Fish Adventures

I had an amazing time representing the KU Natural History Museum at the 25th Anniversary celebration of the Prairie Park Nature Center! It was a pleasure talking with everyone about the fascinating and weird fish species found in Kansas and across North America. Some of these fishes include a channel catfish, sturgeonfishes, Topekia Shinners, stonerollers, and the most popular of all... paddlefishes!

Prairie Park 25th Anniversary

Diving with Manta Rays (Mobula alfredi)

My wife and I ventured to the big island of Hawaii for our honeymoon where we snorkeled with reef manta rays! These creatures belong to the family Mobulidae and are closely related to stingrays in the order Myliobatiformes. Lights are used to attract the surrounding plankton in the water which the manta rays feed on, using their gill rakers to filter out plankton from the water.