FishEvo Zuzana Musilova

#deepsea #fish cabinet! In the #evolution exposition of the National Museum of Natural History in Prague. It glows in the dark!!😍 (my primary goal was to see Lucy, the #Australopithecus, but that’s a no photo zone:-)

New preprint!

“Climate-driven specialisation in plant–pollinator networks peaks outside the tropics”

Testing the long-debated latitudinal specialisation gradient using >3,400 quantitative networks (>110,000 interactions). Led by @saileesakhalkar.bsky.social and myself ☺️

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Our Special issue on Visual Ecology in Challenging Environments is out: #coral reef & #deep-sea fishes, #reindeers on polar daylight, #bioluminescence, non-visual #pigments & life in dark caves. Happy to co-edit with Sara Stieb + thks to all contributors! See in Functional Ecology: buff.ly/z5AYxZQ

So many diverse cory catfishes!!!😍 (no longer all in the Corydoras genus). Fascinatingly, their color mimicry evolved in parallel across different "cory" lineages. Spotted at the aquarium convention in Rychnov nad Kněžnou, Czechia 🐟🐟🐟.

Nobel laureate 🏅 Prof. Victor Ambros visited Charles University’s Faculty of Science, giving a packed lecture on “Development timers in a tiny worm!” 🪱 followed by lively discussion 💬. A big day for science 🔬✨

👉 1url.cz/TJV4P

FishEvo team at the #eseb2025 congress! We presented research on barbel, sturgeons, cichlids and deep-sea fishes. What a cool meeting and an inspirative atmosphere! Thanks everyone!

Excited to present our research on deep-sea fish vision at #eseb2025. Thanks everyone for coming to my talk!

Acquisition of neural crest promoted thyroid evolution from chordate endostyle Integration of neural crest cells into the endostyle developmental program promoted its evolution into the thyroid gland.

Excited to announce that our new paper is now published in Science Advances 🚀🧠 ‘Acquisition of neural crest promoted thyroid evolution from chordate endostyle’ — check it out here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Endless thanks to the incredible collaborators who brought this project to life—you’re the magic behind it all @dayyapparaja.bsky.social @urrutiahugo.bsky.social @jakeleyhr.bsky.social J.Stundlova, T. Solovieva, T. Haitina, S. Sanchez @fishevo.bsky.social M. Martik and my great boss Marianne Bronner

I am happy to share a new review article, as part of a future special issue on vision in challenging environments, led by @fishevo.bsky.social and @drfishvis.bsky.social

Pocket shark alert!:-) 😱😱😱 One of the gems found at a Taiwanese fish market: a tiny #lanternshark (Etmopterus). Some species mature at just ~20 cm - this one’s head was thumb-sized😍:) Deep sea never stops surprising:-) #DeepSea #shark💚💚💚

We're hiring a postdoc!👀
Join us to explore the amazing world of (deep-sea) fish vision! We're looking for a curious researcher to work with histology, FISH, and even crispr!
Apply by 14 July 2025.
Thks for sharing!
#PostdocJobs #DeepSea #FishVision #Evolution www.fishevo.com/open-postdoc...

i don't want it

I JUST NEED IT

TO BREATHE TO FEEL TO KNOW I'M ALIVE

An amazing talk on mesophotic fish given by @kaithefishguy.bsky.social 😱 at #IPFC12 in Taiwan. So many new records for Australia from the deep(er) sea😍

..and my favorite figure on deep-sea fish vision! 🐟 Most species have 1 rhodopsin tuned to ambient blueish light. The cryza & wild spinyfin? It has 38, covering the wider blue-green range! And dragonfishes gave up (+/-) blue vision to see their own red glow🔴🔵 #DeepSea #Vision

New review on deep-sea fish vision and the contribution of genomic and transcriptomic data. Part of the future special issue on vision in challenging environments in Functional Ecology:-). With @drfishvis.bsky.social in @funecology.bsky.social
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Seeing in the deep: evolution of the opsin gene expression in Bermin crater lake cichlids https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.28.640660v1

New preprint! Evolution of vision in cichlids from the crater lake Bermin, Cameroon. A case of young adaptive radiation with species in the deep to see more red -unexpected and opposite to other deepwater groups. Thks to coauthors!😍 Look how cool is the fish:-)

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Loving deep-sea fish and molecular evolution?

We're hiring!:-) Looking for a motivated PhD student to join us to study evolution of vision & to explore limits of vertebrate eye in extreme environment. Deadline 15th March. Thanks for applying and sharing!

more info: www.fishevo.com/erc-funded-p...

How cute!! This female sea devil has just 1,5 cm 😱😱😱
Triggered by the recent fascinating spotings of Melanocetus in Tenerife (blue pics), I digged in our past sampling photos to show how monsterous they are even in a small size!😍😍😍
Blue photos: (c) Vida Marina Tenerife (M. M. Solà)

When you buy an interactive kid book on the oceans - and you find the results of your research there (on how deep-sea fish see their world:-). That’s the real impact!:-) hope it gets translated in Eng eventually:-)

Vychází únorový Vesmír.
Tentokrát je hlavním tématem SKLO. Poznáte, co je na obálce?
Dále mimo jiné:
🔹 rozhovor se Zuzanou Musilovou @fishevo.bsky.social
🔹 jihomoravská mikrorefugia, v nichž poslední dobu ledovou přečkaly i duby nebo jasany
🔹 LISA: okno do raného vesmíru
vesmir.cz/cz/casopis/a...

GRC on Photosensory Receptors and Signal Transduction 2026 announced! www.grc.org/photosensory...

A Sigmops elongatus fish laid flat against a dark background. The colour is black with a slight silvery sheen on the flanks. Large light organs, associated with pale, pearly masses are arranged in rows along the underside of the fish. The mouth is large and curved, with sparsely-spaced, sharp teeth. The eyes are quite small and wedged right up front in the snout. A scale card with mm intervals and the words "Fish Time" printed on it indicates this fish is about 20cm long.

On a related note to last night's rant, I dissected some elongate fangjaws (Sigmops elongatus) earlier this week. This species is a protandrous hermaphrodite - juveniles are male and become female later. Also, can confirm the teeth are v. sharp - I stabbed myself in the thumb and it hurt real bad!

Rybičko, proč máš tak velké oči? V PANTu v Ostravě jsme se se @fishevo.bsky.social ponořily v batyskafu do hlubin kolem tisíce metrů za beztrnovkama a spol, jednou dokonce až do 8836 za vůbec nejhlouběji zaznamenanou rybou. Skvělý otázky z publika,hezký reakce. Více v knize Zvířata v éře lidí...