Lucas
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lgpens.bsky.social
Lucas
@lgpens.bsky.social
1.1K followers 160 following 520 posts
Marine Biologist; Fish Biologist; father; husband; feminist (he/him); posts are my own
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lgpens.bsky.social
Small pile of comfy ones spooning here…
A black and white cat spooning a black cat. Both are asleep on a red, white, and gray blanket
October 10, 2025 at 9:25 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
My little tuxedo has decided my hair is WAY too messy. She’s been grooming me for about five minutes now…
October 2, 2025 at 12:14 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
Doing some work on the back deck and kept hearing something rustling in the leaves. Took me a minute, but I found the culprit!
A picture of a brown deck partially covered in red and brown leaves. The legs and cover of a grill table is partially visible in the top left of the frame and the bottom level of a grill table is partially visible in the right of the frame. A blue tailed skink is on the deck between the grill and table.
September 20, 2025 at 6:53 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
My techs were in the field super early this morning doing some sampling and one of them snapped this awesome pic of Venus and the crescent moon. Almost enough to make me disappointed not to be out that early! 🧪🌊
A picture of trees reflected on water. A crescent moon and Venus are visible in the sky above the trees.
September 19, 2025 at 9:57 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
After quite possibly the worst week of my life, my absolutely amazing coworkers dragged me into the field to seine for juvenile red drum. Of course I forgot to take pictures of the adorable baby fishes 🧪🌊
A picture of a man taking a selfie from the bow of a boat. Another man is standing in knee deep water holding the boat steady and a woman is behind the wheel with her arms spread wide. A general vibe of happiness abounds in this photo
September 18, 2025 at 10:53 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Wife calls from her way to work: “I think I just blew out a tire!” She walks the rest of the way to work, I drop off the other car, and I go change the tire. Let’s just say I would not have been nearly as calm about this had the roles been reversed!
A picture of a hand holding a pair of pliers with a folded piece of metal gripped in the pliers.
June 29, 2025 at 2:10 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Found a small slithery friend while mowing the grass today.
A ring of dead leaves and grass with a small gray snake approximately centered in the photo.
April 5, 2025 at 5:18 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
The first real beach day of the year is always my favorite one. Glad at least one of the kiddos still appreciates it!
A child dancing joyfully on the sand as waves break in the background. There is a fishing rod in a beach spike on the far right edge of the picture
March 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
March 21, 2025 at 7:10 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Awesome training day on how to safely handle sea turtles behind the scenes at the NC Aquarium. I generally love my job, but some days that love comes easier than others! 1/2
A rescued loggerhead sea turtle swimming in a large circular tank. The turtle is scheduled for release next month. Multiple small sea horses swimming around artificial grasses in an aquarium tank with a blue bottom and background. A small jellyfish with blue on the end of its tentacles swimming in an aquarium tank with a blue bottom and background
March 21, 2025 at 7:10 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Left my office to pick up the kids from school and the sun was breaking through. Got to the car rider line and not so much! Guarantee that despite me reminding them it was going to rain today, neither wore a coat
March 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Live life with the joy of a southern child enjoying a snow day
A picture of a child jumping through the snow in a clearing in the woods carrying a snow shovel. The ground is covered in snow and heavy snow is falling.
January 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Went on my last paddle of 2024. This paddle always reminds me of the bayous of Louisiana/Mississippi with the cypress trees and Spanish moss. Didn’t catch a single fish, but I saw a whole flock of red wind blackbirds, multiple great blue herons, and a family of otters.
Cypress trees hung with Spanish moss are reflected in a creek of mostly calm water. There are cypress knees visible near the bank of the creek.
December 31, 2024 at 8:40 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
The takeout Chinese food is loaded into the fridge for tonight and the cinnamon rolls are ready to pop in the oven tomorrow morning. Must be #ChristmasEve
About 12 uncooked cinnamon rolls resting in rows of 3 in a glass baking dish.
December 24, 2024 at 6:57 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Merry Christmas to me as the best calendar ever arrived yesterday. I wont spoil any of them, but just know that the @coralcitycamera.bsky.social calendar contains some exceptional photos this year!
