This has been a good month for Fundulus appreciation.
I participated in the Love Your Wetlands Day celebration at the UC Kendall -Frost Salt Marsh. Got to see some of my favorite people - Mayor Todd Gloria, Travis Kemnitz (Executive Director of San Diego Audubon); Jim Peugh and Andrew Meyer (SD Audubon); Stan Rodriquez (Kumeyaay Community College); Amber Pairis (Climate Science Alliance); Isabelle Kay & Heather Henter (UCNRS); Kellie Uyeda (SDSU and TRNERR) and Jeff Crooks (TRNERR); Odesma Dalrymple and Nancy Torres (University of San Diego), and more I am undoubtedly forgetting.
I got to talk to the public about wetland fishes, with a special focus on (of course) Fundulus parvipinnis, and then spent a lot of time letting kids see, hold, and love killifish. Could not have been more fun.
Then, just yesterday the newest episode of one of my favorite podcasts dropped - the Fish of the Week, a podcast put out by the Fish and Wildlife Service. I got to be a guest going on and on (and on) about my beloved California killifish. It was so much fun - and the hosts, Katrina Liebich and Guy Eroh, together with producer Tasha Lemley (CitizenRacecar) managed to make it such a great experience. They also somehow made me sound slightly less like a crazy person blathering about a dumb little fish!
This podcast in general is a real delight - don’t be misled by my episode! They have some of my heroes in the fish world (e.g., the week before they interviewed Peter Moyle at UC. Davis), and every episode I learn something new and fascinating. Katrina and Guy are really talented science communicators, and Tasha managed to take my painful voice and rambling responses and make it sound (almost) coherent!
Pretty early in 2023 to already have two big wins on the board for Fundulus parvipinnis!