, Auditorium
Jill Yager, NSS 19089 FL
The Discovery of the World's Most Exciting Crustacean– as told by a farm girl from rural Indiana
Jill's Luminary Presentation will share the fascinating timeline of discovering Remipede crustaceans. She'll reflect on her upbringing on a rural Indiana farm and how it unexpectedly led to exploring underwater caves and identifying not just a new species, or genus, or family, or order, but a new Class of cave crustacean. From earning a basic scuba certification in a cold Indiana lake to spending a decade diving in the Bahamas, Jill's journey shows how curiosity can open unexpected doors. While her dive partners focused on mapping caves, Jill was drawn to the tiny creatures drifting in the water, observations that eventually contributed to significant scientific discoveries.
Her talk will also highlight the equipment and techniques used in the early days of cave diving and the experiences of exploring caves in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico. It's a story of exploration, perseverance, and the surprising paths that passion can take.
Biography
From a young age, Jill was captivated by the wonders of caves. Her grandfather introduced her to the first cave she ever saw, Wyandotte Cave in southern Indiana. The memory of beautiful cave decorations and a tiny bat sparked a lifelong fascination. While attending Earlham College she helped band bats with her biology teacher, Jim Cope. However, Jill didn't pursue traditional "dry caving." Instead, after relocating to the Bahamas in 1974, she began cave diving, exploring Lucayan Cavern—then rapidly becoming the longest documented submerged cave worldwide. During these early explorations, Jill discovered a previously unseen small animal swimming in the dark passages. Remarkably, this discovery led her to define a new Class of Crustacea, which she named Remipedia, meaning "paddle foot." She named the first remipede Speleonectes lucayensis, "cave swimmer from Lucayan Cavern". Following this groundbreaking work, Jill earned her PhD under the mentorship of John (Captain Karst) Holsinger.
The remipedes continue to fascinate biologists around the world with their surprising anatomy. Jill watched as remipedes captured and ate other cave crustaceans, and she speculated they had the ability to poison their prey. That has since been confirmed and they are the only venomous crustacean on the planet, with the ability to inject a toxin that neutralizes and digests their dinner.
Her research has been showcased in television documentaries such as Smithsonian World, 3-2-1 Contact, The New Explorers, and National Geographic. Jill taught biology at Antioch College for 18 years and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, where she teaches a popular course on Cave Ecology and Conservation. She continues her focus on Remipedia as a Research Associate in the Invertebrate Zoology Department at the Smithsonian Institution.