• March 2018: The University of Toronto Scarborough interviewed me about a PLoS Biology paper I coauthored with 183 other taxonomists from 37 countries that affirms the importance to conservation of science-based taxonomic research.

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• February–April 2018: Editor of the aquarium hobbyist magazine Practical Fishkeeping Nathan Hill enthusiastically reviewed the book A Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon – Fish Genera of the Amazon, Orinoco and Guianas to which I helped contribute three chapters.

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• 2017, September: An article I wrote about field research and discoveries made during the 2016 expedition that I led to the upper Ireng River in southwestern Guyana was published in both the English and German language editions of the popular aquarium fish magazine Amazonas.

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• 2017, August: An article that Jon Armbruster, David Werneke and I wrote about our 2016 expedition to the upper Ireng River in southwestern Guyana was published in Guyana's national tourism guide Explore Guyana.

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• 2017, June 26: The University of Toronto News ran a story about the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper written by UofT PhD student Gianni Castiglione, professor Belinda Chang, myself and colleagues about evolution of the vision protein rhodopsin in high elevation Andean catfishes. This research was based on specimens collected during expeditions that I led to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.

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• 2016, October 31: An article that I wrote about field research and discoveries made during my 2006 expedition to the Marañon River in northern Peru was published in the IUCN-Freshwater Fish Specialist Group newsletter. This article stemmed from discussions between the IUCN-FFSG, the recently formed NGO Marañon Waterkeeper and myself regarding the importance of additional biodiversity research to help justify conservation of the Marañon River in the face of several proposed hydroelectric dams.

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• 2016, September 17: I joined artist David Brooks on stage at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum for a lecture and conversation as part of the Aldrich's cross-disciplinary symposium entitled Full STEAM Ahead: Learning and Making in the 21st Century, Exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, Art (+ Design) and Math. You can see photos and read about the event in the Danbury New Times.

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• 2016, May 21: On this World Fish Migration Day, I was profiled by the International Rivers NGO as a River Guardian.

 

• 2016, April 2: I delivered a lecture on my research to about 50 members of the Sacramento Aquarium Society in Sacramento, CA, USA.

 

• 2016, April 1: I delivered a lecture on my research to about 35 members of the San Francisco Aquarium Society in San Francisco, CA, USA.

 

• 2016, March 8: I delivered a lecture on field work and research in the Guiana Shield to a group of about 30 members of the Durham Region Aquarium Society in Toronto, ON, Canada.

 

• 2015, November 7: I delivered a lecture on flow and fish diversity at the Panta Rhei theme day in Hannover, Germany, and met with an audience of over 40 advanced aquarists.

 

• 2015, October 30–November 1: I delivered lectures on Andean and Guiana Shield fish ecology and biogeography at the 4th International L-Number Days conference of advanced aquarium fish hobbyists in Hannover, Germany, and spent three days visiting with over 150 advanced aquarists from throughout Europe. I also contributed three chapters to a booklet distributed to all participants: a biography, a synopsis of my research on Andean fishes and a synopsis of my research on Guiana Shield fishes. Aquarist Mark Walters published a review of the conference in the Journal of the Catfish Study Group, which you can read here (used with permission).

 

• 2015, October 16–18: Catfish Cataclysm Conference hosted by the Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists (MAAH) associaton in Madison, WI. I presented two talks on my research, auctioned off several of my Panaqolus phylogeny posters to benefit the MAAH and visited with over 60 advanced aquarists from throuhgout the Midwest.

 

• 2015, May/June: Amazonas Magazine published a 4-page article by Ingo Seidel that summarized results of my recently published molecular phylogeny of the suckermouth armored catfishes for non-scientific audiences. This popular article was published in both English and German. 

 

• 2015, March 20–22: Catfish Study Group Conference in Wigan, United Kingdom: I produced and distributed a poster illustrating results of recent phylogenetic research, gave two lectures on results of my research and spent three days visiting with over 80 advanced aquarists from throughout Europe. 

 

• 2015, February 27: New York Times editorial 'Libraries of Life' by myself and Larry Page highlighting threats to biological collections around the world and the need for more public support. (link to PDF)

 

• 2007–14: Practical Fishkeeping Magazine: thirteen online articles and interviews about my research with a cumulative total of over 62,000 page views:

​                  – New species of Pseudolithoxus plec described

                  – Three new species of Panaque described

– Two new species of plec described

– Suckermouths scrape for a living

– Two deepwater L-number plecs described

– Wood-grazing plecs aren’t all alike

– New Hypostomus from Venezuela

– New Lithoxus plec described from Guayana highlands

– Two new loricariids named

– L239 named Baryancistrus beggini

– Four L-number plecs get names

 

• 2013, January 17: New York Times editorial 'Rumble in the Jungle' by myself, Devin Bloom, and Cynthia Watson highlighting the negative impacts of artisanal gold mining in South America. (link to PDF)

 

• 2013: PBS Art21 documentary entitled 'In His Element' focused on my collaboration with artist David Brooks on evolution, ecology and conservation themed artwork.

