Todd Clardy, PhD

@toddclardy.bsky.social

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Fish biologist interested in all things fishy, particularly comparative and functional anatomy and early life history. I play with a CT scanner a lot. Collections manager for the Department of Ichthyology at the NHMLA.

Posts Replies Media

Reply to

Emily Troyer

Thanks, it’s been a long road, but I think I’m finally where I need to be. Wasn’t sure I’d ever get here, honestly!

Here’s my new paper in Zoomorphology “Fractal morphology of mechanosensory lateral-line canals in Stichaeidae” in which I describe a method to quantify the complex patterns of lateral-line canals in teleosts, using pricklebacks as an example family. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fractal morphology of mechanosensory lateral-line canals in Stichaeidae - Zoomorphologylink.springer.com The marine teleost family Stichaeidae shows considerable variation in the morphology of mechanosensory lateral-line canals across its six subfamilies, 38 genera, and 82 species. Some species have redu...

I’m excited about the work. I think it addresses an important, though perhaps niche, problem in studying fish mechanoreception. But I’m most excited about its publication. Story time!

I submitted this manuscript on January 1, 2022. Get the year started with a bang, right? Unfortunately, on January 16, I was admitted to the hospital, where I stayed for 45 days. I left after undergoing a liver transplant on March 6 and spending a few weeks recovering.

While I was in the hospital, the paper was accepted with revisions. Great news! Unfortunately, I was in no shape to do anything for months. I set a major recovery goal of finishing this manuscript.

One major function of the liver is to clear toxins. When the liver doesn’t function, the toxins build up, which affected my brain. I couldn’t think straight for months. No short term memory, gaps in long-term memory, inability to concentrate or think critically. That sucked.

Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, things got better. By mid 2023, over a year after my transplant, I was thinking more clearly again. I decided to pick up this paper and make the corrections. I made progress. I addressed all the comments and actually liked what I had written.

At the end of last year, I submitted the new version of the paper. After one more round of revisions in the spring, it was accepted! What an incredible relief!

After not being able to remember the names of family members or any numbers beyond three digits or words, I was able to complete a scientific manuscript! One using fractals!

I want to thank the editors of Zoomorphology, who I contacted early on in my trauma and who waited patiently for me to recover and finish this paper. I feel lucky to be able to share this with you, dear reader. You’ll be seeing more from me soon!

I had to visit the Carnegie Museum of Natural History before I left Pittsburgh. Very cool museum with some neat exhibits.

The elk diorama at the Carnegie goes hard! The elk is shot with an arrow and left for the vultures.

Reply to

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈

I forgot you did that, or I would have dropped a couple of hundreds in there.

Reply to

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈

Folks, he wasn’t joking.

Delayed leaving the gate in LA for over an hour and counting, putting my connecting flight to Pittsburgh in serious jeopardy. Glad all my travel problems are getting out of the way so soon. I expect #JMIH24 to go swimmingly whenever I get there.

I’ll be attending the JMIH meeting this year for the first time in a long while. I used to go every year. My last JMIH was in Chattanooga, if any old timers know when that one occurred.

Oh yeah a 4:30am alarm so I can get to the airport in time for my trip to Pittsburgh

Stingray feeding pits can create dramatic landscapes in shallow environments. Apparently, this habitat alteration does not affect macrobenthic diversity compared to nearby undisturbed areas. Interesting! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Do stingray feeding pits enhance intertidal macrobenthic biodiversity? - Hydrobiologialink.springer.com Little is known of the macrobenthos supported within stingray feeding pits. Compared to adjacent unpitted areas during low tide, macrobenthic abundance and biodiversity within the stingray pits might ...

A little Saturday morning shark science for ya. 🐟🦈 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Fluid dynamic properties of shark caudal fin morphology and its relationship to habitats - Ichthyological Researchlink.springer.com Locomotion is essential for the survival of fish because it influences the success rate of avoiding danger and predation. In particular, differences in the hydrodynamic properties of the caudal fin ha...

Reply to

joeymaier 🌊

Aww, a wee baby! Wait baby is 6-7 meters?!

Reposted by

Todd Clardy, PhD

NEW PAPER: Novel pre-copulatory behavior in basking sharks observed by drone. 🦈 🦑 🧪 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Look at those chompers! Anoplogaster is called fangtooth for a reason. 🐟🧪

Reply to

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.

Angy kitty very cute.

Reply to

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈

I’m only on board if this involves AI sharks, AI house music, and AI shark facts. Then I’m fully on board.

Spending my Sunday trying to decide which Los Angeles area haunted house to apply for this fall.

I once worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA during their Howl-O-Scream event. I was a scary clown! I had a scary clown dance, scary clown laugh, scary clown taunts. I had a blast and terrified more than a few guests.

Right, so my decision is to apply to them all and see who offers haha.

Manuscript edits on a Saturday morning.

Reply to

Vantuna Research Group at Occidental College

ChatGPT, tell me what paper I should write next.

Reply to

Titus Seilheimer

Oh man, someone get Titus a bagel.