DiceCT for fishes: recommendations for pairing iodine contrast agents with μCT to visualize soft tissues in fishes.

Computed tomography (CT) scanning and other high-throughput three-dimensional (3D) visualization tools are transforming the ways we study morphology, ecology and evolutionary biology research beyond generating vast digital repositories of anatomical data. Contrast-enhanced chemical staining methods, which render soft tissues radio-opaque when coupled with CT scanning, encompass several approaches that are growing in popularity and versatility. Of these, the various diceCT techniques that use an iodine-based solution like Lugol's have provided access to an array of morphological data sets spanning extant vertebrate lineages.

Hidden species diversity in an iconic living fossil vertebrate.

Ancient, species-poor lineages persistently occur across the Tree of life. These lineages are likely to contain unrecognized species diversity masked by the low rates of morphological evolution that characterize living fossils. Halecomorphi is a lineage of ray-finned fishes that diverged from its closest relatives before 200 Ma and is represented by only one living species in eastern North America, the bowfin, Linnaeus.

Retraction Note: Novel life history strategy in a deep sea fish challenges assumptions about reproduction in extreme environments.

Editor's Note: this Article has been retracted; the Retraction Note is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75408-8 .

Novel life history strategy in a deep sea fish challenges assumptions about reproduction in extreme environments.

The deep ocean is frequently assumed to be a homogeneous system lacking the same diverse life history strategies found in shallower waters. However, as our methods for exploring the deep ocean improve, common assumptions about dispersal, reproduction and behavior are constantly being challenged. Fishes exhibit the most diverse reproductive strategies among vertebrates.

Awareness and use of biodiversity collections by fish biologists.

A survey of 280 fish biologists from a diverse pool of disciplines was conducted in order to assess the use made of biodiversity collections and how collections can better collect, curate and share the data they have. From the responses, data for how fish biologists use collections, what data they find the most useful, what factors influence the decisions to use collections, how they access the data and explore why some fish biologists make the decision to not use biodiversity collections is collated and reported. The results of which could be used to formulate sustainability plans for collections administrators and staff who curate fish biodiversity collections, while also highlighting the diversity of data and uses to researchers.

A survey of digitized data from U.S. fish collections in the iDigBio data aggregator.

Recent changes in institutional cyberinfrastructure and collections data storage methods have dramatically improved accessibility of specimen-based data through the use of digital databases and data aggregators. This analysis of digitized fish collections in the U.S.