I enjoyed David's talk this summer at #JMIH25 and appreciate the blog post with all of the graphs. Thanks for sharing this in the literature @whysharksmatter.bsky.social !

Update on my "Twitter sucks now, stop using it, but social media is still good, here's what to do instead" talk at #JMIH25 last week: There were about 100 people in the room, and 14 of them have signed up for Bluesky using the QR code starter pack I shared in the meeting.

Not bad.

The bottom corner of Kannon's presentation slide showing the autogenerated caption "I'd like to thank my funding sources"

The bottom corner of Kannon's presentation slide showing the autogenerated caption "in particular, the gay and struggling fellowship"

At the end of my #JMIH25 presentation, I thanked the Carl Gans Travelling Fellowship for funding my attendance. The auto-generated caption software heard something VERY different ☠️🏳️‍🌈

Arguably my most important contribution to #JMIH25 this year: Team Shark, Herp, and Fish pins! Open to suggestions of what species to include next year 🦎🐠🐍🦈

Being part of @prosanta.bsky.social's lab was a large, and formative, part of my academic upbringing. Glad I got see so many past and present lab members at this year's #JMIH25 meeting

A black, white, and orange tortoiseshell cat smiles blissfully as she gets head rubs.

Had an amazing time as always at #JMIH25 #AES25 meeting up with old friends, making new connections, getting ideas for future collaborative projects, and learning about all the cool 🦈 research.

Hope to be in New Orleans next year with everyone!

But my kitty is very happy to have me home now 😉

And that’s a wrap on #JMIH25. Come visit us for the party next year in NOLA! Our team from the Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute and the other local hosts will be ready and waiting to help welcome everyone.

Milton and Roberto in front of a glass etched with fish

My lab had an awesome time at #JMIH25. Hope to see everyone next year!

What an absolute honor and delight to deliver the #JMIH25 keynote. The best part? Meeting so many wonderful people as a result, who I wouldn't have chatted with otherwise. We've got a good team, y'all. See you next year 💕

I’m so proud of Sadie and Jordan! They did a great job presenting their research on genetic and morphological examination of non-native New Mexico whiptail lizards. #JMIH25

And that’s a wrap on #jmih25! Great posters were presented by @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @jessdflores.bsky.social, @romanferraro.bsky.social and others from the @nhm.org Dept of Ichthyology. Overall a good time in St. Paul, MN!

Differential gene expression was observed between tissues, species, and reproductive modes (asexual vs sexual) in whiptail lizards by Josh Rivera. Very cool! #JMIH25

Higher rates of amino-acid changing mutations in a hybrid unisexual whiptail species compared to its parental species with lots of variation in different gene categories- super cool findings by Zoë Müller! #JMIH25

James Albert standing on stage by slide on Ecology & Evolution of Amazonian Fishes #JMIH25

James Albert @gymnotus.bsky.social announcing the upcoming new book on Neotropical fish ecology and evolution #JMIH25

#AES25 #JMIH25

From 3:30 to 4:00 (store close), the AES store is having a sale of 25% off!! Come get your last minute elasmoswag!

Shannon Kuznar standing by slide titled "Little River, Big Telencephalon: Correlations id Major Brain Region Sizes with Ecological Traits in Gymnotiformes"

Shannon Kuznar talking on "Little River, Big Telencephalon: Correlations id Major Brain Region Sizes with Ecological Traits in Gymnotiformes" #JMIH25

Patricia Hernandez with slide titled "Species-depauperate gonorynchiforms rival much more species clades in cranial diversity"

@phernandez.bsky.social talking on behalf of Allyson Evans on "Species-depauperate gonorynchiforms rival much more species clades in cranial diversity" #JMIH25

#AES25 #JMIH25 Can't count on MPAs solely to protect sharks, and need fishing management. Also, not all fishing effort data is available to everyone, so there is underestimation in calculations.

#AES25 #JMIH25 The silky sharks are hit by fishing pressures, so MPAs in the Galapagos were analyzed. Females use a wide expanse compared to males. 10 MPAs were analyzed. Not all MPAs are equal, though across the world.

#AES25 #JMIH25 Finally, Jeremy Vaudo talking about silky sharks and MPAs

#AES25 #JMIH25 ...more research would need to look at this latter data. However, we see large family groups. No kin are seen between the Bahamas and FL, showing distinct populations.

#AES25 #JMIH25 From genetic data on samples, there is low genetic diversity, and there was evidence of some parthenogenesis. Females can potentially reproduce annually, and there is evidence of full siblings in different cohorts, which could show remating or sperm storage

#AES25 #JMIH25 We are lacking abundance estimates from prior to the decline and after so we can accurately calculate what the requirements would be for the species to be considered recovered enough to be removed from the ESA eventually (if possible).

#AES25 #JMIH25
Dom Swift looking at Assessing the recovery of the smalltooth sawfish based on genomics.

#AES25 #JMIH25 Not every area had positive detections, but Panama and Peru did. Others are running surveys in the east Pacific and Atlantic. eDNA is a useful tool which can be explored more

#AES25 #JMIH25 Two distinct lineages of largetooth Sawfish, one of which in Australia we know about, but not the east Pacific. Phillips and team collected eDNA samples in Panama, Colombia, and Peru

#AES25 #JMIH25
Phillips has created species-specific Droplet Digital PCR assays to isolate for the DNA of the target.
It is cost-effective, not necessarily cheap, for presence and it's efficient.

#AES25 #JMIH25
Of the threatened elasmobranchs, the rhino rays are the most threatened families, especially vulnerable to fishing pressures. To prevent extinction, there's a lot of components and work to be done, but first we need to know where they persist. Phillips is using eDNA

#AES25 #JMIH25
Next Nicole Phillips searching for largetooth Sawfish in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

A sawfish sits on the bottom of an aquarium tank

A sandbar shark swims through an aquarium tank

An alligator gar in an aquarium

A bowmouth guitarfish in an aquarium

For those at #JMIH25 or #AES25, I can recommend a visit to the aquarium at the Mall of America if you still have time. Lots of cool elasmos and also cool freshwater fish (Gar for @solomonrdavid.bsky.social 😉)