 

• 2013: 'Expedition Amazon Catfish', a profile of my research and fieldwork in the Calvin College Spark (alumnae magazine) by Gayle Boss: "For example, Lujan (now a National Science Foundation fellow at the Royal Ontario Museum) and colleagues are studying and documenting the many diverse catfishes that live in the lower Xingu River of central Brazil before the government builds a large dam that will destroy their only known habitat. 'I feel a tremendous urgency to describe these ecosystems before they’re gone,' he said. 'What we do is incredibly important to conservation, because it establishes a baseline for future generations, who may want to restore the natural state.'"

   

• 2012–13: PlanetXingu Initiative, a collaboration between myself, co-PIs on the iXingu Project (Mark Sabaj Pérez, Leandro Sousa) and the aquarium fish hobbyist website PlanetCatfish.com to crowdfund scientific research and disseminate results of that research. Several articles and webinars were produced, including:

– An Introduction to the Project (by Julian Dignall, founder of Planet Catfish)

– Who is Nathan Lujan

– We Did It! (by Julian Dignall)

 

• 2012–present: PlanetCatfish.com: archive of live and preserved catfish photos that I freely provide to assist aquarium fish hobbyists with the identification of species in their care.

 

• 2012: ROM Magazine: 'Rivers of Life' article describing justification and results of fieldwork in Ecuador.

 

• 2011: Eddie Bauer First Ascent® blog describing my Explorer’s Club-funded fieldwork in the Bolivian Amazon.

 

• 2011: Texas A&M Agrilife Research article on my research on wood-eating catfish: "Lujan said dam construction is a primary threat to his new discoveries and to the entire Amazon Basin. 'Many species are threatened by the massive disruptions dams cause to once free-flowing rivers,' he said. 'The debate over dam development versus conservation of biodiversity and populations of indigenous people is particularly intense in the Brazilian Xingu River where the huge Belo Monte Dam was recently started. The catfish Panaque armbrusteri  lives in areas that will be destroyed by Belo Monte.'"

 

• 2011: Smithsonian Magazine: 'A Mega-Dam Dilemma in the Amazon', written by Clay Risen, a participant in my 2010 Expedition to the Arazá-Inambari River drainage, based on his observations: "I was in Puerto Maldonado to meet up with an old friend, Nathan Lujan, who was leading a team of researchers along the Inambari River. After getting his PhD in biology from Auburn University in Alabama, Nathan, 34, landed at Texas A&M as a postdoctoral researcher. But he spends months at a time on rivers like the Inambari. For the better part of the past decade he’s been looking for catfish—specifically, the suckermouthed armored catfish, or Loricariidae, the largest family of catfish on the planet. Despite their numbers, many Loricariidae species are threatened by development, and on this trip, Nathan was planning to catalog as many as possible before the Inambari dam is built."

 

• 2010: National Geographic website features my research on wood-eating catfish: "The brush-like features are specialized teeth called odontodes," said Texas A&M University biologist Nathan Lujan, lead author of a study describing the new species. "They are used in sexual and territorial threat displays."

 

• 2010: National Geographic website features Panaque schaeferi Lujan et al. 2010 as 'Weirdest New Animal of 2010': "Suckermouth armored catfish use their unique teeth to scrape organic material from the surface of submerged wood. But the new, as yet unnamed species, is among the dozen or so catfish species known to actually ingest wood."

 

• 2007: Midwest Cichlid Association, Des Moines, Iowa: overview of doctoral field-work entitled: Ichthyological Explorations of the Neotropics.        

 

• 2005: U.S. Embassy Lecture Series, Georgetown, Guyana: overview of fish diversity in Guyana entitled: The Scientific and Economic Value of the Beautiful Fishes of Guyana.    

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• 2005: Fishes of Amazonas website, an online catalog of ichthyological discoveries in the upper Orinoco watershed of southern Venezuela (collaboration with M. H. Sabaj Pérez at ANSP).

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• 2004: Lecture to the Cumberland River Compact, Nashville, TN, on aquatic insect based Indices of Biotic Integrity entitled: Macroinvertebrates as Tools for Rapid Biological Assessment