A New Research Idea For Scarlet Shiners

I've been so distracted with teaching and a departmental job search the last week that I didn't have a chance to update. But, I'm happy to report, those distractions are lifting and a new opportunity has come along. Phil K. from Michigan has offered to give me some of the young scarlet shiners he's raised from locally collected stock (a tributary of Piney Creek in Limestone County, AL). He'll be passing through this area next Wednesday on his way south with another Michiganer for collecting near the Gulf, so he's bringing the fry to give me at an arranged meeting spot at a gas station off of I-65 near here. Sounds like a good ol' fashioned drug deal, but it's even better!

What I hope to do is take size measurements, since I know how old they are fairly closely, and also try to visualize and measure the brain. Amy suggested one of the neuron stains, so we might try to stain a few whole fish to see the whole brain (the fish are small enough that they're nearly transparent). I'm also going to raise some of them, I don't think we'll have to execute all of them(!).