John P. Friel, Ph.D.

Shark!

The image shows a logo for the Alabama Museum of Natural History. It features a stylized Red Hills Salamander above the museum's name, set against a circular maroon background.

This image is a card featuring the "Crow Shark," with 100 HP. The card displays various shark teeth shown in the center, labeled "Squalicorax sp. 6.5 - 10 ft in length." The attack described is "Carrion Bite," with a damage of 40. The text notes extra damage if the opponent's Fossil has damage counters. It mentions Crow sharks' scavenging nature and similarity to modern sharks, noting their fossils are found in Late Cretaceous sea beds. Weakness, resistance, and retreat icons are also present.

This image depicts a Pokémon trading card featuring "Goblin Shark." The card displays an illustration of various shark teeth. Text below provides biological information about Scapanorhynchus texanus, stating it is 10 to 13 feet in length. The card details an attack called "Protrusible Jaw Strike" with a power of 40. Weakness, resistance, and retreat cost symbols are present. A textbox explains the abilities and characteristics of goblin sharks, including electoreceptors. The card's health points are labeled as 100, and its design features aquatic-themed graphics.

Two colorful trading cards titled "Crow Shark" are displayed on a bed of small rocks. The cards feature rainbow holographic effects with text describing creature abilities like "Carrion Bite."

Since February 27 is recognized as #PokemonDay, here's a look at the cards (which included holographic Shiny Pokemon Cards) that University of Alabama student Maddy Phillips (Madison Phillips Designs) created for our "Family Day at the Museum" event!

Tail skeletons of Oncorhynchus rastrosus in a sandstone slab

A well-preserved, about 30 cm long skull of Oncorhynchus rastrosus

A smaller skull of Oncorhynchus rastrosus with laterally projecting tusks

Win McLaughlin and master's student Andy Quintanilla survey fossil Oncorhynchus specimens

#fossilfriday Oregon, part 2 - I saw some beautifully preserved gigantic fish while visiting UOMNH in Eugene - the saber toothed salmon, "Smilodonichthys", recently reclassified as Oncorhynchus rastrosus.

Why is cockfighting a risk to Peru’s rarest fish? PERU — The film uncovers the connection between one of Peru’s most iconic cultural traditions and one of its most endangered marine species. In northern fishing communities, the rostral teeth of the…

In northern fishing communities, the rostral teeth of the largetooth sawfish, once thought extinct in the waters off Peru, have long been carved into razor-sharp spurs for cockfights news.mongabay.com/video/2026/0...

Last week, amidst the hoopla over a new Speen, @fishfetisher.bsky.social suggested a review of naming papers in fancy journals in response to a post by @daveyfwright.bsky.social - I got bored after work and now I have (some) data!

🧵👇

#FossilFriday
#CharismaticTaxaAreOverrated

Bumping to the Fishes! and Science feeds. 🐟🧪

North Texas dinosaur park at center of fight over massive data center A sprawling data center proposal sparks growing backlash in North Texas.

www.chron.com/life/wildlif...

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

a group of people are standing in a circle around a work table in a storage office surrounded by metal cabinets with a person in the middle talking and holding a tray of large black shark teeth

How many fossils does it take to accurately train an image-based AI algorithm? According to a new study, the answer is much smaller than previously thought, with big implications for the field of paleontology.

Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/vert...

Study: doi.org/10.1017/pab....

A few years back, a very unexpected relationship was found between Cichlids and convict fish. We have now explored this relationship further, and found that it might not be nearly as clear as once thought..... (photo by Ian Roussopoulos)
www.sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S105....

Episode #95, From Fossils 🦴 to Film 📽 and the Science of Motion with Stuart Sumida, is out now!

Ray and Dave talk with vertebrate paleontologist Stuart Sumida about his work advising filmmakers and animators on how animals should move and behave.

🔊 Listen now! www.paleonerds.com/podcast/stua...

They hate it when you call them insentient.

We are devastated to learn about the passing of the great palaeontologist Hans Sues.

May his legacy live on through all that knew him and the students he mentored. Our thoughts are with his family at this incredibly difficult time 💔.

🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...

We have 30 members now!!!!!! Super excited to help build some community, and we would be happy to have anyone else join. 🥰

Rapid and repeated evolution of pigmentation patterns in reef fishes - BMC Biology Background Pigmentation patterns are central to animal biology—shaping camouflage, signaling, and mate selection—and uncovering the mechanisms driving their diversification is key to understanding the...

Rapid and repeated evolution of pigmentation patterns in reef fishes

#ichthyology

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Heroes aren’t born. They’re built. Join us at the Alabama Museum of Natural History on February 21 from 1-4:00 p.m. for “Family Day at the Museum”! This is a free hands-on exploration of subjects being studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students.

