Michi Tobler: The Amazing Diversity of Livebearers

2021 M02 9, Tue

Michi Tobler, Associate Professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University, is a renowned fish scientist with a gift for communicating with tropical fish hobbyists. “Just Ask a Scientist” is a new column in The Livebearer, the journal of the American Livebearer Association. It provides fish hobbyists with an avenue to ask questions about the biology of livebearing fishes they keep in their aquaria that are then answered by a scientist, Michi, with matching expertise.

There are over 200 species of livebearing fishes in the family Poeciliidae that occur from Florida to Argentina. Poeciliids are particularly diverse in Central America and some of the larger Caribbean islands, Some genera of livebearers have become important models in evolutionary ecology research, providing textbook examples for studies in sexual selection and animal behavior, hybridization and speciation, as well as life history evolution. Nonetheless, the vast majority of species and even genera within the family remain unstudied.

Not only will Michi introduce this topic, but he will share some of his collecting trips and advise on how to successfully keep many of these species.