Tim Berra, professor emeritus, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology presents: “Chasing Nurseryfish and Avoiding Crocodiles in Northern Australia”
The Nurseryfish is a bizarre species from rivers in Northern Australia and Southern New Guinea. The males carry the eggs on a hook on their head. Until Professor’s Berra’s studies began in 2001, virtually nothing was known about the life history of this unusual fish that lives in large, turbid, tropical rivers along with huge saltwater crocodiles that leap out of the water. These 5-meter crocs are larger than Berra’s boat! The difference between high tide and low tide in these rivers can be as much as 8 meters twice daily. Crocs and tides conspire to make field work “stimulating”. This presentation will show what has been revealed of Nurseryfish life history such as its diet, age, reproduction, larvae, paternity, chromosome number, salinity tolerance, and its weird anatomy visualized with CT scan technology. The study demonstrates what can be learned by repeated collecting in the same stretch of a river for 12 years when one begins from a zero knowledge baseline.
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