William B. Ludt, PhD
@planet-of-fishes.bsky.social
Curator of 🐡🐠🐟🦈 @nhm.org
Exploring the diversity of fishes by fishing, diving, and searching through museum collections.
www.wbludt.com
Exploring the diversity of fishes by fishing, diving, and searching through museum collections.
www.wbludt.com
Over the past 5 years some rare Pacific Footballfish have washed ashore in California. How rare? 41 individuals ever recorded, rare. So @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @frable.bsky.social, Michelle Horeczko, and I wrote a short note summarizing this species. Check it out here: doi.org/10.51492/cfw... 🐟🦑
August 30, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Over the past 5 years some rare Pacific Footballfish have washed ashore in California. How rare? 41 individuals ever recorded, rare. So @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @frable.bsky.social, Michelle Horeczko, and I wrote a short note summarizing this species. Check it out here: doi.org/10.51492/cfw... 🐟🦑
While scanning some fishes yesterday I came across this Bonytail Chub collected near Blythe, CA in 1933. You can't find this species in Blythe anymore, nor in the rest of California as it is critically endangered. Museum collections like @nhm.org showcasing yet again our changing planet 🐟🐠
July 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
While scanning some fishes yesterday I came across this Bonytail Chub collected near Blythe, CA in 1933. You can't find this species in Blythe anymore, nor in the rest of California as it is critically endangered. Museum collections like @nhm.org showcasing yet again our changing planet 🐟🐠
And that’s a wrap on #jmih25! Great posters were presented by @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @jessdflores.bsky.social, @romanferraro.bsky.social and others from the @nhm.org Dept of Ichthyology. Overall a good time in St. Paul, MN!
July 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
And that’s a wrap on #jmih25! Great posters were presented by @realfishdoc.bsky.social, @jessdflores.bsky.social, @romanferraro.bsky.social and others from the @nhm.org Dept of Ichthyology. Overall a good time in St. Paul, MN!
As the school year comes to a close I always try to get the whole lab together before students leave for summer. Super grateful for this group of hard working employees and students that truly represent the positive impact that federal funds can have on lives and careers. I can't thank them enough!
May 2, 2025 at 10:40 PM
As the school year comes to a close I always try to get the whole lab together before students leave for summer. Super grateful for this group of hard working employees and students that truly represent the positive impact that federal funds can have on lives and careers. I can't thank them enough!
All this work has been done by these two excellent early career researchers, @jessdflores.bsky.social and Janine Gallardo!
April 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
All this work has been done by these two excellent early career researchers, @jessdflores.bsky.social and Janine Gallardo!
It’s Earth Day at @nhm.org today! If you’re around, come by and learn about the microplastic research we’re doing using fish specimens from our collection. This important work details microplastic consumption across 8 decades in CA! Funded by @caseagrant.bsky.social and @opc-california.bsky.social
April 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
It’s Earth Day at @nhm.org today! If you’re around, come by and learn about the microplastic research we’re doing using fish specimens from our collection. This important work details microplastic consumption across 8 decades in CA! Funded by @caseagrant.bsky.social and @opc-california.bsky.social
I love coming across old documents like this publication written by Vic Springer in 1973 for the ASIH. The world has changed a lot in the last 52 years, and yet many things that Vic wrote about may still seem familiar to any ichthyologist on the job market today
April 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I love coming across old documents like this publication written by Vic Springer in 1973 for the ASIH. The world has changed a lot in the last 52 years, and yet many things that Vic wrote about may still seem familiar to any ichthyologist on the job market today
It's not every day that we get to open up the megamouth/coelacanth tank, so when we do get that chance @realfishdoc.bsky.social and I make sure to document the alcohol level and concentration.
March 4, 2025 at 9:52 PM
It's not every day that we get to open up the megamouth/coelacanth tank, so when we do get that chance @realfishdoc.bsky.social and I make sure to document the alcohol level and concentration.
Sometimes I think that there's a fine line between a hoarding and collecting mentality at museums. While I've come across quite a few floppy disks over the years tucked away in drawers, this 20MB massive cartridge predates my computer usage
January 27, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Sometimes I think that there's a fine line between a hoarding and collecting mentality at museums. While I've come across quite a few floppy disks over the years tucked away in drawers, this 20MB massive cartridge predates my computer usage
Every year @realfishdoc.bsky.social and I pin our own publications and those that use our @nhmla.bsky.social specimens on the door to the Department of Ichthyology. It always looks so empty in January. Can’t wait to see how people use our specimens this year!
January 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Every year @realfishdoc.bsky.social and I pin our own publications and those that use our @nhmla.bsky.social specimens on the door to the Department of Ichthyology. It always looks so empty in January. Can’t wait to see how people use our specimens this year!
