Paleo Nerds Podcast

📸: L: Kerin measuring King Salmon at the Herring Cove salmon hatchery in Ketchikan with Tessa Frost who works as a research & evaluation manager at the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association.

R: Kerin collecting Sockeye heads at the E. C. Phillips fish processing plant in Ketchikan.

Something is FISHY 🐟 around here...and it's our latest episode with Dr. Kerin Claeson!

Learn how Disney World inspired her to become a paleontologist, what causes salmon to change so drastically during spawning, and so much MORE.

🔊 Listen to Episode #90 now!
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Episode #90 is out 🎉! Ray shares morning coffee ☕️ in Ketchikan with Dr. Karin Claeson, exploring fish evolution 🐟, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time.

🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Ep #90 Fossil Fish, Antarctic Adventures and Teaching Anatomy with Kerin Claeson | Paleo Nerds Ray shares morning coffee in Ketchikan with Dr. Kerin Claeson, exploring fish evolution, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time.

This week's guest, Kerin Claeson, was the lead author on the paper along with Brian Sidlauskas, our own Ray Troll, Ed Davis and Zabrina Prescott on the PLOS ONE paper.

Listen to EPISODE #90 with Kerin Claeson now!
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

The authors discovered that the fish's conical 'fangs' in the upper jaw pointed sideways, not downward like sabers, helping us better understand the behaviors and morphology of this fascinating extinct fish. (Figure from Claeson 2024).

We LOVE 💕 Ray's depiction of Oncorhynchus rastrosus, the giant spike toothed salmon, created for their 2024 scientific paper. [THREAD ⬇️]

Listen to this if you like fish. Listen to this if you don't like fish! Really cool interview with my fishy friend Kerin Claeson. You'll learn a lot.

Ep #90 Fossil Fish, Antarctic Adventures and Teaching Anatomy with Kerin Claeson | Paleo Nerds Ray shares morning coffee in Ketchikan with Dr. Kerin Claeson, exploring fish evolution, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time.

Why? What causes these changes? Learn more about modern AND prehistoric salmon in EPISODE #90 with the awesome Dr. Kerin Claeson:

🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Believe it or not, this photo shows 📸 the same sex and species, but the one on the bottom is in its spawning phase of life!

Male salmon develop a hooked bottom jaw called a "kype" and form a hump on their back along with drastic color changes and MORE. Both sexes ♂️ ♀️ undergo change.

Would you believe within mere WEEKS 🗓, the skull of a Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) will DRASTICALLY change morphology, or shape? [THREAD ⬇️]

Apologies! Kerin* is the correct spelling!

Episode #90 is out 🎉! Ray shares morning coffee ☕️ in Ketchikan with Dr. Karin Claeson, exploring fish evolution 🐟, anatomy, development, and variability across deep time.

🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/keri...

Paleo Nerds: A Prehistoric Podcast | Paleo Nerds Homepage

Like fossils 🦕?

Want to learn more about fossils from fellow paleonerds, leading paleontologists ⛏️, geoscientists, paleoartists, paleoecologists, and other experts in their fields?

Share our podcast with a fossil-loving friend today! 🔗 www.paleonerds.com

Thank you for sharing! That's wonderful to hear. Art 🎨 is powerful!

📸 Art conservators assess the condition of “The Age of Reptiles. Photos: peabodyevolved.yale.edu/a-new-perspe...

🔊 Learn more in episode #89 with Dr. Susan Butts:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

📖 Read more:
news.yale.edu/2019/12/02/p...

a large black monster is standing on top of a cliff . ALT: a large black monster is standing on top of a cliff .

Fun fact: The T. rex on the mural’s left side influenced the design of Godzilla, the atomic-powered sea monster that made its motion picture debut in 1954.

📍Want to see it for yourself? You can view the mural now at the Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut.

The work earned Zallinger the 1949 Pulitzer Fellowship in Art. In 1953, Life magazine published the entire painting in a foldout.

The painting depicts 32 dinosaur species spanning 362 million years. It begins with the origin of land vertebrates during the Devonian Period and ends with the dinosaurs’ extinction during the Cretaceous era.

It was executed using the fresco‑secco method—a Renaissance‑era technique involving pigments mixed with egg 🥚 and water 💧 applied onto dried plaster—this approach allowed for remarkable detail and durability.

Are you familiar with Rudolph Zallinger's magnificent "Age of Reptiles" mural?

This 110 ft long fresco mural 🎨🖌 was completed by Zallinger in 1947 for the Yale Peabody Museum after five years of work.

[THREAD ⬇️]

🔊 KICK back and listen to the latest episode with Dr. Susan Butts to learn more: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

Ep #89 Brachiopods Deserve Your Love | Paleo Nerds Ray and Dave learn all about Brachiopods, one of the hardy survivors of the Big Five extinctions, with Susan Butts, Director of Collections and Research at the famous Yale Peabody Museum.

What’s even cooler? The lophophore is shaped like a U, forming what look like little arms 💪—called brachia (that’s where "brachiopod" gets its name!). So basically, these ancient sea creatures are like underwater royalty, waving their arms to scoop up snacks from the sea.

Be a brachiopod this Labor Day weekend! RELAX and let the food 🍔🌭 come to YOU!

Brachiopods have a built-in filter called a lophophore (LOW-fo-four). Tiny tentacles covered in super-fine hairs called cilia whip up the water, pulling in food like a vacuum cleaner.
[THREAD ⬇️]

What's the difference between clams 🦪 and brachiopods?

At first glance, brachiopods might trick you into thinking they're clams or mussels—but don’t be fooled!

Listen to this week's episode with Dr. Susan Butts to learn more: www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

Figure from University of Kentucky.

Lamp Shells and Seafood Adventures in Trat, Eastern Thailand When you're in Trat, the eastern province of Thailand, don't miss a seafood meal, and try to eat some lamp shells too!

📸 L - R:
• Fossil Lingula clintoni: YPM IP.118879 (Utrup, J., 2011)
• Lingula anatina; YPM IP 252689; Indonesia; Java.
• Lingula photo by Mark Wiens

📖 Read more: migrationology.com/lamp-shells-...

Did you know 💡 that brachiopods are an important food source?

One genus, Lingula, are collected by local people for consumption in Southeast Asia and some Pacific islands including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand 🍴.

🔊 Listen to our latest episode #89:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/susa...

SHELL'O, paleonerds! Episode #89 just dropped and it will make you as happy as a...brachiopod 🦪!?

Ray and Dave learn all about brachiopods with Susan Butts, Director of Collections and Research at the famous Yale Peabody Museum.

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

Learn more about Dr. Butts:
peabody.yale.edu/explore/coll...

📸 L-R:
• A fine Albertosaurus skull and Susan
• Susan and Dave pointing at Ray's Alaskan brachiopod
• Susan "digging" the Devonian delights of wesern New York
• Susan at the K/PG boundary ash layer at Stevns Klint in Denmark