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This Blind African Fish From the Deep is Mystifying
YouTube: | https://youtube.com/watch?v=e4av7R7Qgb4 |
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Duration: | 04:42 |
Uploaded: | 2020-04-25 |
Last sync: | 2024-11-25 14:30 |
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MLA Full: | "This Blind African Fish From the Deep is Mystifying." YouTube, uploaded by SciShow, 25 April 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4av7R7Qgb4. |
MLA Inline: | (SciShow, 2020) |
APA Full: | SciShow. (2020, April 25). This Blind African Fish From the Deep is Mystifying [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=e4av7R7Qgb4 |
APA Inline: | (SciShow, 2020) |
Chicago Full: |
SciShow, "This Blind African Fish From the Deep is Mystifying.", April 25, 2020, YouTube, 04:42, https://youtube.com/watch?v=e4av7R7Qgb4. |
There are many mysteries in the infamous lower Congo River—Not only is it is treacherous, turbulent, and very deep, but it is home to hundreds of species of fish. One of these species is a little more bizarre than the others—join Hank Green and learn about the mysterious fish of the deep in this fun new episode of SciShow!
Special thanks to the following researchers:
Melanie Stiassny, American Museum of Natural History
Liz Alter, York College CUNY
Victor Mamonekene, University of Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
Raoul Monsembula, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org
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Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
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Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Kevin Bealer, Jacob, Katie Marie Magnone, D.A.Noe, Charles Southerland, Eric Jensen, Christopher R Boucher, Alex Hackman, Matt Curls, Adam Brainard, Scott Satovsky Jr, Sam Buck, Ron Kakar, Chris Peters, Kevin Carpentier, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Sam Lutfi, charles george, Greg
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Sources:
Special thanks to the following researchers:
Melanie Stiassny, American Museum of Natural History
Liz Alter, York College CUNY
Victor Mamonekene, University of Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
Raoul Monsembula, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
https://researchoutreach.org/articles/fishes-lower-congo-river-extreme-case-species-divergence-convergent-evolution/
https://www.amnh.org/about/press-center/fish-evolution-shaped-by-intense-rapids
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01671764/file/JAG-D-17-00442-BECKER-lw.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13973
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolution-in-the-deepest-river-in-the-world-147204782/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/science/congo-river-fish.html
https://www.livescience.com/congo-river-fish-with-bends.html
https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-015-0507-x
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/270875#page/2/mode/1up
http://nycevolution.org/pdf/Alter_etal.2017_Congo_cichlids.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317510960_Towards_energy_efficient_skyscrapers
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2019.1647342
IMAGE SOURCES:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/River_Congo_svg_edited_2.png
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/congo-river-gm460201073-31484454
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/inga-rapids-of-livingstone-falls-at-lower-congo-river-gm967766110-263951989
https://www.videoblocks.com/video/muddy-water-background-sbgr6a8ypiqr09c87
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/at-the-bottom-of-an-underwater-canyon-in-dahab-egypt-gm1147766382-309730900
Special thanks to the following researchers:
Melanie Stiassny, American Museum of Natural History
Liz Alter, York College CUNY
Victor Mamonekene, University of Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
Raoul Monsembula, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:
Kevin Bealer, Jacob, Katie Marie Magnone, D.A.Noe, Charles Southerland, Eric Jensen, Christopher R Boucher, Alex Hackman, Matt Curls, Adam Brainard, Scott Satovsky Jr, Sam Buck, Ron Kakar, Chris Peters, Kevin Carpentier, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Sam Lutfi, charles george, Greg
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
----------
Sources:
Special thanks to the following researchers:
Melanie Stiassny, American Museum of Natural History
Liz Alter, York College CUNY
Victor Mamonekene, University of Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
Raoul Monsembula, University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
https://researchoutreach.org/articles/fishes-lower-congo-river-extreme-case-species-divergence-convergent-evolution/
https://www.amnh.org/about/press-center/fish-evolution-shaped-by-intense-rapids
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01671764/file/JAG-D-17-00442-BECKER-lw.pdf
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13973
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/evolution-in-the-deepest-river-in-the-world-147204782/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/science/congo-river-fish.html
https://www.livescience.com/congo-river-fish-with-bends.html
https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-015-0507-x
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/270875#page/2/mode/1up
http://nycevolution.org/pdf/Alter_etal.2017_Congo_cichlids.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317510960_Towards_energy_efficient_skyscrapers
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2019.1647342
IMAGE SOURCES:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/River_Congo_svg_edited_2.png
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/congo-river-gm460201073-31484454
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/inga-rapids-of-livingstone-falls-at-lower-congo-river-gm967766110-263951989
https://www.videoblocks.com/video/muddy-water-background-sbgr6a8ypiqr09c87
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/at-the-bottom-of-an-underwater-canyon-in-dahab-egypt-gm1147766382-309730900
Thanks to Brilliant for supporting this episode of SciShow.