@solomonrdavid.bsky.social says it's #garweek, so here you go with a CT scan of one of NHMLA's spotted gar specimens. You can see the tough ganoid scales and also a brief internal view of the vertebral column and abbreviated heterocercal caudal fin 🐠🐟🦑
December 16, 2024 at 6:06 PM
@solomonrdavid.bsky.social says it's #garweek, so here you go with a CT scan of one of NHMLA's spotted gar specimens. You can see the tough ganoid scales and also a brief internal view of the vertebral column and abbreviated heterocercal caudal fin 🐠🐟🦑
Working on a manuscript this morning involving this charismatic species, the Giant Sea Bass. Always grateful to be able to go into the collection and look at the species I'm working on 🐠🐟🦑
December 6, 2024 at 6:14 PM
Working on a manuscript this morning involving this charismatic species, the Giant Sea Bass. Always grateful to be able to go into the collection and look at the species I'm working on 🐠🐟🦑
A really cool CT scan of a Unicorn Crestfish specimen we have @nhmla.bsky.social , magnificently captured by @toddclardy.bsky.social today. Such a weird species, and not common at all. 🦑🐟🐠
March 21, 2024 at 10:15 PM
A really cool CT scan of a Unicorn Crestfish specimen we have @nhmla.bsky.social , magnificently captured by @toddclardy.bsky.social today. Such a weird species, and not common at all. 🦑🐟🐠
Going through some fishes from a trip I did last year to the Gulf of California. Here’s a fun one: Pacific Mutton Hamlet. Doesn’t taste like mutton and isn’t a hamlet. Ichthyology can sometimes be a mystery 🦑🐟🐠
February 21, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Going through some fishes from a trip I did last year to the Gulf of California. Here’s a fun one: Pacific Mutton Hamlet. Doesn’t taste like mutton and isn’t a hamlet. Ichthyology can sometimes be a mystery 🦑🐟🐠
Throw back to just over a year ago when I got to swim with this gentle giant on a trip to St. Helena island with @coral reeffish.bsky.social 🐟🦑🐠
February 9, 2024 at 7:54 PM
Throw back to just over a year ago when I got to swim with this gentle giant on a trip to St. Helena island with @coral reeffish.bsky.social 🐟🦑🐠
Earlier this month we got to prep a Pacific Footballfish that washed up last October. While this species is extremely rare (less than 40 reported specimens total), this is the 5th adult female to wash ashore in Southern California in the past 4 years. So cool! 🐠🐟🦑
January 29, 2024 at 7:46 PM
Earlier this month we got to prep a Pacific Footballfish that washed up last October. While this species is extremely rare (less than 40 reported specimens total), this is the 5th adult female to wash ashore in Southern California in the past 4 years. So cool! 🐠🐟🦑
A hungry houndfish, Tylosurus crocodilus, roaming for food just under the surface off the coast of Thailand 🦑🐟🐠
January 21, 2024 at 8:30 PM
A hungry houndfish, Tylosurus crocodilus, roaming for food just under the surface off the coast of Thailand 🦑🐟🐠
I recently went on a trip to Thailand, which was my first time swimming in the Indian Ocean. Even though this lined surgeonfish is a wide-ranging species, this was a new one for me to see in the wild. Always a treat to observe things you’ve never seen before! 🦑🐠🐟
January 19, 2024 at 8:07 PM
I recently went on a trip to Thailand, which was my first time swimming in the Indian Ocean. Even though this lined surgeonfish is a wide-ranging species, this was a new one for me to see in the wild. Always a treat to observe things you’ve never seen before! 🦑🐠🐟
Always a pleasure to watch gyotaku expert Dwight Hwang do his art. Here he’s printing yet another Pacific Footballfish that washed ashore 🦑
January 3, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Always a pleasure to watch gyotaku expert Dwight Hwang do his art. Here he’s printing yet another Pacific Footballfish that washed ashore 🦑
Some great fish lights in Albuquerque tonight. This was animated and puffed up even
December 27, 2023 at 3:53 AM
Some great fish lights in Albuquerque tonight. This was animated and puffed up even
As we head into the holidays, how about some red and green juvenile labrids. The green fish is a juvenile Strigate Parrotfish, and the red one in the background in a juvenile St. Helena Wrasse. Taken on my first expedition of 2023, which was to St. Helena Island.
December 19, 2023 at 9:38 PM
As we head into the holidays, how about some red and green juvenile labrids. The green fish is a juvenile Strigate Parrotfish, and the red one in the background in a juvenile St. Helena Wrasse. Taken on my first expedition of 2023, which was to St. Helena Island.