Matt Friedman
@friedmanlab.bsky.social
Vertebrate evolutionary biologist | Professor University of Michigan | Director & Curator UMMP | he/him/his
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Awesome article in @science.org on @danielgeldof.bsky.social Master's thesis on the secret of the rockhead poacher’s (Bothragonus swanii) unusual cranial anatomy. Daniel did some beautiful CT scans on this odd fish's head.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
This fish seems to use its bizarre skull like a drum
The rockhead poacher’s unusual cranial anatomy may help it communicate
www.science.org
December 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Awesome article in @science.org on @danielgeldof.bsky.social Master's thesis on the secret of the rockhead poacher’s (Bothragonus swanii) unusual cranial anatomy. Daniel did some beautiful CT scans on this odd fish's head.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Recently unearthed in a desk drawer: guides for now-extinct paleo galleries at the Field and Carnegie.
December 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Recently unearthed in a desk drawer: guides for now-extinct paleo galleries at the Field and Carnegie.
Reposted by Matt Friedman
On the 11th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
11 Cambrian fossils from the Great Basin.
The Great Basin is a large area of Utah and Nevada that was under water 500 million years ago. Life was experimenting and there's lots of strange creatures found here.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
11 Cambrian fossils from the Great Basin.
The Great Basin is a large area of Utah and Nevada that was under water 500 million years ago. Life was experimenting and there's lots of strange creatures found here.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
December 24, 2025 at 11:03 PM
On the 11th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
11 Cambrian fossils from the Great Basin.
The Great Basin is a large area of Utah and Nevada that was under water 500 million years ago. Life was experimenting and there's lots of strange creatures found here.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
11 Cambrian fossils from the Great Basin.
The Great Basin is a large area of Utah and Nevada that was under water 500 million years ago. Life was experimenting and there's lots of strange creatures found here.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Merry #Crustmas to all who celebrate! Hoping you are firmly attached to people you love, are able to scoop up large amounts of food, and can hide in an impervious shell when the social situation requires it ❤️
December 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Merry #Crustmas to all who celebrate! Hoping you are firmly attached to people you love, are able to scoop up large amounts of food, and can hide in an impervious shell when the social situation requires it ❤️
Reposted by Matt Friedman
We wish you a Merychippus, and a happy New Year! This Miocene, three-toed horse hopes everyone has a safe and cozy holiday season. 🐴🎄
December 24, 2025 at 6:20 PM
We wish you a Merychippus, and a happy New Year! This Miocene, three-toed horse hopes everyone has a safe and cozy holiday season. 🐴🎄
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Our penultimate Lonely Fish for #25DaysOfFishmas is another quite cute one. This is Triodon macropterus, the threetooth puffer. The only member of the family Triodontidae, this species is found around the Indo-Pacific at depths between ~30 and 300m.
December 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Our penultimate Lonely Fish for #25DaysOfFishmas is another quite cute one. This is Triodon macropterus, the threetooth puffer. The only member of the family Triodontidae, this species is found around the Indo-Pacific at depths between ~30 and 300m.
Reposted by Matt Friedman
On the 10th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
A Jovacrinus clarki with 10 arms!
I mentioned on Day 1 that Clarkeocrinus is not named after me. However, Jovacrinus clarki is!
I found this early Silurian crinoid in Quebec and it was determined to be a new species.
#12DaysofFossils
A Jovacrinus clarki with 10 arms!
I mentioned on Day 1 that Clarkeocrinus is not named after me. However, Jovacrinus clarki is!
I found this early Silurian crinoid in Quebec and it was determined to be a new species.
#12DaysofFossils
December 23, 2025 at 10:20 PM
On the 10th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
A Jovacrinus clarki with 10 arms!
I mentioned on Day 1 that Clarkeocrinus is not named after me. However, Jovacrinus clarki is!
I found this early Silurian crinoid in Quebec and it was determined to be a new species.
#12DaysofFossils
A Jovacrinus clarki with 10 arms!
I mentioned on Day 1 that Clarkeocrinus is not named after me. However, Jovacrinus clarki is!
I found this early Silurian crinoid in Quebec and it was determined to be a new species.
#12DaysofFossils
Reposted by Matt Friedman
New Job Search Announcement: Curator of Paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science:
careers.share.nm.gov/psc/hprdcg/E...
careers.share.nm.gov/psc/hprdcg/E...
An error has occurred.
careers.share.nm.gov
December 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM
New Job Search Announcement: Curator of Paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science:
careers.share.nm.gov/psc/hprdcg/E...
careers.share.nm.gov/psc/hprdcg/E...
Reposted by Matt Friedman
JOB KLAXON! The @nhm-london.bsky.social is recruiting a micro-CT specialist! jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
CT Data and Micro CT Specialist :South Kensington
jobs.nhm.ac.uk
December 23, 2025 at 6:39 AM
JOB KLAXON! The @nhm-london.bsky.social is recruiting a micro-CT specialist! jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Looking for a PhD in palaeontology or associated fields? Just a heads up that we have a list of opportunities on the @thepalass.bsky.social website:
palass.org/phd-opportun...
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
(If you're advertising one, you can add it to our listings too: palass.org/form/webform... )
palass.org/phd-opportun...
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
(If you're advertising one, you can add it to our listings too: palass.org/form/webform... )
PhD Opportunities | The Palaeontological Association
palass.org
December 22, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Looking for a PhD in palaeontology or associated fields? Just a heads up that we have a list of opportunities on the @thepalass.bsky.social website:
palass.org/phd-opportun...
