Dr. Solomon David
@solomonrdavid.bsky.social
“The Gar Guy” Fish Scientist & Prof | 🌎Freshwater Conservation | SciComm • GarLab | Views mine | he/him | #GarWeek 📍Saint Paul, Minnesota Wherever you go, there you gar https://linktr.ee/solomonrdavid • @garlab.bsky.social
Today I had a giant buffalo (it’s a kind of fish. Ask @solomonrdavid.bsky.social for more info) on a light line and … after ten minutes it broke the line. I was trying to net it. I should have opened a beer and just sat down and let it swim around I guess.
My favorite things in one story: wetlands, conservation success stories, and names that make you giggle like a middle-schooler ipmnewsroom.org/at-spunky-bo...
At Spunky Bottoms, an Illinois River wetland’s resilience is on display - IPM Newsroom
The Nature Conservancy acquired the roughly 1,300-acre Merwin Preserve at Spunky Bottoms in the late 1990's and allowed the site to return to being a floodplain wetland.
ipmnewsroom.org
We indeed found a baby Alligator Gar, providing evidence of succession spawning on the restored floodplain site! Already 14 inches (35 cm) long and only two months! Here it is:
One of my favorite scientists is in the local news. And seems he found some baby gars! :) @solomonrdavid.bsky.social www.nola.com/news/environ...
Are Mississippi River restoration efforts working? Scientists say this fish could hold the answer.
They went 1,000 miles for one baby fish. Finding it means a Mississippi floodplain restoration is working.
nola.com
GARS can be indicators of river-floodplain restoration from Minnesota down to Mississippi and Louisiana! Thanks @alexlubben.bsky.social for joining us in the field with photojournalist Sophie Germer for this story @nolanews.bsky.social! bit.ly/4brAgY0 @garlab.bsky.social
Are Mississippi River restoration efforts working? Scientists say this fish could hold the answer.
They went 1,000 miles for one baby fish. Finding it means a Mississippi floodplain restoration is working.
bit.ly
@solomonrdavid.bsky.social You can take the Michigan boy out of Louisiana but you can’t take him away from the local newspaper! Front page of Nola.com has a garticle on alligator gar in the Mississippi River floodplain featuring you today! A rare pro-environment moment there …
BUCKET. LIST. Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to see a live wild Alligator Snapping Turtle! Today it finally happened!!! Later released by anglers 🐢
TOMORROW: the @garlab.bsky.social team returns to the Alligator Gar Rodeo… yes, it’s a real thing, and we get lots of valuable data from it, also great SciComm/outreach opportunity (it will be our 4th rodeo *not our first rodeo 😅*) Stay tuned!
With a lot more you get a full GARMY!
This was actually addressed by @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social years ago, with the plural of “gar” being “gars” reGARdless of whether the plural included same or multiple species. I’ve kept this rule, even though AFS later “relaxed” the rule and said “gars” is plural, but “gar” can be plural too.
Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University@fishevodevogeno.bsky.social · 4d agoSerious question: Is the plural of gar: - gar when same species - gars when multiple species ?
Seems like a small elite group of gars would be a Gartoon. Laughable double meaning perhaps of benefit?
Me, not knowing anything: "who's this guy who thinks he can decide how to pluralise 'Gar'?" Me, after checking his credentials: "this man is definitely qualified to decide how to pluralise 'Gar'."
Dr. Solomon David@solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 5d agoBelieve it or not we have addressed this! Here you go: single gar = gar multiple gars, same species = garrison multiple gars, different species = garmada
Sun sneaked out for a few minutes tonight in Minneapolis! Lake of the Isles, the new Metro Transit West Lake Street Station and Bde Maka Ska.
Bigger ≠ Better. Some of the smallest fishes on Earth have some of the most outstanding biology and beauty. I had an absolute blast writing this one... 👇🎏🤯 Five Tiny Fishes That Will Blow Your Mind tnature.substack.com/p/five-tiny-... #Nature #Science #Evolution #Biodiversity #Fishes #Wildlife
Five Tiny Fishes That Will Blow Your Mind
Little species. Enormous wonder.
tnature.substack.com
I mean, it’s what I used in my early days in the [gar]field in graduate school 😎👍
@bcwbcw.bsky.social · 5d agoAnd a very small gar that knows exactly where it is, would be a Garmin?
