RE: Killifish threat

peter.unmack at ASU.Edu
Tue, 24 Sep 1996 08:12:11 -0700 (MST)

On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Bruce Hansen wrote:

> I seem to recall "Clearwater creek fasciatas " as a location name. Also
> Pagwi as a form of M. affinis just off the top of my head. For the PNG
> Rainbows that came in before the "ban" ( perhaps also for those that came
> in after) the origins are mostly available by reading "Fishes of Sahul" or
> TFH and jotting down the details . If we ever get permission to bring in
> more genetic material then location ( and perhaps even date) will becom
> more imperative :-)

Two out of 20, that's pretty good I spose. What about things like C.
campsi, M. monticola, M. ocktediensis, goldei, sexlineata, papuae,
rubrostriata, parkinsoni that have all been sent overseas at various
times with no river associated with them? I'm sure there have been
several collections of some of these species by other folks like Hieko.
That was the reason why I did the checklist of NG fish in an early
Bulletin to provide river localities for as many of the fish whos origins
were still known that everyone still ignores. :-)

> How about the Cynolebias group from the cooler 1/2 of South America?

Actually, they would probably be another nasty one to keep out. :-)

> I think there was a reference to G. olidus doing something like this in an
> old FOS but I haven't seen a reference to pusillas doing it.

The reference is Fishes of Sahul related to some experiments that showed
they didn't aestivate. :-)

Beck. 1985. Field observations upon the dwarf galaxiid (Galaxiella pusilla)
in the south east of South Australia, Australia. South Australian
Naturalist. 60: 12-22. This provides some evidence for aestivation.
People have either been too lazy to find this one or they ignore it
because the guy is "only" a school teacher. You will rarely see any
reference to this paper anywhere. Peter Breen and myself have some
evidence of aestivation in the Melbourne population of pusilla in
Tirhatuan Flats. (I wonder if dambusia have finally finished them off
there or not?) No one has done the obvious experiment of finding a place
where they live, waiting for it to dry out for a while and then filling
it up with water. I should probably also mention that it is thought
pusilla go down the yabby/crayfish holes present in their habitats and
then perhaps bury into the side walls of the hole. A rather interesting
strategy.

Tootles

Peter Unmack