Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 187 of Just the Zoo of Us. Before we get started, I wanted to say a profound and sincere thank you to everyone who stepped up to support us in this year's Max Fun Drive. It was a great turnout. We had a ton of fun, and I can't wait to deliver on some of the exciting stuff that we are able to do because of support from you, our wonderful

audience. So thank you. We couldn't do all of this without you. Now, for this week's episode,

I talked with a biologist and science communicator about the tiny indestructible ogres of the

Florida swamp, the mangrove rivulis. We discuss parasites and their role in courtship and reproduction,

what fish would put on their tinder profiles,

and life as a fish who isn't quite sure about this whole being a fish thing.

So put on your waiters and get out your fish nets.

Just the Zoo of Us presents the Mangrove Rivulis with Brooke Fitzwater. Hello everybody. This is Ellen Weatherford. We're here with Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. And this week, we're speaking with a new friend, Brooke Fitzwater. Say hi, Brooke.

Hi.

And Brooke, what are your pronouns real quick?

My pronouns are she, her.

Thank you so much. I'm really excited to talk about our fish today.

But before we do, let's talk about Brooke.

Brooke, let our friends listening know what kind of work you do with our wet friends.

Our wet friends, I'm going to call them that from now on.

Our little wet wiggly friends.

I also call them my children. I call them my children or my army little wet, wiggly friends. I also call them my children.

I call them my children or my army.

Oh, that's powerful.

I have a whole army that I'm building in the lab.

So a lot of you that are listening might know me as Ocean Philly on TikTok,

Twitter, et cetera.

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