Citizen Science

Loricariids are incredibly popular in the aquarium fish hobby, as is attested to by the nearly 200 aquarists from across Europe who attended the Fourth International L-Number Days event in Hannover, Germany, in November 2015 (top). As a speaker at this and similar events in the US and UK, I have met many aquarists and been impressed by their dedication to the captive husbandry and reproduction of a wide range of often rare,

undescribed or otherwise poorly studied loricariid species. Both aquarists and businesses that cater to this hobby go to great lengths to recreate natural habitats, as is obvious in the display tanks of Panta Rhei (right), a store and equipment company on the outskirts of Hannover. After learning about my research via talks and articles that I write for aquarist magazines (e.g., these on Andean and Guiana Shield fish diversity), many aquarists have voiced an interest in participating in my research by sending tissues from wild-caught animals in their care. At this point, I am primarily incorporating these tissues into my phylogenetic studies of loricariid evolution, but I anticipate a future time in which a combination of population genomics and captive husbandry by aquarists will be essential to the conservation of species that are threatened or endangered in the wild.

Opportunities to Participate

With over 950 valid species in the Loricariidae, acquiring enough

specimens and tissues to gain a comprehensive understanding of this family's evolution is incredibly challenging. In addition to my own field work, I borrow specimens from a wide range of other researchers and am beginning to benefit from the contributions of aquarists. If you have a species in your care that I do not already have in my sample set (see list below), then you can help by mailing me a fin clip along with high quality photos of your fish. One species that I am particularly interested in having aquarist fin clips of is Hypancistrus zebra. This species is threatened in the wild and may need captive propagation to escape extinction.

Things to Keep in Mind

If you are interested in participating, please keep in mind that this is a scientific undertaking in which care must be given to ensure that accurate information is recorded and unambiguously linked to each specimen. I recommend that participants start by setting up a database in which they record the names of their species, any information that is known about the original locality from which the fish were collected and exported, and a unique alphanumeric code (e.g., your initials plus a sequential number) that can be used to link the tissues, photos and data. I am most interested in species and/or localities that I do not currently have representatives of, so please check the list of species that I currently have

(below) before moving forward.

How to Participate

Please start by emailing me, introducing yourself, and attaching a copy of your specimen database. In order to confirm the identification of your species, I will also need relatively high resolution, high quality images of each fish in lateral, dorsal, and ventral views. Good photos of the mouth are also helpful. To preserve the DNA of your fin clips, you will need to place them in 95% ethanol (i.e., drinking alcohol, neither methanol nor isopropanol will suffice), inside a small tube or vial that can be sealed tightly. It is very important to also label this tube with the unique alphanumeric code from the database. The tube should be labeled both internally and externally with pencil, since leaking ethanol will erase the ink from most pens.

