This technique involves placing live fish in a fluorescent mitrochondrial stain for 5 minutes before imaging different areas of the fish under a dissecting microscope equipped with an epiflourescence light source. This allowed us to visualize small sense organs called neuromasts located in tubular canals in the head, trunk and tail, which form the fish sensory lateral line system used to detect water flows.
Take a look at some of the stunning images below! Thank you to Jackie and all the lab for a fun-filled day!
Congrats, Chris, to the second chapter published!
The particularly intimate format of the Gordon Research Conference was wonderfully conducive to listening to groundbreaking science in form of keynote lectures and posters and to network with colleagues from all over the world. While Hannes gave a keynote lecture about experimental progress in assessing fish sensitivity to marine climate change, Chris, Emma, Jimmy and Hans presented their research all throughout the week during the poster sessions. The beautiful setting of the conference in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and the relaxed atmosphere were all contributing to one of the most unique conference experiences all year.
Talks and posters presented:
Ever since attending the American Fisheries Society conference in 2014, I’ve wanted to go to another fish-focused conference. I was lucky enough to attend the 42nd annual Larval Fish Conference this year in Victoria, British Columbia, and it surpassed all my expectations. The week started off with a larval fish identification workshop where we got to learn techniques from renowned larval fish experts (and see some really cool fish larvae!). The talks were impressive and thought-provoking, providing many new ideas for research and how to give an engaging talk. My favorite part was meeting all the larval fish ecologists whose publications I’ve been reading for my thesis. I spent most of my evenings exploring Victoria with other grad students attending the conference and left with many new friends from institutes all over the world! The trip ended with a whale watch, where we saw a pod of 5 Orcas. Overall, the Larval Fish Conference was a great experience that I hope to someday attend again!
Oral presentations:
29 June 2018. A new experiment with Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) starts and as usual, it’s an all hand on deck operation. This time, we have Chris Tsang shadowing all of us and Emma professionally explaining the process.
Have a look for yourself!
14 June 2018. Members of the Baumann and Mason lab went on a trip to Mumford Cove, today, and Chris Tsang went along with his GoPro. Thanks to Charlie, the skipper, the ride was smooth and a pleasure, a swapping our pH, Temperature, oxygen, and salinity sensor was successfully swapped with a new one recording for the next weeks in 30 minute intervals. Wes Hoffman from the Mason lab, collected zooplankton with a Bongo-net. Sydney Stark, our NSF-REU student this summer, came along just for the fun.
See the fun for yourself!
The 282 fish are now split in a DNA sample for extraction and a body sample for further trait measurements.
On 18 May 2018, the Baumann lab teemed with activity. Maria Akopyan from Cornell University was busy phenotyping juvenile silversides for our Menidia Gene project. Mia and Mackenzie were busy working up field samples of silversides. And Hannes prepared adult silverside samples for later analyses.
