Up the (congo) river...

[MatsP]

Dr John Sullivan is exploring the Congo river. His blog is here:
http://uptheriver.net/

Nothing overly exciting yet, but I'm sure some Synos may make themselves known in the next few days - at least I hope so.

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Mats

[wrasse]

It looks a bit scary, travelling to this part of the world.

Mats, how did you happen upon this?

[Birger]

There is a lot of action on this river from Ichthyologists, could be exciting times, maybe we will see Paradoxoglanis after all.

Birger

[MatsP]

I'm "friends" with John on Facebook. I've also had contact with John about fishes recently described etc, but I wouldn't have known this if it wasn't posted on Facebook.

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Mats

[MatsP]

Seconds installment up...

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Mats

[MatsP]

For anyone on Facebook, there is a facebook page about this project too:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pag ... 491?ref=nf

Sorry to spam those who are my FB friends and have already been told, but I think showing that we are interested in what the scientists are up to is a good way of motivating them to be good to us in other ways - e.g. adding live-pictures of the fish into the descriptions of new fish, and using keys differentiatiors that are available without dissection of the fish...

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Mats

[MatsP]

Some photos of "market" fish, including some Chrysichthys and Synos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnandthe ... 010/03/03/

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Mats

[Richard B]

Excellent-the pic of the "vittata" style decora is very interesting & what a dorsal extension!!!

Additionally, if you follow some of the "links" available you can find the biggest amphillius...http://www.flickr.com/photos/friel/2718632412/

[MatsP]

John Friel is a friend of the site... So if it's ID'd to a species, we could add it to the Cat-eLog, I think.

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Mats

[Richard B]

John Friel is a friend of the site... So if it's ID'd to a species, we could add it to the Cat-eLog, I think.--Mats

Sweet! a great illustration of how big amphilliids can get.

[MatsP]

E-mail to John confirms we can use the image, but I'm still working on getting an ID.

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Mats

[Birger]

This is an interesting syno as well http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnandthe ... ateposted/

Excellent-the pic of the "vittata" style decora is very interesting & what a dorsal extension!!!

True, that is a nice fish.

This whole thing and being able to follow along a bit with them is really great!!

Birger

[andywoolloo]

it is very cool. Thanks for sharing it, I had bookmarked it when you first posted about it.

They weren't going to eat the "vittata" style decora one were they? Cause it was by the market fish ones?

[Birger]

They weren't going to eat the "vittata" style decora one were they? Cause it was by the market fish ones?

I do not think much goes to waste...very front leaf on this pic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnandthe ... ateposted/

Birger

[MatsP]

In this part of the world, almost anything with protein is used as food if it's caught...

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Mats

[Scleropages]

Mats,

Thanks for the links. Looks like a great project. From what I remember, tropical fish importers local to me were telling me it was very hard to get anything from that part of the world--mainly due to the, shall we say, undiplomatic relations in the region. Haven't heard about if this difficulty persists.

Looking forward to checking in with Dr. Sullivan's progress.

[MatsP]

I don't think the area is quite as bad as it was a few years ago, but it's still a war-torn country, where some places have armed gangs "running the area". But more importantly, the people do not have much money, and any fish caught is often used for food, rather than "luxury export".

I sincerely hope this will change.

I did see some supposedly genuine small S. decora and one S. nummifer the other day.

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Mats

[MatsP]

For those that have been to fishy-meetings, this will look somewhat familiar:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5 ... 6397074491
[Particularly towards the end when they have "refreshments" after the talk].

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Mats

[Scleropages]

Nothing like a little Tennessee whiskey to refresh the body and mind after an icthyological seminar.

[MatsP]

Nothing like a little Tennessee whiskey to refresh the body and mind after an icthyological seminar.

Even if it's coutnerfeit... ;)

I'm a bit of a wuss, so I tend to stick to beer when relaxing after a day of fishy-talks.

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Mats

[MatsP]

Ok, so far, not a mention of fishes, but the reporting is about the River Congo, which is an important river in Africa, and even if it's not covering the fishes, understanding it's effect and meaning to the local population can be a good thing:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =129176374

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Mats