Alexander Kotrschal

Zebra finches produce soft laryngeal whistles during thermal panting that are not adaptive vocal signals Zebra finch heat calls are suggested to have close-range communicative relevance in the global temperature rise context. Anttonen et al. identify the biophysical mechanism underlying these vocalizatio...

www.cell.com/current-biol...

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

We're looking for a new postdoc on our new BBSCR grant (Graham Taylor/Tim Guilford/Cait Newport). See link below!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

How are invasive fish entering the Mediterranean Sea? A new study explores how shipping, currents and habitat factors carry alien species through the Suez Canal.

Invasive fish are entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, but what is causing them to spread? 🌍🐟

blog.pensoft.net/2025/09/18/h...

@pensoft.net

Seasonal size change and aging in shrews

PhD Alert! 😍 Our lab is hiring a PhD student to study how shrews shrink in winter and grow in spring. Yes, you read that right!
tinyurl.com/shrinkingshr...
Join us at the @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social, study a super cool animal, and join the @imprs-qbee.bsky.social community!

DM me for questions!

Vertical photo of a sperm whale with a giant squid in its mouth. The tentacles and body of the squid can be seen emerging between the teeth.

Ventral view of the same scene : a sperm whale with a giant squid in its mouth. The tentacles and body of the squid can be seen emerging between the teeth.

Just woke up from a social media pause and the first thing I see is an incredible footage of a sperm whale casually cruising with a giant squid in its mouth ??

🦑 🌊 🌿

Stunning!

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

It was a pleasure talking to Mary about our apparatus to take fish cognition research into the wild! 🐟🧠 Read it on Psychology Today ⬇️⬇️
with @kotrschal.bsky.social and @amydeacon.bsky.social

Wow, Wouter! What a cool paper. I am very impressed and super happy for you - and the guppy world 🐟🐟🐟

Ja, Neuntöter.

Yes, that is correct. Overall brood size did not differ, but the first clutch is larger in predation lines. That is perfectly in line with life history theory. That those offspring are also larger was surprising. Overall points towards 'all in early'

...thanks to postdoc Regina Vega Trejo and Hannah de Waele - this is her 'big' paper from her PhD. More on effects on cognition and social behaviour soon to come. How predation selects for swimming abilities in those selection lines came out yesterday: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

...but some 'classic' textbook traits — like color and brood size—didn’t shift. This project began with my first major grant to launch as an independent researcher in Sweden back in 2017—huge thanks to Vetenskapsrådet for believing in it! And....

How does predation shape evolution? We tested this with guppies, exposing them to real predators over 3 generations. Survivors evolved fast: bigger females with earlier broods, males with shorter tails and gonopodia. But...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Great news, congratulations! And well done, Cambridge, for snatching Prof. M!

😎

Haurotschwanz, ganz klar

An interesting day spent at the 1st European #Lionfish Conference in Crete and a great visit to the aquarium and HCMR.Thanks @kotrschal.bsky.social for organising.

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) Show Social Attraction to Conspecifics When Selecting Shelters Group formation in animals can arise from two primary mechanisms: individuals aggregating over resources, or individuals socially benefiting from interacting with conspecifics. Distinguishing between...

🚨 Our new paper is out now in Ethology. Here we show that #lionfish show social attraction to conspecifics when selecting shelters. doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Nice! Important finding and elegant experiment 🐠🐠

From Genes to Pathways: A Curated Gene Approach to Accurate Pathway Reconstruction in Teleost Fish Transcriptomics A curated gene list for teleost fish transcriptomics enhances the interpretation of high volumes of data by focusing on key biological processes. This resource bridges gaps in automated annotations, ....

From Genes to Pathways: A Curated Gene Approach to Accurate Pathway Reconstruction in Teleost Fish Transcriptomics

Hererra et al. 2025

Presents a curated gene list tailored for teleost fish transcriptomics

doi.org/10.1002/jez....

Great shot of a surprisingly elusive duck! My favourite duck as well.

Investigation of sex determination in African cichlids reveals lack of fixed sex chromosomes in wild populations Abstract. Sex chromosomes are theorized to stop recombining and become fixed, yet many taxa show ambiguous genomic signals of sex consistent with either co

#Sexchromosomes evolve rapidly in old #cichlid lineages and one chromosome appears several times but with different degrees of sex-association

@astridboehne.bsky.social @leibnizlib.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

A novel apparatus for studying fish cognition in the wild Fish show a huge variation of ecological, anatomical and behavioural traits, which makes them prime subjects for studying behaviour, cognition and their evolution. Lab-based studies allow a contro...

An idea that's been on the works for a long time has finally made it to the surface! We designed a foraging board to test cognition 🧠💡 and ➕ in multiple 🐟 species and habitats.
➡️ besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

2022? Or 2026?

Editor's job to intervene in such a case. Unfortunately, many editors seem to not put a lot of effort into properly reading referee comments before sending them out.

You can still enrol, we extended the deadline for the lionfish meeting until 15th of March.

Learn more about South Australia's new university for the future.

We are hiring!! 🦎🧠🐍 2 year postdoc to work on on the evolution of brains in snakes and lizards (on our current ARC Discovery project).

Applications close 25th March 2025!

careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51...

Sure, thanks!