JimmyODonnell
New member
Hi all,
This is surely a bit of an odd post, but hopefully I'm posting this in front of the right eyes. I've tried registering over at rareclownfish.com, but for months now have gotten an error message.
I am a PhD student working on my dissertation on the evolution of clownfishes, and as part of my project, I am constructing a family tree (phylogeny) of all clownfish species, from as many locales as possible. Using a small piece of tissue clipped from a fin and preserved in ethanol, I extract DNA, look at (sequence) particular sections (genes) of the DNA, and then compare those among the species to infer who's related to whom. So far, I've gotten pretty decent coverage of the species from my own field work and samples contributed from collaborators, but there are some species that have very restricted ranges, and some locales from which it would be great to have some samples.
So, I thought I might turn to the aquarium community for some help getting samples! Here's some things that would help:
1. I'd love to know of reputable exporters in specific locales, or importers that are dead sure of the origin of their fish. In this case, I could order a specific fish directly to obtain a sample. I'd be thrilled to get individuals that have croaked in storage or transit, provided that the sample is fairly fresh.
2. A variant on the first scenario, I'd also be happy to split the cost with someone in the SF Bay Area looking for the same specimen; I'd only need a small clip of a fin, which grows back (pretty quickly too, at least in the wild!). You'd be getting the fish you want for half the price, you'd just have to be ok with it temporarily missing a small amount of fin!
3. If you have a fish that was wild caught, and you are dead sure of it's origin, I would love to get a very small clip from it's fin, along with a photo. I'd be happy to offer some reasonable compensation (but keep in mind I'm a starving grad student!), or you could offer it to science simply for the sheer joy of getting a read-out of your pet's DNA!
Again, even if you don't have any samples to contribute, I would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer that might steer me in the right direction. Oh, and for what it's worth, I used to be a ReefCentral maniac- you guys were supremely helpful back when I had a 65 gallon reef (with a pair of ocellaris that were about to breed before I had to tear it down) as an undergrad!
You can get in touch with me through the forums, or by emailing me at jodonnell biology.ucsc.edu
Thanks!
Jimmy
This is surely a bit of an odd post, but hopefully I'm posting this in front of the right eyes. I've tried registering over at rareclownfish.com, but for months now have gotten an error message.
I am a PhD student working on my dissertation on the evolution of clownfishes, and as part of my project, I am constructing a family tree (phylogeny) of all clownfish species, from as many locales as possible. Using a small piece of tissue clipped from a fin and preserved in ethanol, I extract DNA, look at (sequence) particular sections (genes) of the DNA, and then compare those among the species to infer who's related to whom. So far, I've gotten pretty decent coverage of the species from my own field work and samples contributed from collaborators, but there are some species that have very restricted ranges, and some locales from which it would be great to have some samples.
So, I thought I might turn to the aquarium community for some help getting samples! Here's some things that would help:
1. I'd love to know of reputable exporters in specific locales, or importers that are dead sure of the origin of their fish. In this case, I could order a specific fish directly to obtain a sample. I'd be thrilled to get individuals that have croaked in storage or transit, provided that the sample is fairly fresh.
2. A variant on the first scenario, I'd also be happy to split the cost with someone in the SF Bay Area looking for the same specimen; I'd only need a small clip of a fin, which grows back (pretty quickly too, at least in the wild!). You'd be getting the fish you want for half the price, you'd just have to be ok with it temporarily missing a small amount of fin!
3. If you have a fish that was wild caught, and you are dead sure of it's origin, I would love to get a very small clip from it's fin, along with a photo. I'd be happy to offer some reasonable compensation (but keep in mind I'm a starving grad student!), or you could offer it to science simply for the sheer joy of getting a read-out of your pet's DNA!
Again, even if you don't have any samples to contribute, I would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer that might steer me in the right direction. Oh, and for what it's worth, I used to be a ReefCentral maniac- you guys were supremely helpful back when I had a 65 gallon reef (with a pair of ocellaris that were about to breed before I had to tear it down) as an undergrad!
You can get in touch with me through the forums, or by emailing me at jodonnell biology.ucsc.edu
Thanks!
Jimmy
