Joel Corush

I'm recruiting a Ph.D. student for Fall 2026.

Interested in comparative studies and trait evolution in fishes?

Send me an email with a CV and research interests. Please take a look at my website (jcorush.github.io ) for more information about my research.

#hybridization #minnows #mudskippers

New from #NearLab The role of ecology in allopatric speciation of darters in the Central Highlands, USA

shorturl.at/YEmxH

NEWS from Ohio State Fish Division: You can now search our 6,000-tissue collection on our website! 🐟

mbd.osu.edu/collections/...

Promoting the use of phylogenetic multinomial generalised mixed-effects model to understand the evolution of discrete traits Abstract. Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) are fundamental tools for understanding trait evolution across species. While linear models are widely us

NEW METHODS ARTICLE: Phylogenetic GLMMs open doors to study evolution of discrete traits. We show how binary models extend to ordinal & nominal traits, using bird data, and provide tutorials to make these methods accessible to evolutionary biologists:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Mizuno et al.

You can do it using the Network Analysis toolbox in QGIS. There is a "shortest path" option. I recall there was a way to make a distance matrix between all of your point based on a specific layer, your rivers.

My lab focuses on:
-Nest association/breeding behavior evolution in N. American Minnows.
-Mudskipper evolution and biogeography.

But I am open to other related projects addressing #hybridization #PhylogeneticComparativeMethods #LandscapeGenetics #biogeography

email: jcorush @ Illinoistech. edu

@jcorush.bsky.social is looking for a PhD student

I'm recruiting a Ph.D. student for Fall 2026.

Interested in comparative studies and trait evolution in fishes?

Send me an email with a CV and research interests. Please take a look at my website (jcorush.github.io ) for more information about my research.

#hybridization #minnows #mudskippers

Restoring the Klamath River - Tomorrow's Catch Witness the Klamath River’s transformation as dam removal restores salmon habitat, tribal lands, and cultural connections in this historic restoration.

The Klamath River is flowing free again.

RES and local Indian Tribes are restoring habitat, renewing cultural ties, and leading the largest dam removal in history.

🎥 Watch the film + explore the series: contentwithpurpose.co.uk/afs/tomorrow...

Accumulation of a Biparentally Inherited Neptune Transposable Element in Natural Killifish Hybrids (Fundulus diaphanus × F. heteroclitus) Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs) are abundant selfish genetic elements that can mobilize in their host genome, causing DNA damage, mutations, and chro

Roussel, Suh, @fjruizruano.bsky.social & @amdioncote.bsky.social characterized TE content in naturally occurring killifish hybrids, finding higher TE load and accumulation of Neptune subfamilies in hybrids.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf266

#evobio #molbio #TEsky

Two BLM employees tag fish in Alaska.

A new report reveals that fish and wildlife conservation generates substantial economic benefits. Federal, state, local, and nonprofit contributions combined contributed $115.8 billion in total economic activity and supported over 575,000 jobs nationwide. Read more: fisheries.org/2025/11/new-...

MBE | Temperature and Pressure Shaped the Evolution of Antifreeze Proteins in Polar and Deep Sea Zoarcoid Fishes A graphic visualizing the finding by Bogan et al. that antifreeze protein (AFP) genes increased in copy number among shallow-water, polar species of Zoarcoidei fishes. Top left: Pholis gunnellus photographed by Chris Isaacs (CC-BY-NC). Top right: Cebidichthys violaceus photographed by Alex Heyman (CC0 1.0). Bottom left: Lycenchelys sp. photographed by Julien Savoie (CC BY 4.0). Bottom right: Lycodes sp. photographed by Julien Savoie (CC BY 4.0).

@snbogan.bsky.social @notothentoma.bsky.social @scotthotaling.bsky.social @paulbfrandsen.bsky.social et al. explore the evolution of type III antifreeze proteins in deep sea zoarcoid fishes.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf219

#evobio #molbio

Distinct evolutionary signatures underlie body shape diversity across deep sea habitats Abstract. The deep sea is known for extreme biological conditions such as high pressure, little-to-no solar light and cold temperatures. Despite these chal

New paper on deep-sea fish diversity out now in @sse-evolution.bsky.social, with @cmartinez.bsky.social and @sarahtfried.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Submit your ideas to the 100% Wisconsin Fish contest | Wisconsin Sea Grant The contest is seeking creative ideas on how to use all parts of Great Lakes fish.

There's more to fish than the fillet, and we need your ideas on how to use it!

Submit your suggestions on how to use the whole fish to the 100% Wisconsin Fish contest for a chance to win a #GreatLakes prize pack.

www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/submit-...

