pupfish
dr. dolittle | April 3, 2016Today was a great day for trainees in comparative physiology! Here are some of the highlights from their sessions:
Poster presentations:
Alexis MacDonald et al., (Union College - Mentor Dr. Scott Kirkton) presented research showing that grasshopper skeletal muscles may use lactate for energy!
Similarly, Dongying Wang et al., (Saint Louis University - Mentor Dr. Daniel Warren) also showed that skeletal muscle from painted turtles may use lactate.
I guess it is not just a waste product of exercise after all...
Oral Presentations:
Image of pupfish by Nevada Fish & Wildlife Office -…
dr. dolittle | September 13, 2014Conservationists are trying hard to save the Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) from extinction. With less than 100 animals remaining, a captive breeding program was started at the University of California, Berkeley.
As you can imagine from the image below, the geographic range of this fish is smaller than other wild vertebrates. They are only found in the limestone caverns of the geothermal Devils Hole pool in Death Valley, Nevada. The pool is 3m wide, 20m long, 426 feet deep, and a very warm 92-93 degrees Fahrenheit. It is thought to have formed more than 500,000 years ago with the…