Dr. Solomon David

My kinderGARtner (6-year-old daughter) tells us about gars!

While watching our fish tank (aka The Gar-den), I asked her to talk about gars for a bit. Proud parent 🥹 #SciComm #GarWeek

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

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The croc lineage isn’t just a bunch of identical “living fossils.” They did ‘dinosaur’ before dinosaurs and did ‘dolphin’ before dolphins. Also phytosaurs did ‘croc’ before crocs did.

Everything is a call back to the Triassic.

An iridescent green bee collecting pollen from a bright yellow flower. The bee's wings are folded over it's abdomen.

A sparkling emerald Agapostemon sweat bee grabs some late-season sustenance from a Curly-cup Gumweed flower. This is on the Old Hedley back road, just outside Princeton, BC. September 5 of last year. 🐝

Did you know that the bees that need saving are NOT honeybees?

Honeybees are the dairy cows of bees. People brought them over from Europe to make us honey.

The problem with honeybees, esp in resource-limited ecosystems (like hey! cities!) is that they compete with our native bees for food.

BEHOLD the largest freshwater fish species in the world: the Beluga Sturgeon!

FINALLY got to see one in person at the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth along with the @garlab.bsky.social Team at the @mnafs.bsky.social @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social meeting!

What an incredible fish!

It's March here, so it's time to help me decide the vibe for the next art book cover for the end of April. Previous 4 covers are below.
#Art #SciArt

I'm thinking either green or sepia.

#FossilFriday
#Atractosteus strausi.
Knochenhecht.
Middle Eocen.- 47 mill years ago.
Messel, Germany.
Fish.: Gar.
19,5 cm.
#messel #fossil #fossilfish

Photo of two ceramic fish painted with acrylics held in a hand. one is a gar with a somewhat broken face and the other happy looking bass

Uncovered some ancient artifacts today (my folks display my earliest ceramics pieces much to my chagrin)

I will never get used to the disdain our country holds for brown and Black children.

From Palestine to Iran to Sudan, we normalize the destruction of schools and hospitals and daycares. We reduce children to death tolls and their futures to rubble with no consequence or second thought.

congress sounds cool i wish it was real

theonion.com/this-war-wil...

Omg I need one for my office! 🤩🤩

Immediately thought of the moat scene from The Sword in the Stone

m.youtube.com/watch?v=NF7T...

At a maize conference and have discovered the possibility to collaborate with @solomonrdavid.bsky.social

Still can't get over how fucking big this sturgeon is.

It's no wonder people have believed in lake monsters for thousands of years

good lord.
good BIG FISH music too! 🤣

No need to apologize! I appreciate it being posted as well (I have the setting where it doesn’t allow me to post unless I include ALT, but again, I don’t know how viewers find it for video). Thanks again!

Thanks for posting! I always attach ALT text but not sure where it ends up in videos (seems to have been an issue for years now on Bluesky 🙃)

Video: snowboard-sized fish with a jagged bony back gliding through a shallow pool with a more reasonably fish-sized companion.

The Flathead Lake Monster, Still At Large A few imaginative paleontologists have suggested that what people are seeing could be a plesiosaurus, an aquatic reptile from the Early Jurassic period. Some eyewitness reports are uncanny in their de...

Coincidentally, I just caught an old "Mysteries at the Museum" TV episode a few nights ago. Highlighted "The Flathead Lake Monster" in Montana. Which apparently turned out to be a 7.5' White Sturgeon.
www.distinctlymontana.com/flathead-lak...

Wow - bigger than the biggest great whites!

H.A. Brown Elementary School Mural By Skype a Scientist

Had our first group meeting yesterday with the H.A. Brown Principal & Nick (the artist!)

The school is psyched. I'm going to talk about pollinators next week, & have the kids vote on their favorite bug!

We have a wall!
We have a plan!
We just need a little more funding 😅
givebutter.com/KenzoMural

That’s my favorite part of that aquarium!!!!!

a bald man is sitting in a chair with his hands folded and clapping . Alt: a bald man is sitting in a chair with his hands folded and clapping .

😂😂😂👍

Wonder if it can perform sturgery...

The absolute awe and horror and joy at how MASSIVE water dwelling animals can be and the respect you instantly gain for these fish.

Me: "Oh yeah, sturgeon do get big, don't they (checks max growth of this species) "HOLY SH*T I did not know they got that big. I did not know ANY freshwater fish...hell, not too many saltwater fish get that big!"

a bald man is sitting in a chair with his hands folded and clapping . Alt: a bald man is sitting in a chair with his hands folded and clapping .

😂😂😂👍