@friel.bsky.social
Director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History • He/Him • 🐟Zoologist 🦈 • https://linktr.ee/john.friel
@the-episiarch.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialWorms? NO!
GIANT BACTERIA
Epulopiscium is a type of bacteria that lives in the gut of surgeonfishes. It can grow to 0.6 mm in length and instead of reproducing by dividing into two cells like most bacteria, they actually give birth to live offspring 🧪
www.cell.com/trends/micro...
@blackmammalogists.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.social#BMW2026RollCall: Alex Troutman!
Alex Troutman @n8ture-al.bsky.social is a wildlife biologist & author. He has several years of experience in the field, working with various wildlife species. Find him here or on Instagram & twitter as @N8ture_AL.
@andyfarke.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialSoCal paleo crew! CSU San Bernardino is looking for a paleontologist to teach GEOL 3500 (Intro Paleo) in person for the spring 2027 semester - M.Sc. required, Ph.D. preferred. General info here: careers.csusb.edu/en-us/job/56... - Interested candidates should contact Dr. Claire Todd, dept. chair.
@aibsbiology.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialAIBS has sent a letter to the leadership of Fort Hays State University and the Kansas Board of Regents expressing concern over reports that the university may close the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. #FHSU www.aibs.org/news/2026/26...
@gugunderwater.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialIt’s hard to imagine that this stunningly beautiful larval-stage cardinalfish will metamorphose into one of the most average, common, and most overlooked fish of Bali’s reefs. In other locations, this would be a once-in-a-lifetime prize find on any blackwater dive, but here in Bali, it’s common-ish
@rosemarymosco.comReposted by @friel.bsky.socialFossil nerds/paleontologists: A friend has a cool kid in the US looking for a fossil adventure for his make a wish trip after cancer treatment. Any suggestions for a place to travel and see or dig up fossils?
@royalsocietypublishing.orgReposted by @friel.bsky.socialThis study from #ProcB examines how developmental changes in gene regulation may have contributed to rapid ecological diversification in Lake Victoria cichlid fishes doi.org/10.1098/rspb... | #Ecology #Evolution #MolecularBiology
@paleonerdspod.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialJust a reminder...🐟 Art by our own Ray Troll.
@friel.bsky.socialI just found a reference online and it is indeed Eocene, but from a brackish or marine deposit. While still not formally described it has been by cited as "Titanoglanis".
@friel.bsky.socialSounds like it is overdue for a shark oil change.
@friel.bsky.socialIf I recall correctly it is from an Eocene freshwater site. I think I have some old hand written notes that John and I took on the specimen. It seems to have affinities with arriid catfishes based on the skull and nuchal plate elements.
@friel.bsky.socialI got to examine this amazing specimen first hand while it was in John Lundberg's lab at Duke. He was slowly working on its description but it has not yet been published. Not sure of its current whereabouts, but it could possibly be at ANSP since he worked there last before retiring.
@friel.bsky.socialNeil Landman, Curator Emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, reflects on his journey into paleontology, the aesthetic beauty and biology of #ammonites, and his groundbreaking research on post-impact survival near the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction boundary.
@friedmanlab.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialA portion of the late-surviving osteostracan Escuminaspis from the Late Devonian of Miguasha (UMMP VP 110611) for #FossilFriday.
@fossildetective.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialWe're looking for a lecturer in the Biology and Marine Biology Department at UNCW!
I very much love my new department - if you are passionate about teaching and have expertise in anatomy and physiology, biodiversity, genetics, or microbiology, please consider applying!
@friel.bsky.socialOh, so now the Onion wants in on the #FossilFriday fun.
@friel.bsky.socialThis reminds me of the two-headed bull shark pup described in 2013.
@sabs.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.social🧪 probably a long shot, but: has anyone heard of a two-headed trout specimen named Cuthbert the Great?
the specimen allegedly went to the AMNH in 1940 but the museum has no record of it. trying to track down Cuthbert.
www.nytimes.com/1944/08/13/a...
@jdpardo.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialI suppose it's #fossilfriday so here's the skull of the Permian coelacanth Spermatodus from Texas, courtesy of the AMNH.
@cambriancam.bsky.socialReposted by @friel.bsky.socialWelcome back to #fossilfirday here is a 3D print of a hadrosaur tooth next to a photo of the original specimen that was collected in the Upper Cretaceous (Late Santonian) Eutaw Formation in Green County, Alabama. The tooth was collected in July of 2025 by @friel.bsky.social.