Video: UA Student Anna Mullins

Please enjoy some speculative reconstruction humor for #FossilFriday

Based on available data for living species, there are 37,520 species of non-tetrapod fishes vs. 33,281 tetrapod species. 🤓 #TheMoreYouKnow

Source for non-tetrapod fish species data: researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ich...

Source for tetrapod species data:
zenodo.org/records/1053...

Pokémon themed card featuring fossil shark teeth from Squalicorax.

Pokémon themed card featuring fossil shark teeth from Scapanorhynchus.

Gotta Catch 'Em All! Behold these #Pokémon themed cards created by #ALMNH staff and students for an upcoming public event. Each card features common fossil shark teeth found in the Black Belt region of Alabama. #FossilFriday

Bacterial bioluminescent wavelengths elicit biofluorescent emissions in the ponyfish genus Deveximentum - Marine Biology Marine Biology - Ponyfishes (Leiognathidae) are an Indo-Pacific family characterized by an anatomically complex system comprising highly sexually-dimorphic circumesophageal light organs and...

Awesome # ichthyology work by
@lampichthys.bsky.social
and co.

A pugnosed ponyfish that glows two ways:

Bacterial bioluminescent wavelengths elicit biofluorescent emissions in the ponyfish genus Deveximentum

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I want to believe a real Sea Toad is moderating this episode.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_toad

Looking for something Marsh-velous to do this weekend? Visit the Alabama Museum of Natural History on February 21 from 1-4 p.m. for “Family Day”! This event is a free hands-on exploration of subjects studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students.

Video: UA Student Anna Mullins

SCIENCE IRL: SciComm mini-grant 2026 Skype a Scientist is offering $300-$1,000 mini-grants to support boots-on-the-ground science communication. The Science IRL mini-grants will support projects that put either 1) important science mess...

🚨🚨🚨
Attention science communicators!
🚨🚨🚨

The 2026 Science IRL mini-grant application is NOW OPEN!

Submit your creative ideas for connecting people with actionable science information *offline*.

The deadline for this round of grants is March 23, 2026.

Apply here!
forms.gle/4emvpRPddmEt...

Don’t be invisible and see us at the Alabama Museum of Natural History this February 21 from 1-4:00 p.m. for “Family Day at the Museum”! This event is a free and family-friendly hands-on exploration of subjects being studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students.

Video: Anna Mullins

“Family Day at the Museum” at the Alabama Museum of Natural History is going to be terrific! Join us on February 21 from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.! Enjoy a free hands-on exploration of subjects being studied by The University of Alabama’s Graduate Students.

Video: UA Student Anna Mullins

illustration of world map showing pinpoints for shark attacks clustered heavily around the Australian and United States coasts with the label Shark Bites 2025, all of which are detailed in reports and charts through the linked article

a graphic titled Shark Bites 2025 with a pie charts showing the top 7 states by shark bites and tips to reduce risks, as well as several stats all presented in detail on the report story in link. The top states in order are Florida, California, Hawaii, South Carolina, New York, North Carolina and Texas. Notes are the 100 percent drop in bites over 2024, and that there are 548 known shark species but only 13 known to have bitten people 10 or more times ever

a bar chart covering thirty years from 1996 through 2025 with the very lower part of each bar in orange showing fatalities and the rest of each bar in yellow showing bites, highlighting 20 year global average of 71 bites and 6 fatalities, and a chart that shows2025 higher than 2024 but lower than 2023, all information available in detail on the report story in link

Our annual shark bite report for 2025 is now available online. The global shark bite numbers return to average last year, with a smaller proportion in the United States.

📉 Full story and data: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/glob...

Summary report: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/shark-attack...

Male Copulatory Structures in Reproductively Functional Female Live‐Bearing Fish Pseudopoecilia fria We recently discovered a population of the live-bearing fish Pseudopoecilia fria (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae), in which females were found to possess gonopodia, reproductive organs normally excl...

One of the coolest ichthyology discoveries I’ve heard about in a while. Large pregnant female livebearers with male reproductive organs found in the wild. Goes to show how fluid sex and sexual traits can be.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Manuelli, L., Clément, G., Herbin, M. et al. A dual respiratory and auditory function for the coelacanth lung. Commun Biol (2026). 🐟🧪

doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Reappraisal of the extinct barbelthroat shark †Bavariscyllium and the nebulous origin of carcharhiniform galeomorphs - Communications Biology Reassessment of the Jurassic shark †Bavariscyllium challenges understanding of early galeomorph evolution, showing these sharks explored diverse body forms, predating the divergence of most major body...

Stumpf, S., Türtscher, J., López-Romero, F.A. et al. Reappraisal of the extinct barbelthroat shark †Bavariscyllium and the nebulous origin of carcharhiniform galeomorphs. Commun Biol 9, 158 (2026). 🦈🧪

doi.org/10.1038/s420...