Research Training Program

Addison Kemp
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, Massachusetts

Stanley Weitzman, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Vertebrate Zoology,
Division of Fishes

"The sheer amount of information and the endless possibilities for investigation presented by the specimens within this Institution are truly awe inspiring. Conducting research in this setting, with the opportunity to draw on the knowledge and experience of an expert researcher has been an unforgettable experience.”

Discovering New Fish Species in a Century Old Museum Collection

The freshwater fish of the Neotropics are a remarkable and diverse group of approximately 8,000 species. Due to poor sampling in many infrequently explored parts of South America, there is still a tremendous amount that we do not know about these animals, which constitute 24% of all fish diversity. This research seeks to characterize and document the diversity present within one Neotropical fish genus, Monotocheirodon (Eigenmann, 1922) which occurs in the Madre de Dios river system in Peru and the Beni River in Bolivia. It was previously thought that this genus contained only one species, Monotocheirodon pearsoni. However, it has recently become obvious that a number of museum specimens identified as Monotocheirodon pearsoni are in fact members of a different species. While all members of this genus are inseminating, some male specimens have specific organs to achieve this task while others do not. This obvious physical difference among specimens of 'one species' was the first indication that there may actually be multiple Monotocheirdodon species. Various types of data, including reproductive information, measurements of physical characteristics, color patterns, and locality data were used to determine the number of distinct species and how they differ from one another. Through this research the original species and the genus have been redescribed and the new species has been identified and described. Our understanding of Neotropical fish can be expanded by projects like this, which describe not only new specimens from the field but also specimens found in museum collections.

This research was supported by a donation from the Honorable Max Berry.

Letter of gratitude Letter to The Honorable Max Berry