The ASB Meeting Is In April, See You There?

This year's meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists is in Birmingham from April 1 - 4. I submitted an abstract yesterday to give a talk on our telescope shiner work. The title is, "Reproductive Biology of the Telescope Shiner, Notropis telescopus, in Alabama", by Stallsmith, Adrian, Holmes, Marino & Whitington. Our submitted abstract reads as follows:

Gonadal condition of the cyprinid stream fish Notropis telescopus (telescope shiner) was monitored over the course of a likely breeding season to determine reproductive schedule. The study site was at the southern limit of species range in the upper Paint Rock River valley of northeastern Alabama. Notropis species are multiple spawners with strong seasonality to gonadal size and condition. The number of maturing oocytes observed in ovaries peaked in April and May. Ripe and fully mature ovaries were found in fish collected in April, May and June. A pronounced peak in the gonadal somatic index (GSI) was found in June for both males and females. Females were found to be significantly larger than males. The average standard length of both sexes peaked in September. The evidence points to an Alabama spawning season from April to June, peaking at the end of this season.

And one last thought about my experience in court in New Hampshire in 1978. As part of a deal to get rid of us the state of New Hampshire let us all out on personal recognizance after three days. Most cases were "continued", basically dropped if we didn't do anything else in NH for the next year. A few hardcore crazies served jail time of several months because they wouldn't give police their real names. Me, I just wanted to go back and reclaim the wage slave job I had at the time in Boston.