Lake Victoria research and field work

[npbarca]

Hey everyone,

Long overdue, but I've been doing some cool stuff with cichlids that some people might be interested in. Over the summer, I had the chance to work with Dr. Les Kaufman on Victorian cichlids. The work involved mainly going through survey data of thousands of photographs of fish, including many undescribed and new species. Part of the project also involves stable isotope analysis of all the fish caught in a 2017 survey with the goal of building a trophic map of various species at different localities around the lake. Basically, lots of data and so many ways to go about it!

Now, I'm a part of the project team full time (at least when there is work to do!) and am beginning work on my undergrad thesis. I haven't yet decided on an exact research question, but it will be on Victoria cichlids (possibly looking at dentition and how it compares to historical collections and trophic level). Next summer, I'll be carrying out field work for my own project as well as filling in some data gaps of the larger project on the Kenyan side of the lake at KMFRI with a Kenyan scientist I met over the summer. Lots of surveying, sampling, and cataloguing of cichlids! So feel free to ask anything about Vics...I'll try my best to answer

 

[mchambers]

Very cool!

 

[chriscoli]

This is awesome!!!

 

[Wet Sleeves]

Cool stuff! I have a question, Why do Victorians all look the same besides their colors?

 

[chriscoli]

What's the most mind-blowing thing you've learned so far?

 

[lkelly]

Nice work, Nick!

 

[npbarca]

Cool stuff! I have a question, Why do Victorians all look the same besides their colors?

Short answer...evolution! About 12,000 years ago, the lake was dry, so the current flock evolved from just a few riverine haplochromines. Much of the evolution seems to be based on food/trophic level/predation. Not all look the same...in the 2017 survey, 22 different genera of haplochromines were identified, and over 300 identified species. They all have slight morphological differences, but obviously some more than others (which makes them extremely hard to identify).

 

[npbarca]

What's the most mind-blowing thing you've learned so far?

The fact that there's hundreds, maybe a thousand, pictures of fish that could not be identified (many presumed new/unidentified species, and some species that were assumed to be extinct)

 

[Frank Cowherd]

Nice to be able to do that kind of work. Are you also using DNA for ID or anything?

 

[npbarca]

Nice to be able to do that kind of work. Are you also using DNA for ID or anything?

Yep, fin clips of all the fish will be analyzed (I believe soon?). That's another part of the project that I'm not too involved with, but they're being analyzed in Sweden.