Non-anthropogenic cosmopolitan species ranges are scarce
Mugil cephalus, traditionally considered a (quasi)cosmopolitan diadromous fish species, is now shown to comprise some 15 different lineages deserving formal species description
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Making aquatic sciences more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible: Perspectives on how individuals can take action in their professional practice Achieving Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) in the aquatic sciences has been a chronic challenge, and while recent progress has b…

Congratulations to @fishsciencedude.bsky.social and fellow co-authors for an important new article on advancing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility in aquatic sciences.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@iaglr.bsky.social @waynestateresearch.bsky.social

Extensive Recombination Suppression and Genetic Degeneration of a Young ZW Sex Chromosome System in Halfbeak Fish Abstract. Sex chromosome systems have evolved independently across the tree of life, at different times in the past, and the evolutionary consequences of l

Xing et al. study sex chromosome evolution in two species of halfbeak fish, identifying a large sex-linked ZW region in Hyporhamphus sajori and a small sex-linked region on a different chromosome, with male heterogamety, in H. intermedius.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf151

#evobio #molbio

Unravelling the Effects of Ecology and Evolutionary History in the Phenotypic Convergence of Fishes Abstract. Understanding the ecological drivers and limitations of adaptive convergence is a fundamental challenge. Here, we explore how adaptive convergenc

Super excited to share our new paper investigating convergence across planktivorous fishes and assessing the impact of ancestry and light environment led by Dr Jen Hodge @fishncurious.bsky.social and including most members of the lab past and present academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

Estimating Genome-wide Phylogenies Using Probabilistic Topic Modeling Abstract. Methods for rapidly inferring the evolutionary history of species or populations with, genome-wide data are progressing, but computational constr

Some of you may be interested in this: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

**Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program** -- $25,000 grants earmarked for early-career researchers whose NSF-funded research on STEM and education has just been terminated.

www.spencer.org/grant_types/...

hub.jhu.edu/2025/04/28/j...

Thanks @lizneeley.bsky.social !

Pleistocene glaciation and Anthropocene fragmentation influence genetic variation in the Illinois state–listed mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdii) - Environmental Biology of Fishes Historic landscape-scale geological change often shapes contemporary distributions and phylogeographic patterns of species. Because of the long count of geologic events like glaciations, colonization ...

Pleased to see this publication led by @jcorush.bsky.social that I helped out with on the role of factors driving genetic structure of mottled sculpin in Illinois, where it is a state-threatened fish species. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fishes of the Chicago Region: A Field Guide Buy Fishes of the Chicago Region: A Field Guide on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

New fish book alert! On this #FishFriday, "Fishes of the Chicago Region" was just released. Detailed info on species distributions & natural history observations for >150 species in SE Wisconsin, NE Illinois, northern Indiana, and SW Michigan. Check it out...

www.amazon.com/Fishes-Chica...

Congrats!!

Some microphagous fishes have a unique pocket-like throat structure, epibranchial organ (EBO), that helps gather tiny food particles. New study of 13 species reveals diverse EBO anatomy, weak phylogenetic ties & possible link to diet
Evans et al:
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

(A) Likelihood of the top five best-fitting trees based on f2 statistics in 500 kb windows across the genome of the 6 bear populations studied (Ancient polar bear = APB, modern polar bears = PB, Alaskan brown bears = BB, Baranof and Chichagof brown bears = ABC-BC, European brown bear = EBB, American black bear = BLK). Tree A is the best fit and reflects the expected genetic relationships among the bear populations. Trees D and E are the fourth and fifth best-fitting trees reflecting hybridization from polar bears into brown bears (Tree D) and vice versa (Tree E). (B) Cases of hybridization among the best-fitting trees in (A) (trees D and E) and cases of incomplete lineage sorting (trees L and J) which fit worse than trees D and E.

Polar bears and their lower-latitude cousins—brown bears—have a complicated past! Genomes from a >115,000 year old polar bear and 65 modern bears reveal that although polar bears and brown bears began diverging >1 mya, they hybridized up until ~200 kya. #2025MMM doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200016119

Fig. 1: The Chromosome number and Hidden State-dependent Speciation and Extinction (ChromoHiSSE) model. Panel (a) describes the event rates allowed in the model for both cladogenetic (upper) and anagenetic (lower) events. Panels (b) and (c) demonstrate those rates on a tree simulated under ChromoHiSSE. Branches that do not reach the present represent extinct, unsampled lineages. Panel (b) shows the anagenetic and cladogenetic changes in the hidden states, indicated by blue (i) vs orange (ii). Panel (c) shows the anagenetic and cladogenetic gains and losses of chromosomes, as well as speciation with no corresponding change in chromosome numbers. More red colors in (c) correspond to more chromosomes. The vertical blue and orange bars in (c) indicate clades in the blue (i) vs orange (ii) hidden states, displaying that chromosome number changes are less frequent in the blue hidden state than in the orange. The asterisk in (c) demarcates where a cladogenetic dysploidy event could appear as an anagenetic event because of unsampled lineages.

New study by @tribblelab.bsky.social @jimarcor.bsky.social @marcialescudero.bsky.social Michael May, Rosana Zenil-Ferguson and myself just out:

Introduces a novel HiSSE chromosome model and demonstrates the importance of chrom. evol. in #sedge diversity.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

No.
LG statistically tests specific landscape-based resistance/barrier models on gene flow at an individual/population level. PG is a clade based understanding of the species' range. LG can inform PG, but PG does not have to incorporate landscapes into the hypotheses that are being tested.

Let´s form a community of conservation geneticists here - I started with some people I know, but there are likely to be many more... I can happily add them to this list
go.bsky.app/VMqVSAi

For scientists interested in large lakes of the world. Contact us if you'd like to be added. Space still available.