Species/Localities Currently in my Sample Set*

Genus

Acanthicus

Ancistomus

Ancistrus

Andeancistrus

Aphanotorulus

Baryancistrus

Chaetostoma

Cochliodon

Cordylancistrus

Corymbophanes

Dekeyseria

Dolichancistrus

Exastilithoxus

Farlowella

Guyanancistrus

Harttia

Hemiancistrus

Hemiodontichthys

Hemipsilichthys

Hopliancistrus

Hypancistrus

Hypoptopoma

Hypostomus

Isorineloricaria

Lamontichthys

Lasiancistrus

Leporacanthicus

Leptoancistrus

Limatulichthys

Lithogenes

Lithoxancistrus

Lithoxus

Loraxichthys

Loricariichthys

Megalancistrus

Metaloricaria

Neblinichthys

Otocinclus

Oxyropesis

Panaqolus

Panaque

Parancistrus

Pareiorhaphis

Parotocinclus

Paulasquama

Peckoltia

Peckoltichthys

Pseudacanthicus

Pseudancistrus

Pseudohemiodon

Pseudolithoxus

Pseudoloricaria

Pterygoplichthys

Rineloricaria

Scobinancistrus

Soromonichthys

Spatuloricaria

Spectracanthicus

Sturisoma

Transancistrus

Species

adonis

hystrix

feldbergae

snethlageae

sp

aff_megalostomus

bolivianus

chagresi

clementinae

leucostictus

macrophthalmus

maracasae

marcapatae

megalostomus

ranunculus

sp

eschwartzae

platycephalus

emarginatus

beggini

chrysolomus

demantoides

niveatus

sp

xanthellus

aff_milesi

anomalum

bifurcum

breve

brevilabiatum

carrioni

cf_anale

cf_floridablancaensis

cf_loborhynchus

cf_milesi

cf_platyrhyncha

changae

daidalmatos

dermorhynchum

dorsale

fischeri

formosae

guairense

lineopunctatum

marmorescens

microps

milesi

nsp

nsp1

nudirostre

sp

stroumpoulos

thomsoni

trimaculineum

vasquezi

macushi

pyrineusi

soniae

sp

taphorni

platycephalus

santarosensis

torbesensis

cf_kaiei

kaiei

pulchra

scaphirhyncha

carnegiei

fuesslii

fimbriatus

nsp

mariaelenae

vittata

brevispinis

longispinis

niger

platystoma

fuliginosus

guahiborum

landoni

medians

meizospilos

pankimpuju

punctulatus

subviridis

votuoro

acipenserinus

gobio

nimius

sp

tricornis

cf_contradens

contradens

debilitera

debilittera

furunculus

inspector

lunaorum

sp

vandragti

guianense

aff_regani

hemiurus

latifrons

niceforoi

rhantos

sp

spinosissima

stibaros

guapore

heteracanthus

schomburgkii

tentaculatus

cf_galaxias

cf_galaxius

galaxias

heterodon

triactis

canensis

griseus

villosus

orinoco

yekuana

cf_stocki

jantjae

lithoides

pallidimaculatus

planquetti

lexa

maculatus

barrae

parananus

nijsseni

brevibracchium

echinasus

sp

acutirostra

albomaculatus

cf_albomaculatus

gnomus

koko

maccus

nocturnus

nsp

purusiensis

sp

armbrusteri

bathyphilus

cochliodon

nigrolineatus

schaeferi

sp

titan

nudiventris

hypselurus

eppleyi

callis

braueri

brevis

cf_braueri

cf_sabaji

cf_vittata

compta

furcata

lineola

lujani

nsp

relictum

sabaji

sp

vittata

wernekei

bachi

cf_leopardus

hystrix

leopardus

pitanga

sp

asurini

barbatus

corantijniensis

depressus

genisetiger

nigrescens

nsp

pectegenitor

sidereus

sp

apithanos

anthrax

dumus

kelsorum

nicoi

tigris

laeviuscula

gibbiceps

multiradiatus

aff_stewarti

fallax

jubata

lanceolata

aff_pariolispos

aureatus

pariolispos

sp

stearleyi

gymnogaster

immaculatus

punctatissimus

zuanoni

cf_monopelte

tenuirostre

aequinoctialis

santarosensis

Drainage/L-Number

aquarium

Purus

Madeira

Orinoco

Bacaja

Iriri

L141

-

L147

L208

L243

L387

-

Inambari

Xingu

-

Orinoco

Xingu

-

Iriri

Xingu

L142

-

aquarium

Apure

Maracaibo

Esmeraldas

Guayas

Santa Rosa

-

Huallaga

Marañon

Napo

Pastaza

Santiago

-

L443

-

Bayano

Chagres

Tuira

L444

-

Limón

Huallaga

Madre de Dios

Ucayali

-

Marañon

Napo

Santiago

Yungantza

-

Ucayali

Xingu

Huallaga

Cupira

L402_Apure

L402_Meta

L445_Meta

-

Marañon

Santiago

-

L137

L167

-

Atabapo

Orinoco

Ventuari

-

Cuao

Iguapo

Soromoni

Ventuari

-

Essequibo

-

Esmeraldas

Guayas

-

Xingu

-

L201

-

L129

-

L199

-

L102

-

L066

L070

L174

L201

L260

L401

L404

-

L051

-

Madre de Dios

Xingu

-

Madre de Dios

-

Marañon

Xingu

-

L091

-

Cocle del Norte

Cocle del Sur

Indio

Tuira

-

lower

upper

-

Marañon

Ucayali

-

Tacutu

Xingu

-

L002

L169

L206

L306

L329

L351

L374

L397

L398

L403

L425

L426

L453

LDA67

Madeira

Napo

Peru

Tapajos

Tomo

-

L027

-

Iquitos

Madeira

Marañon

-

Apure

Ariari

L190

Nathan K. Lujan, PhD

Ecology and Evolution at the River Bottom

Species/Localities Currently in my Sample Set*