated multiple life stages, traits, taxa or stressors. Representative diagrams were drawn by me!
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Amanda Moehring @flybehaviour.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
hiiii it’s me!! as a pretty burnt out scientist but i’ve found joy again in making ceramics :) i’m working on my first small batch drop that will be inspired by my love of color and the natural world if you have instagram and want to be friends find me @madart_ceramics 👩🏻‍🔬🧪🌎🍒🫐🐚💫
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
i’ve been dabbling in pottery to keep some portion of my sanity together and turns out i super love it and want to make it my whole life 💫🥲 is this the scientist to artist pipeline? 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎 here are some to go cups i made recently! hand painted fruits on speckled clay #pottery #ceramics #handmade
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
happy #sturgeonsaturday yall 🧪👩🏻‍🔬 🌎 Did ya know that during winter sturgeon do a thing i call cuddle puddle? they find a deep hole to overwinter in & hang out cuddle puddling until spring! we are working to identify & protect these areas now support the sturgies, get a sticker: tinyurl.com/2fjnxy7w
a juvenile sturgeon madison is holding prior to release, this size sturgeon loves a cuddle puddle!3 sturgeon stickers created by madison, a white sturgeon, pallid sturgeon, and atlantic sturgeon
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
ice continues to kidnap, torture, and murder human beings across the US and right now, especially in Minneapolis proceeds from this sticker to mutual aid funds in MN abolish ice 👩🏻‍🔬🧪🌎🦑 🐟 www.madisonearhart.com/product-page...
a blue sticker that says ice out, with Liam Ramos bunny hat hanging on the O. Proceeds to mutual aid funds in Minneapolis
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Benjamin Larue, Ph.D. @benjaminlarue.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
What’s happening on the Bathurst calving grounds? We found strong spatiotemporal overlap between grizzlies and caribou during calving, highlighting potential risk during this sensitive period. Deeply grateful to the collaborators who made this work possible! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
yooo everyone!! will did a super cool study with big implications for salmon!! He was able to create biomarkers using teeny tiny pieces of gills (non lethal) to identify if a salmon is food limited or not this means they can go in the wild and determine if, when and where salmon are starving 🧪🌎👩🏻‍🔬
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Will Bugg @wbuggiii.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
New research out in @conphysjournal.bsky.social We use RNA sequencing to identify gill markers for food deprivation in Chinook salmon. academic.oup.com/conphys/arti... We will deploy these markers with panels for other stressors and pathogens to evaluate impacts on survival of wild salmon
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Pacific Salmon Foundation @psfca.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
PSF scientists, led by @wbuggiii.bsky.social, recently published a research breakthrough on identifying food deprivation in wild salmon. Learn more: academic.oup.com/conphys/arti...
academic.oup.com
Identification of food deprivation in salmonids using gill biomarkers
Abstract. Risk assessments have identified prey limitation as one of the strongest risk factors for juvenile salmon survival under climate change. In Briti
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
newwwww illustration below :) check out this sturgeon paper!!!
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Will Bugg @wbuggiii.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
What underlies plasticity and persistent enhanced growth following warm temperature exposure? We sequenced lake sturgeon muscle tissue to find out A variety of molecular mechanisms and cellular changes work together to increase muscular development across timescales 🧪🌎🌐🐠 tinyurl.com/mr2n2cvb
Graphical depiction of the changes to the muscle transcriptome that result in persistent enhanced growth phenotypes in lake sturgeon
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
sometimes I do field work in the most gorgeous water (Harrison river, BC) and you can see the sturgeon swim away forever 🥹 this is a nice close up of the scutes that cover sturgeon for protection, they have several rows of these bony plates that can be really sharp! #sturgeonsaturday 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
did you know we had ~80 huge sturgeon die this year (that we know of) in 2 BC rivers? These deaths occurred during the summer when the sockeye salmon were returning sturgeon eat many salmon at once, and this may be overloading their metabolic capacity during hot summers 😱 #sturgeonsaturday 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐
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Benjamin Larue, Ph.D. @benjaminlarue.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Wildlife deserves more than minimum viable populations. Conservation should aim for ecosystems where species can thrive, not just survive. 💥🦬🌲 👉 Read more:
theconversation.com
Wildlife recovery means more than just survival of a species
Current laws that deem species safe from extinction ignore their ecological role, geographic range and genetic diversity, as well as their relationships with people.
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
releasing these huuuuge sturgeon and watching them swim away is the best part of my job 🫶🏼 another week in the field complete, and one step closer to finding out what is harming these ancient fish 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐🦑 #sturgeonsaturday
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
climate change is causing larger temperature variations BUT we know very little about how variable temperatures impact sensitive, developing fish in this new study with @tblanchard.bsky.social & @trishschulte.bsky.social we found surprising impacts during development and after hatch!! 🧪👩🏻‍🔬 🐠 🌎 🌐👇🏼
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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Atlantic killifish are robust little fish, but now @tblanchard.bsky.social & co reveal that fluctuating temperatures while the embryos are developing in the egg can have beneficial and damaging consequences journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
A photo of two Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) embryos. Photo credit: Tessa Blanchard
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Tessa Blanchard @tblanchard.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Excited to share another paper from work I did during my PhD with @trishschulte.bsky.social and @madisonearhart.bsky.social. We looked at how fish embryos respond differently to constant and fluctuating temperatures! 🐟
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
#sturgeonsaturday 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐 the last 2 years i’ve been investigating why these giant fish are dying across BC and i’ve started to identify the stressors that could be driving mortality!! if you want to learn more, check out this video: tinyurl.com/4m4xxrkh tldr; it’s getting hot out here yall 🥵
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
in the field for #sturgeonsaturday ive spent the last 2 yrs investigating what is killing BC white sturgeon unfortunately, these deaths continue & we’ve had over 50 adult sturgeon die in the fraser river in the last ~6 weeks every fish i sample is another step closer to solving the mystery🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
hiiiii i’ve been mia for a bit but im back with looooots of field work photos - we’re doing some really cool sturgeon science this summer!! here i am, in my element holding my fave creature, trying to save the dinosaurs one sturgie at a time 🫶🏼 #sturgeonsaturday everyday 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🐟🌎🌐
madison holding a sturgeon prior to release on a boat in the fraser river
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
out of pure rage for the obliteration of science funding i made a sticker cuts are disproportionately impacting EC scientists & women~particularly Black women and women of color 25% of proceeds will go to @standupforscience.bsky.social to keep fighting! 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎 plz share widely tinyurl.com/5n7kjbwt
a sticker illustrating 3 women wearing an NSF lab coat, a NASA shirt, and NIH scrubs with the phrase girls just wanna have funds underneath. a portion of proceeds from this sticker will go directly to stand up for science to support funding initiatives  the same sticker in the wild on my very dented water bottle with the ocean in the background
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
i was recently interviewed by @csz-sczofficial.bsky.social about my phd, science, art, really all things 👩🏻‍🔬🧪🐠🌎 still over the moon i got this award, sometimes i am still reminding myself that i did a phd 🥲 check it out! 👇🏼 blog.csz-scz.ca/2025/06/30/s...
a screenshot of the interview page showing a picture of madison and a blurb describing the csz outstanding thesis award
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Madison Earhart, PhD @madisonearhart.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
the horrors persist, but so do closeups of baby sturgeon everyone say hi to the cutest fish alive!! #sturgeonsaturday 🧪👩🏻‍🔬🌎🌐
a close up of a baby sturgeon, in water, held in a yellow sling
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