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
(If you're advertising one, you can add it to our listings too: palass.org/form/webform... )
palass.org/phd-opportun...
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
(If you're advertising one, you can add it to our listings too: palass.org/form/webform... )
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Curator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
Assistant Professor - Curator of Education (Tenure-Track)
jobs.colorado.edu
December 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Curator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
🚨stop what you're doing and take a gander at this amazing Bolca reconstruction🚨
And with that the last formation piece of the year is done! Monte Bolca is one of the most famous productive fossil lagerstätten in the world! This Italian paradise for Eocene fossils is just as ingrained into paleontology like Solnhofen or Hell Creek. But since we...
December 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
🚨stop what you're doing and take a gander at this amazing Bolca reconstruction🚨
Reposted by Matt Friedman
On the 9th day of THAT FISH, it's time for CARL the stupid Xiphactinus. This ugly fish was discovered in late 2021 by Cassi Knight, scouting an outcrop we had been over about 6 years prior. Erosion works fast in the chalk and this dismembered head has beautiful teeth, incl 3 in the premax (rare).
December 22, 2025 at 4:29 PM
On the 9th day of THAT FISH, it's time for CARL the stupid Xiphactinus. This ugly fish was discovered in late 2021 by Cassi Knight, scouting an outcrop we had been over about 6 years prior. Erosion works fast in the chalk and this dismembered head has beautiful teeth, incl 3 in the premax (rare).
Reposted by Matt Friedman
On the 8th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
8 Hyperoblastus blastoids from Milan, Michigan.
Blastoids are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins and crinoids. At some localities they are common. They are very rare at the Devonian Silica Shale Milan location.
#12DaysofFossils
8 Hyperoblastus blastoids from Milan, Michigan.
Blastoids are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins and crinoids. At some localities they are common. They are very rare at the Devonian Silica Shale Milan location.
#12DaysofFossils
December 22, 2025 at 12:19 AM
On the 8th day of fossils, my true love gave to me...
8 Hyperoblastus blastoids from Milan, Michigan.
Blastoids are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins and crinoids. At some localities they are common. They are very rare at the Devonian Silica Shale Milan location.
#12DaysofFossils
8 Hyperoblastus blastoids from Milan, Michigan.
Blastoids are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins and crinoids. At some localities they are common. They are very rare at the Devonian Silica Shale Milan location.
#12DaysofFossils
👀
December 22, 2025 at 2:29 PM
👀
Reposted by Matt Friedman
December 21, 2025 at 12:21 AM
On this shortest day of the year, let's all admire an iconic diorama depicting a scene from a place of eternal night . . .
December 21, 2025 at 9:26 PM
On this shortest day of the year, let's all admire an iconic diorama depicting a scene from a place of eternal night . . .
String of Stratodus vertebrate emerging in the lab.
December 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
String of Stratodus vertebrate emerging in the lab.
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Reposted by Matt Friedman
On the 7th day of fossils, my true love gave to me....
7 Cryptolithus bellulus trilobites.
These are from the Ordovician Whetstone Gulf formation of New York. These are very thin shelled, delicate trilobites that are difficult to prepare.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
7 Cryptolithus bellulus trilobites.
These are from the Ordovician Whetstone Gulf formation of New York. These are very thin shelled, delicate trilobites that are difficult to prepare.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
December 20, 2025 at 6:40 PM
On the 7th day of fossils, my true love gave to me....
7 Cryptolithus bellulus trilobites.
These are from the Ordovician Whetstone Gulf formation of New York. These are very thin shelled, delicate trilobites that are difficult to prepare.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
7 Cryptolithus bellulus trilobites.
These are from the Ordovician Whetstone Gulf formation of New York. These are very thin shelled, delicate trilobites that are difficult to prepare.
1/x
#12DaysofFossils
Fish time at the market! Scomber, Lutjanus, Zenopsis, Scomberomorus.
December 20, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Fish time at the market! Scomber, Lutjanus, Zenopsis, Scomberomorus.
Excited to find this at my local bookstore.
December 20, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Excited to find this at my local bookstore.
Reposted by Matt Friedman
Results from the last Flocking #paleostream of the year!
Appalachiosaurus, Lijiangosaurus, Teraterpeton and Gerrothorax.
Appalachiosaurus, Lijiangosaurus, Teraterpeton and Gerrothorax.
December 20, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Results from the last Flocking #paleostream of the year!
Appalachiosaurus, Lijiangosaurus, Teraterpeton and Gerrothorax.
Appalachiosaurus, Lijiangosaurus, Teraterpeton and Gerrothorax.
Reposted by Matt Friedman
I'm delighted to have gotten ahold of some footage of Life Over Time's last day (May 3, 2004)! This was kindly shared by Dave Dolak, who used to show it in his classes at Columbia College.
I've cut the video into three parts for easier viewing, starting with the Paleozoic:
I've cut the video into three parts for easier viewing, starting with the Paleozoic:
December 20, 2025 at 2:06 AM
I'm delighted to have gotten ahold of some footage of Life Over Time's last day (May 3, 2004)! This was kindly shared by Dave Dolak, who used to show it in his classes at Columbia College.
I've cut the video into three parts for easier viewing, starting with the Paleozoic:
I've cut the video into three parts for easier viewing, starting with the Paleozoic:
Big past week for second-year grad student @reallyoldfish.bsky.social: end of classes, first paper, and driving a beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Congrats, Zach!
December 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Big past week for second-year grad student @reallyoldfish.bsky.social: end of classes, first paper, and driving a beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Congrats, Zach!