Julia Saltzman

The elongate tail of a ray

What is the function of the elongate tail in elasmobranch #rays? A 🧵 and a new hypothesis. A paper with @juliachaumel.bsky.social in @royalsociety.org Proceedings B (shorturl.at/PmfYD) shows that the tail of cownose rays (and a few other species studied so far) has an elaborate lateral line.

Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!!

This paper is the result of my undergraduate research with @drcatmac.bsky.social and was the very first project we worked on together. To say I am excited to see it in print would be an under statement!

Photo of sea grass in Biscayne bay and text that says “Drones may help research to reach new heights! The use of drones for fish that aggregate or spawn in relatively shallow, clear waters to help fill current data gaps.” And “We are continuing aerial surveys in locations like this to identify additional important ecological events.”

Our observation suggests that urbanized coastal habitats may play a crucial role in the life cycle of Atlantic tarpon.

It also supports that use of drones to study fish that aggregate or spawn in relatively shallow, clear waters to help fill current data gaps.

Photo of tarpon with text that says “The aggregation occurred in December, outside the usual spring/summer spawning season”

The aggregation occurred in December, outside the usual spring/summer spawning season. While this observation cannot confirm the reproductive significance of the aggregation or justify seasonal fishery closures, it underscores the potential for heightened vulnerability of tarpon in these habitats.

Title of paper and photo of tarpon aggregation. “The Silver King in the Magic City: Observation of Atlantic Tarpon Megalops atlanticus Aggregation off Miami, FL Julia Saltzman, Cliff Hawkins, & Catherine Macdonald”

Graph of behaviors documented in study and text which says Using drones, we observed 182 Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) in a large aggregation off Miami Beach, FL! •The behaviors of the tarpon observed may suggest courtship, pre-spawning, or pre-migration activity.

I am excited to share our paper out in Journal of Fish Biology which describes an aggregation of Atlantic tarpon which may be of potential reproductive or migratory significance off Miami Beach!

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

@drcatmac.bsky.social

Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) IUCN Critically Endangered © Masayuki Agawa_Ocean Image Bank

New #GlobalSharkTrends study published in @science.org reveals #overfishing has more than halved shark & ray populations over the past 50-years causing widespread erosion of ecological function and exceptionally high extinction risk
👉Full article bit.ly/GlobalSharkTrends
🧵1/20

a drone is flying over a beach with the word snap on the side ALT: a drone is flying over a beach with the word snap on the side

Sometimes papers take a long time! My undergraduate thesis was accepted this week for publication! 🐟

Meet 5 ‘Poisonous Birds’ Of Nature—Introduced In 6 Beautiful Sketches Poison is a well-known defense mechanism in the animal kingdom. What’s not as well known is that there are several species of birds that use it to their advantage.

🤔 www.forbes.com/sites/scottt...

Breaching Spotted Eagle Ray
Miami,FL
11-15-2024

#dji #djimavicair2s #drone #dronelife #aerialphotography #aerialvideography #spottedeagleray #miami #miamifl #miamiflorida

You can read more about my work on my website: juliasaltzmanscience.com

I am passionate about grant writing, movement ecology, and teaching.

The first chapter of my M.S. used similar methods to study whale sharks and devil rays… www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

Multidecadal underwater surveys reveal declines in marine turtles Analysis of 22 years of marine turtle in-water surveys revealed significant declines in relative abundance, despite protection within the survey area. This work provides important insights into long-...

I finished my M.S. at UNH studying marine megafauna population dynamics… the most recent paper from this work was just published #OpenAccess and is the longest UVC of marine turtles to our knowledge conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Hi!

I’m Julia- in my current life I wear two hats.

🧢I work in development at a non-profit environmental law firm focused on the conservation of the historic Everglades ecosystem.

🧢I work as a research assistant. I primarily use quantitative tools for conservation of marine megafauna.

Baby Shark Sighting Misrepresented in Media Coverage A photograph of a small great white shark made headlines, but for the wrong reasons. The coolest aspect of the study was missed.

Baby Shark Sighting Misrepresented in Media Coverage | by me for American Scientist https://buff.ly/4fLgeYd Earlier this year, media reports claimed that a baby great white shark was seen for the first time ever, which i…

Unprecedented International Effort to Prevent Shark Finning Blocked by Japan & China - Shark League for the Atlantic and Mediterranean ICCAT meeting ends in dramatic defeat of proposal to end at-sea fin removal while other shark safeguards advance Limassol, Cyprus. November 18, 2024. This year’s meeting of the International Commissio...

ICCAT again does NOT implement best practice "Fins Naturally Attached" rules thanks to just 2 of its members blocking widely supported efforts to get the measure implemented. Some other shark measures were adopted. Details in the link
www.sharkleague.org/2024/11/18/u...
#sharkconservation #shark

Skype a Scientist is a far-reaching program that can send a friendly inspiring scientist into any classroom w/an internet connection. It can go where local budgets have been cut, textbooks censored, or schoolboards coopted. If you'd like a cool bureaucracy-free org to support in trying times...👇

Enjoy some Bluesky positive vibes (sound on👍) from these juvenile Lake Sturgeon @garlab.bsky.social!

I’d love to be a part of this!

We are especially thankful to the divemasters and folks at Undersea Hunter for sharing this incredible dataset with us.

Some highlights:

During phases of lower illumination, we observed significant increases in mobula ray abundances, decreased whale shark relative abundance with higher chlorophyll a levels, and salinity changes associated with mobula ray abundances.

We analyzed 27 years of data from underwater visual censuses conducted at Cocos Island, Costa Rica and we underscore the importance of considering environmental conditions when evaluating marine protection efforts.

In this study, we took a *dive* into the world of planktivorous elasmos, specifically whale sharks and several devil ray species!

I am excited to share my latest paper, published today in Marine Ecology Progress Series. This work is part of my masters thesis with @eastonwhite.bsky.social !

Find the paper here or DM me for a PDF: www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

when the proofs finally come for a manuscript that is years in the making 🥹🥹🥹

I just looked them up, it seems like they do great work!

You can learn more about me/my work at JuliaSaltzmanScience.com! I’m also very active on my instagram @sciencewithsaltzy!

Beware of 'Shark Week': Scientists watched 202 episodes and found them filled with junk science, mis... A study offers evidence that marine biology’s biggest stage is broken, and suggests ways to fix it.

My field is 60%+ women.

Shark Week, the biggest stage in marine biology, has so many more men than women that there are *more men named Mike* then women who are featured in more than one episode. 🧪🦑