Jackson Chu, PhD 🍁@jwfchu.bsky.social

If you are curious about what marine life Canadians are collectively observing on #iNaturalist, I've created an umbrella project that covers all three of Canada's Oceans. 1/4 inaturalist.org/projects/marin…

A $60 'science-grade' cleaning brush versus a 10pc assortment of cleaning brushes from TEMU for $1.69. With respect to my inner turmoil, the Frugal Asian in me lost out to my Westernized Scientist on this one.

Revisiting one of my oldies but goodies for a deep-sea #Halloween. Dudley the hydrothermal vents marker. bit.ly/4f3Vqv7

New JDM rod day. #iNaturalist

Well, that's a new bird species spotted at my bird feeder. +1 for the potential predator-prey interaction. #iNaturalist

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others. At the moment, fall fishing consists of mostly yellow perch (𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴) with the odd fallfish (𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴) sticking out like a donkey among a zeal of zebras. #iNaturalist

@LeeuwisRobin thx!

@jwfchu I'm a fishy person 👋 but I don't have much experience with IDing fish in the wild. Although I do think that it definitely looks like a cute tiny mummichog! Especially considering this species is very common in the kind of coastal brackish environment that you found the fish in.

Can any fishy people out there ID this 2.5cm long micro found in a brackish coastal pond, New Brunswick Canada? I'm guessing Mummichog (𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴). #iNaturalist #tanago #microfishing

@Kelporama Fair. I do feel the angle i'm having the most fun with a hook & line approach is figuring out the right combo of lure x species x habitat to catch all the fish. We don't have a lot of intertidal pools out here, but I can sure imagine microfishing in BC would be super fun.

The new fishing rod didn't come with English instructions, but I'm guessing I'm supposed to chant 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢 to catch the fish? #Tanago

So- I looked at my fishhooks under the microscope and decided...SMALLER. OWNER 0.3 pre-snelled #tanago hooks next to the previous hook and a smaller sushi-grade rice kernel for scale.

Atlantic rock pooling isn't as diverse as the Pacific but you can still stumble upon some fun things like this mostly decayed Atlantic sturgeon (𝘈𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘹𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘴). Totally thought it was a dinosaur fossil at first. #iNaturalist

So, I used A.I. to transform some of my papers into a podcast of '2 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴' The results are scary realistic. A.I. wins at being the best at #SciComm. bit.ly/4eDv16t

Took a look at my growing tackle box and thought, SMALLER. So I got myself some Tanago hooks. Next to a grain of rice for scale (and as potential bait).

DYK 'illustration' counts as evidence for a species observation on #iNaturalist? Here's my Gyotaku fish print for this Atlantic Mackerel (𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘴). Now to go for the trifecta: photo + illustration + sound...The hunt is on for vocalizing fish spp.

What is most likely Japanese wireweed (𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘮) has arrived in Atlantic Canada. It's scary but fun to get these #AIS early warning signals in #iNaturalist. inaturalist.org/observations/2…

Atlantic Mackerel (𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘴). Surprisingly, the $2 temu sabiki rig worked better than pricier alternatives. Released all the <26.8 cm ones, legal-sized ones ended up in my belly. Mmm...tasty. #iNaturalist.

Interesting. reuters.com/legal/litigati…

Been wanting to encounter a Common Snapping Turtle (𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢) all summer. Didn't think my first would be a bebeeeeeeeee. He was wee bit feisty. #iNaturalist.

Read some peer-reviewed research on habitat and behaviour. Went back armed with hard bait. Caught and released my first chain pickerel (𝘌𝘴𝘰𝘹 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳). The 'fish-grip' was to avoid its razor-sharp teeth. #iNaturalist

This is what happens when an experimental biologist picks up a new hobby. Must...test...every...permutation...: species * season * habitat * colour * bait action * ... Plus, some of us just plain like to collect things.