A picture of the front cover of the Coral City Camera 2025 calendar. There are three parrot fish swimming on a coral reef on the cover. One is swimming off camera to the top of the photo, one is in the background and appears more faded, and one is in the foreground and appears to be staring into the soul of the viewer. The Coral City Camera logo is in the top left corner with Coral City Camera printed below the logo. Toward the bottom on the left side, Swim Well In 2025 is printed.
December 24, 2024 at 1:49 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
Advertise your account with just one imagine.
A man in a blue winter hat and white slicks is sitting down holding a fish on a measuring board with one hand and inserting a yellow spaghetti tag into the fish with his other. A second set of hands from someone off camera is helping to hold the fish down.
December 22, 2024 at 2:01 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
I *technically* did make 24 cookies for the holiday party tomorrow 💀
A very small snicker doodle cookie on a cooling rack sits beside two much larger snicker doodle cookies with additional cookies visible on a lower cooling rack in the background.
December 11, 2024 at 12:34 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
I signed up to make 24 snicker doodles for the Division of Marine Fisheries holiday party tomorrow.
Wife: Do you have an extra I can try
Me: I should
<we share a cookie>
Wife: Will you have 6 extra I can take with my lasagna delivery tomorrow?
Me: Umm…I have 5 extra
🤦🏽‍♂️
Picture of a green holiday tray with snicker doodle cookies arranged on it. More snicker doodles are on a cooling tray in the background.
December 11, 2024 at 12:34 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
For #Fishmas today, let’s talk Weakfish and resilience. The bite on the Weakfish was surprisingly deep (probably a Bluefish tried to make a meal of it), but mostly healed to just scar. There’s probably a holiday lesson in there for all of us 🦑🧪
A hand holding a medium sized Weakfish that is about 18 inches long. The fish has a large but mostly healed bite mark just below where the hand is holding it.
December 9, 2024 at 1:16 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
I think I missed some days, but for #Fishmas today I’m going to video! Here’s my oldest kiddo releasing her first tagged Spotted Seatrout. They’re an important recreational and commercial species in NC. We use tagging studies to understand things like mortality, habitat use, and movement patterns 🧪🦑
December 6, 2024 at 2:00 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
Hope y’all caught Venus and the waxing crescent moon tonight. Not the best shot, but it was pretty awesome. Photo credit: my oldest kiddo through the windshield of the car
Somewhat blurry photo through the windshield of a car of a darkening sky. Venus and the waxing crescent moon are visible toward the top of the photo with trees to the left and right side of the foreground. There are scattered pinkish clouds across the bottom of the photo.
December 5, 2024 at 12:04 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
I hear it’s #Fishmas so here’s a trick I learned from @solomonrdavid.bsky.social Is this spinner shark “scary” looking? Or just a goofball with a frowny face and a boopable snoot?
Picture of the side of a spinner shark’s head with one eye, a portion of the gills, and a part of the mouth visible. This point of view makes the shark look “scarier.” A picture from the front of the underside of a spinner shark. The shark’s nose, mouth, part of one eye, and pectoral fins are visible. This point of view makes the shark adorable and somewhat goofy looking.
December 4, 2024 at 12:52 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
Introduction time. Hi, I’m Lucas. I’m a marine biologist for North Carolina and do a combo of research and #Fisheries management. The research (e.g., age, grow, movement) influences the management (e.g., size/bag limits) to achieve sustainable populations. Here’s me tagging my first Spotted Seatrout
Picture of a man in a blue winter hat on an electrofishing boat inserting a yellow t-bar tag into a Spotted Seatrout that is laying on a white measuring board.
November 27, 2024 at 2:44 PM
lgpens.bsky.social
My oldest is supposed to shadow a #Fisheries scientist for a school project. Loved giving my kiddo an insight into some of the more fun parts of my work. Here she is tagging her first Spotted Seatrout 🦑🧪
A teenager in a pink hoodie leaning over the side of a boat to release a tagged fish into the water
November 26, 2024 at 12:21 AM
lgpens.bsky.social
Hey #FishSky I’m looking for studies exploring how changes in angler behavior can reduce the effectiveness of management? Specifically I’m interested in how fisher effort shifting toward weekdays can decrease the effectiveness of weekend harvest closures. Baby #Fish picture for attention
Picture of an approximately 85 millimeter juvenile Spotted Seatrout on a measuring board.
November 22, 2024 at 2:32 PM