Matthew Girard

I am an ichthyologist interested in the evolution and biology of fishes. As a Zoologist in the Division of Fishes at the National Museum of Natural History, I work within the Museum’s Ocean DNA initiative to generate DNA reference libraries for fishes. I ask questions about fish relationships, species diversity, anatomical mechanisms, transformations from larvae to adults, and broad evolutionary patterns, among other topics. My work is directly tied to museum collections and involves collecting new specimens, staining preserved specimens, scanning using a µCT, sequencing DNA, and bioinformatics. 

BS., Loyola University Chicago
PhD., University of Kansas

A full list of my publications can be found at https://www.mgirard.fish

Systematic ichthyology, comparative anatomy, genomics, and macroevolutionary dynamics.

Girard, M. G. and G. D. Johnson. 2024. Novel neurocranial fenestrae and expansions in Monomitopus and Selachophidium (Teleostei: Ophidiidae), with comments on the morphology, taxonomy and evolution of the genera. Journal of Morphology 285:e21753. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21753 

Girard, M. G., A. Nonaka, C. C. Baldwin, and G. D. Johnson. 2024. Discovery and description of elaborate larval cusk-eels and the relationships among Acanthonus, Tauredophidium, and Xyelacyba (Teleostei: Ophidiidae), p. 20–42. In: Early Life History and Biology of Marine Fishes: Research inspired by the work of H Geoffrey Moser. J. M. Leis, W. Watson, B. C. Mundy, and P. Konstantinidis (eds.). NOAA Professional Paper NMFS 24. https://doi.org/10.7755/PP.24.3 

Girard, M. G. 2024. Convergent evolution and the Red Sea rover: Emmelichthys marisrubri (Teleostei: Emmelichthyidae) is a species of fusilier (Lutjanidae: Dipterygonotus). Ichthyology & Herpetology 112:41–52. https://doi.org/10.1643/i2023048

Girard, M. G., B. C. Mundy, A. Nonaka, and G. D. Johnson. 2023. Cusk-eel confusion: revisions of larval Luciobrotula and Pycnocraspedum and re-descriptions of two bythitid larvae (Ophidiiformes). Ichthyological Research 70: 474–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-023-00906-4

Girard, M. G., M. P. Davis, Tan H. H., D. J. Wedd, P. Chakrabarty, W. B. Ludt, A. P. Summers, and W. L.  Smith. 2022. Phylogenetics of archerfishes (Toxotidae) and the evolution of the toxotid shooting apparatus. Integrative Organismal Biology 4:obac013. https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obac013