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biomcgill.bsky.social
McGill Biology
@biomcgill.bsky.social
McGill University's Dept of Biology explores fundamental questions about the origin, #evolution, development, and #behaviour of living organisms. #biodiversity #ecology #neurobiology #molecularbiology
Reposted by McGill Biology
A deep-sea expedition has recorded 30 previously unknown species from one of the planet’s most inaccessible regions, 700 meters into the depths of the Southern Ocean.

The astonishing array included a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge, unknown sea stars spanning multiple families, and new crustaceans.
Armored worms and death-ball sponges among array of life newly documented from the deep sea
In the darkness of the deep ocean, where pressure crushes and light fails, an expedition has found an astonishing array of life, including a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge (from the genus…
news.mongabay.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
A worn-down mammoth tooth discovered nearly 150 years ago on an island in Nunavut offers new insights into where and how the Ice Age giants lived and died, indicating that they once roamed much farther east than previously believed.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iVk
November 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
New study from our lab: Feeding efficiency (trophic impact) of goldfish varies with combinations of thermal & salinity conditions typical of urban ponds in north temperate regions. Salinity enhances efficiency at temperatures below the thermal optimum of goldfish.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Effects of temperature and chloride salinity on the functional response of goldfish (Carassius auratus) - Biological Invasions
Freshwater animals released into temperate urban environments are increasingly subjected to the effects of elevated water temperatures (via climate warming) and salinization (via road salt application...
link.springer.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Hosting the Global Change Symposium was a great way to end October! From biodiversity in the St. Lawrence river to pipeline resistance, Arctic health and global connectivity, the event featured McGill Bieler School Environment research at a whole new scale. Thank you to all who attended.
#mcgill
November 4, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Conducted in Prof. Melania Cristescu’s lab at McGill.
November 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Happy (and spooky) #FluorescenceFriday

Switching from frogs (which are underrated btw) to zebrafish has really made me appreciate transparent tissues! 🐟

28 hpf, ⚪ nuclei, 🔴 F-actin
October 31, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
I slowed down this vid in the beginning, but let it get to its actual real speed - crazy!
Admittedly, I kept wondering how this #polychaete #worm would be in a marinara sauce, covered in pecorino romano🤤
Shot in #Okinawa.
#marineworm #polychaeteworm
October 14, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Bryozoan coronate larva…or man in the moon?
#marineplankton 🦑
October 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Ascidians (Ciona intestinalis)🪸Our distant chordate cousins! 🌊 Simple sea squirts that reveal how vertebrate body plans evolved 🧬 A key model for notochord formation, neural induction, and cell lineage mapping 📸 Video by MBL Embryology 2019 #ModelMonday #DevBio #EvoDevo
October 28, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Congratulations to Rodrigo Migueles-Ramírez, who successfully defended his PhD thesis on the "Quantification of the intracellular dynamics of molecular complexes using spatiotemporal image correlation spectroscopy". He was co-supervised by Paul Wiseman (Chemistry, Physics) & Arnold Hayer (Biology).
October 30, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Meet our new Biology graduate students - the 2025-26 cohort:
www.mcgill.ca/biology/grad...
October 30, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
As part of last weekend’s Homecoming festivities, Interim Dean of Science Alanna Watt hosted an engaging and timely event on Friday morning entitled “Water, Climate Change, and the Future,” which highlighted the importance of freshwater science in the face of a changing climate.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/irP
Homecoming 2025: Water, Climate Change, and the Future
As part of last weekend’s Homecoming festivities, Interim Dean of Science Alanna Watt hosted an engaging and timely event on Friday morning entitled “Water, Climate Change, and the Future,” which highlighted the importance of freshwater science research in the face of a changing climate. The event featured presentations from McGill Professors Irene Gregory-Eaves (Biology) and Jeffrey McKenzie (Earth and Planetary Sciences), two leading experts in freshwater science. Following their presentations, Professors Gregory-Eaves and McKenzie answered audience questions about their research. Professor Gregory-Eaves, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Global Change, presented her work studying the structure and functioning of lakes through initiatives like the NSERC LakePulse network. Canada is the most lake-rich nation in the world, making it a critical region for understanding the effects of climate change on lake ecosystems. Professor McKenzie is a hydrogeologist with a focus on cryohydrogeology, which is the study of the interactions between climate change and groundwater in cold regions. As permafrost in the Canadian Arctic thaws due to rising global temperatures, it leads to changes in groundwater flow that McKenzie’s Laboratory for Advanced Hydrologic Modeling and Stuff (LAHMAS) group studies using numerical models and field-based research. The event, which was attended by 35 McGill alumni and staff, was one of three events hosted by the Faculty of Science for Homecoming. On Friday afternoon, alumni, staff, students, and prospective students toured new Biology labs. Later that same day, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences also hosted a reunion. In addition to events organized by the Faculty of Science, three Psychology professors - Anna Weinberg, Sara Colalillo, and Melanie Dirks - participated in a Homecoming Signature Masterclass focused on Youth Mental Health.
mcgill.ca
October 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Day 1 of #McGill Homecoming 2025 kicks off with a Bicentennial Digital Time Capsule reveal ⏳⤵️

First up: Professor Rowan Barrett, evolutionary biologist & former Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity Science (@mcgillscience.bsky.social) youtu.be/LNKbdN_-PC8
Rowan Barrett Time Capsule
YouTube video by McGill University
youtu.be
October 23, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Now that I have time to explain this a little more: since 2021, @sarahsanderson.bsky.social and I, and some other folks from @ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social's lab have been working in QC's Parc national du Lac-Témiscouata on some odd stickleback populations rapidly evolving in response to stocked trout.🧪🐟
October 25, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Colorful collage of abnormal larval zebrafish hearts. Credit to @dorotheeb.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
October 19, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Zebrafish embryo undergoing gastrulation. Credit to Dr. Gopi Shah at EMBL. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
October 19, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Congratulations to all Science students graduating at this morning's Fall Convocation!

Livestream the ceremony here: www.youtube.com/live/ExVA1ez...
McGill University Fall Convocation 2025 AM
YouTube video by McGill University
www.youtube.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
McGill ranks #1 in Canada in Maclean’s medical-doctoral category for the 21st year in a row. ⭐ Top 3 in 8 of 12 indicators — and the only medical doctoral university to place in the top 10 in all of them.

🔗 https://mcgill.ca/x/iD6
October 14, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Fish keratocytes isolated from a fish scale crawling around. Technique: DIC microscopy. #CellBiology.
Another #NikonSmallWorldReject
October 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
Zebrafish embryonic axis extension showing neurons 🟢 and the developing skeletal muscles 🟣. Credit to @blmartin.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
October 12, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by McGill Biology
It’s #worldalgaeday and my most favourite of algae is the diatoms! Single-celled and microscopic, these algae are so important, storing carbon, making oxygen, cycling nutrients, providing food, and even helping innovations in science and medicine! #marineplankton 🦑
October 12, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by McGill Biology
There were so many Ctenophore larvae in this week’s plankton sample! Ctenophores aka comb jellies are gelatinous animals that use ctenes (combs) to move about, and some have sticky tentacles to capture prey.
#marineplankton 🦑
October 10, 2025 at 8:20 AM