Kristen Behrens, PhD
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behrenskristen.bsky.social
Kristen Behrens, PhD
@behrenskristen.bsky.social
she/her | postdoctoral fellow of fisheries bioinformatics @ UMich | coregonine genomics and cichlid sex chromosomes | bioinformatician
🖤🩶🤍💜

My views are my own.

https://kristenbehrens.weebly.com/
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
The evolution of the "perfect" Smallmouth Bass ornament. Each pencil sketch and line drawing in pen remedied a problem with angles, shapes, or proportions, minutiae like the curvature of the jaw, eye position, shape of the caudal fin, and number of spines and rays in the dorsal and anal fins.
December 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
The new Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE) Program page is posted. Please contact us at BIOEDGE@nsf.gov if you have questions. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Enabling Discovery Through Genomics (EDGE)
www.nsf.gov
December 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Still very much a beta, but I made an #rstats package to help faculty and others more easily get data to engage in discussions on closing departments, etc. It's at bomeara.github.io/sharedgovern...

Issues, pull requests, etc. gladly accepted. Uses IPEDS and college scorecard data.
December 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Here is week one of #25DaysOfFishmas. Christmas Darter, Redear Sunfish, Florida Gar, Suwanee Bass, Carolina Madtom, Mountain Mullet, and today's Least Killifish. Looking forward to next week!
December 8, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Here is a watercolor painting of a Yellowbar Parrotfish, Scarus schlegeli, for my Sunday Fish Sketch.
Reference photo(s) by Stephen Spangler, Scuba.Spanglers.com

#sciart #marinelife #coralreefs #oceanconservation
#parrotfish #spanglersscuba
#sundayfishsketch
December 7, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Halimeda Ghostpipefish, Solenostomus halimeda

#SundayFishSketch #SciArt 🦑
December 8, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Powerful words from Dr. Bryan Dewsbury (@dewsbury.bsky.social) from the #CellBio2025 Education keynote:

“When I stand in front of a classroom, I tell students that I am interested in being more than their destination to a final grade”
December 7, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
December 8, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
A very quick #SundayFishSketch of the dwarf topminnow (much better name than "least killifish")
December 8, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
University of Oklahoma has removed another professor because they said they would excuse students who wanted to attend the protest against the firing of the FIRST professor (the one who failed the student for the bad essay)
December 7, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
My festive Least Killifish for this week’s #SundayFishSketch and #25DaysOfFishmas collab!
December 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM
It’s #SundayFishSketch and #Fishmas, with a the least killifish! The common name threw me off when I looked it up because I knew it had to be some little guy in Poeciliidae
December 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
#SundayFishSketch Bonus: Another full page in the new sketchbook! I think I'm gonna alternate 4- and 6-grid layouts over time. Drawing small helps keep my effort contained, and my participation sustained! 🐡🦑🧪
December 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
As much as I would like the "formosa" in Heterandria formosa to refer to Taiwan, the specific name here is just calling this fish pretty. The smallest fish in North America is quite a cutie and the answer this weekend's #SundayFishSketch crossover riddle! 🐡🦑🧪
December 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Had a lot of fun with these!
#Sciart #digitalart #wildlife #SundayFishSketch
December 7, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
#SciComm #TeamFish friends, looking for gift ideas? Pore over the #BestKidsFishBooks #FishBooksForKids crowdsourced list! And enter your own recommendations so we can make #BookSky #KidLit a fishier place everywhere 😍🐟🦑🐡🧪📚

List So Far: bit.ly/FishBooksForKids
Add a Title: bit.ly/BestKidsFishBooks
BKAF Crowdsourcing Dossier: Best Fish Books for Kids (of All Ages)! (Responses)
bit.ly
December 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
The last - but certainly not LEAST - fish from the Southeast leg of our #25DaysofFishmas road trip is one of North America’s smallest vertebrates: the Least Killifish (Heterandria formosa)!

This *very* Tiny Tim is also the first mystery fish for this year’s #SundayFishSketch crossover!
December 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Working on another Channel Cat. It is interesting how using different references for color, pattern, and proportions can result in such different end products. I use a combination of photographs, other artists' renditions, and my own observations when I draw fishes I'm familiar with.
December 7, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
It's time for the "How to do ALT text" image again.

Writing a perfect ALT text is impossible, but please try 💚!

Visually impairment is a wide spectrum and doesn't keep people from loving the visual arts.

🐡 #art #kleinekunstklasse #artadventcalendar
December 7, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.”

Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?
December 7, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Another interesting fish from the Kem Kem - Bawitius! This is a 3m-long bichir, a group of fish I wasn't familiar with until starting this piece. Today, members of this group don't get more than a meter in length, and are apparently popular in aquariums!

Size comparison below ⬇️

#sciart #paleoart
December 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Disappointed with the Pumpkinseed (Even harder to draw than the Brook Trout!), but the Bluegill turned out OK.
December 6, 2025 at 11:29 PM
A middle schooler today told me my research is cool so I will be riding that high right into the new year please and thank you 🙂‍↕️
December 6, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
Ever heard of adaptive radiation? If not, cichlids are a great introduction! Happy Fishmas day 37!
December 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Kristen Behrens, PhD
New Book for Young Readers Brings the Stories of 10 Remarkable Women to Life
New Book for Young Readers Brings the Stories of 10 Remarkable Women to Life
Ten great stories about 10 forgotten female scientists that we hope will inspire middle school readers to pursue their own curiosity and get involved in STEM fields
www.scientificamerican.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:13 PM