David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈

This is preferable to my colleagues getting fired by petty and vindictive tyrants, if you ask me.

CAUSING A COMMOTION

CAUSE THEY ARE SO AWESOME

It's time for your regularly scheduled reminder:

Narwhals and giant squid: They're real and they're spectacular!

Megalodon: It was real, but is definitely super-duper extinct now.

Mermaids: Not real. (No, manatees do not count).

Thanks,
The Management

Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars - WDEF Scientists say they have at last solved the mystery of what killed more than 5 billion sea stars off the Pacific coast of North America in a decade-long epidemic.

“It’s really quite gruesome,” said marine disease ecologist Dr. Alyssa Gehman at the @hakai.org in British Columbia, Canada www.wdef.com/scientists-s...

📑 #NewStudy by Vopel et al. devised a tool that could be used to detect the impact of currents dispersing waste materials from salmon farms, thus lessening the impact on the seafloor below.

👀 doi.org/10.3354/aei0...

We'd rather be floating 〰️⁠
⁠
This bobtail snipe eel (Cyema atrum) was spotted at 1,941 meters (6,369 feet) in Monterey Bay. Snipe eels in the family Nemichthyidae have thin, tweezer-like jaws that bend outwards. Their tiny, backward-facing teeth work almost like velcro to capture small prey.

At long last our national nightmare is over, we're getting an orca emoji!

Neat! I didn't realize the bumps on the bell of Poralia were stinging cells! Toss the notion that the bells are the safe to boop. Best to just no touchy the squishy stuff. @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 402 part B #edgegbr #MarineLife

A research vessel conducting coastal oceanographic work off Manazuru has several crew members in orange life jackets preparing sampling equipment on deck. The calm sea, the Manazuru coastline, and a snow-capped Mount Fuji rise clearly against the bright blue sky.

🦤🌐🧪
This study examined whether pigment-based phytoplankton communities are shifting in response to recent environmental changes, potentially driven by ocean warming, in the coastal waters of Sagami Bay, Japan.
bit.ly/meps15068

Meet Jacqueline Rosa. Nine years after her degree, she went back to study how ocean chemistry affects oyster farms.
sevenseasmedia.org/jacqueline-r...

The gaudiest in all of Coral City comes in for a close up: the supermale clown wrasse 🤡🐟 #clownwrasse #wrasse #gaudy #hypercolor #coralcitycamera

The Hidden Gulf Embark on a journey to the deep Gulf, where coral habitats support a wide array of fish and other animals. Corals in the mesophotic, or “middle light,” and deep zones of the northern Gulf faced…

Here's a great new documentary, freely available online, about the stunning biodiversity of the Gulf of MEXICO.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcmN...

The reaction we're getting so far is some people saying "that's so clever and perfect I love it" and some people saying 'huh? I don't understand"

In book sales you want to avoid the latter

Vertical habitat use of blue sharks Prionace glauca in the northwestern Pacific by life stage and sex www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

You should really consider reading the work of Kevin M Kruse on this topic

How Congress can restore the independence of US science Members must go beyond reinstating US government research spending and re-establish decentralized governance at the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.

How Congress can restore the independence of US science
Members must go beyond reinstating US government research spending and re-establish decentralized governance at the National Institutes of Health and other agencies. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The Pokémon Company Is Actively Recruiting PhD Holders With Backgrounds in Ecology to Work in Tokyo Special research.

I know there are *so* many of you evolution and ecology fiends out there who'd be perfect!! "The Pokémon Company is specifically looking for those with research experience in animal and plant ecology, with Japanese and English language skills on top." (IGN) nordic.ign.com/pokemon-poko... #SciComm 🧪

Illustrated poster titled "Deep-Sea Mining Facts #1" with an underwater theme. It highlights the large-scale and irreversible impacts of deep-sea mining, emphasizing the deep ocean's coverage of 2/3 of the planet's surface and its essential biodiversity. Includes logos for Seas at Risk and Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. An animated octopus and coral are at the bottom.

With the March session of the International Seabed Authority Council underway, we’re setting the record straight.

Here are some key deep-sea mining facts:

Find out more: https://seas-at-risk.org/publications/deep-sea-mining-facts/

@seasatrisk.bsky.social

FINAL chance to make sure this bill gets heard on the Senate floor - Florida residents, ACT NOW!
Tell the Senate President to schedule a vote and pass SB1066 before it's too late!
savethemanatee.org/sb1066

How to lead a journal club you won’t be embarrassed by later One of the jobs facing an early-career scientist, and a developing writer, is to learn what their field’s literature looks like. One of the best tools to that end is the journal club. If you’ve nev…

Very much ditto in the sciences. We ought to be deliberate about structuring discussions to avoid this: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2026/01/13/h...

New grad students often adopt a stance of hypercriticism as a shortcut to seeming savvy.

When I was one, Nick Salvatore told us he didn't like "shit-on-the-book seminars" so we would instead spend our time talking about what *worked* in various texts to see what we could learn from other authors.

@whysharksmatter.bsky.social #sharksnearme a SHARK bike rack! Jacksonville Beach FL.

Investigation earns Brazil's top education award & ban on shark meat in Rio de Janeiro school cafeterias - Environmental Journalism and Education In July and August 2025, Mongabay published two investigative reports that uncovered the scale and opacity of shark meat purchases by Brazilian government institutions. These stories triggered immedia...

[nonprofit #journalism impact]

Investigative reporting by @mongabay.com reporters @philjaco.bsky.social @bykarlamendes.bsky.social @nandawenzel.bsky.social spurred the state of Rio to remove #sharks from the menu

Education dept announces a ban on serving shark meat in public schools it manages:

Multi-year residency and movement patterns of Arctic skate Amblyraja hyperborea, a bycatch species, across an Arctic community fishing ground

www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

We'll be reaching out to some of our shark friends for interviews for the book in the near future, and we'll keep you updated on progress.

Exciting news! We have a book contract!!

"Sharks and Recreation*: Sharks in Popular Culture", by Lisa Whitenack and David Shiffman @whysharksmatter.bsky.social , is under contract at Johns Hopkins University Press!

*working title that might have to change

This book was inspired by my first-year seminar course and the Shark Week paper that we wrote. We'll examine how sharks have been portrayed in popular culture, including art, music, film, television, books, and branding.

This will be my fourth book, and I'm excited to work with Lisa on it!

Just 10 more subscribers, and the SciArt Feed with be the #40 most popular Feed on Bluesky!

Please help Like, Pin, and Share if you enjoy the intersection of art & science (with _no_ generative AI).
#academicsky #medsky 🧪🐡🎨🩺

Batoid Strandings on the Brazilian Coast: Threats and Challenges for Species Conservation onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...