Go to Brilliant.org/SciShow to learn more. {♫Intro♫}. The Congo River is one of the largest rivers in the world, stretching thousands of kilometers across Africa.
And the last three hundred kilometer stretch of the river, referred to as the lower Congo. River, empties into the Atlantic ocean in an incredibly dramatic way -- turbulent and treacherous rapids. And it’s deep, too.
But inhospitable as it may seem, over three hundred species of fish are thriving in the lower Congo River, and many are found nowhere else on Earth, including some that are... frankly bizarre. For these fish, in a sense, the lower Congo isn’t one river. Its a bunch of isolated habitats.
Incredibly powerful rapids separated by stretches of calm water have kept fish populations apart long enough that they can’t breed with one another. This isolation causes new species to evolve side by side, a process called allopatric speciation. Normally it’s caused by much larger barriers, like, a mountain range, but in the lower Congo, some of these populations are only separated by a kilometer or so.
And this isolation is happening in 3D. The Congo is the deepest river in the world, measured at well over two hundred meters in places. That’s roughly equivalent to a sixty-story building.
And researchers have discovered one fish species that is seemingly so isolated from the surface, in deep underwater canyons, that it’s led to some extreme adaptations. There’s a species of cichlid that unlike its colorful aquarium cousins, shares characteristics with fish found in caves. For one thing, they have no pigment.
Delightfully, the local fisherman refer to these weird pale fish as mondelli bureau, which translates to “white man in an office”. And their eyes are basically nonfunctional -- underdeveloped and covered in skin. And when they come to the surface, these cichlids rapidly die of decompression sickness.
But it’s not just cichlids that are blind, white, and weird looking in the lower Congo. This river is also a perfect place to study convergent evolution. That refers to the way species that aren’t closely related can evolve very similar adaptations because of the conditions they’re in.
Pale, blind species of distantly related fish have been found in the river, including the cichlid, along with elephantfish, members of different catfish families, and spiny eels. We’re talking so distantly related, they’re as genetically distinct as armadillos are from blue whales. These characteristics developing in caves make a lot of sense.
They are pretty dark, after all. But aside from the cichlid, these other cave-like fish are found alive, which means they don’t have the same deep water adaptations, and are likely living somewhere a lot shallower. Discovering these species tells us that there are likely other low-light micro habitats in the river -- and that they’re stable and isolated enough to drive the evolution of low light-adapted species.
But while the strange fish that live in the lower Congo River can tell us a lot about how the river’s conditions are driving evolution, it’s such a dangerous place for humans that there’s still a lot we don’t know. Like, where exactly are these other fish living? We’re really just starting to piece together a bigger picture of what’s going on there.
Hydrologists, geologists, and ichthyologists are working together to better understand the unique biodiversity, geology and hydrology of the river, and to make sure local Congolese researchers are driving future efforts. And there are still tons of questions to answer. Like, what genes are driving the evolution of these cave fish characteristics?
It could be the same ones each time -- or totally different ones producing similar outcomes. So while we don’t know yet, these researchers are working hard to find out. This research is super collaborative -- the product of lots of researchers from multiple institutions working together.
So it’s a good thing great scientists think alike. You, too, can learn the language of science with Brilliant’s in-depth course on scientific thinking. It’s a course that uses various problems to give you an intuitive feel for the laws of physics and the principles of engineering.
Brilliant offers loads of courses to help you hone your STEM skills -- from math to computer science to engineering. Each one has interactive elements to help you learn. Right now, you can save 20% on an annual premium subscription if you’re one of the first 200 people to sign up at Brilliant.org/SciShow.
So you can head over there and keep learning! {♫Outro♫}.
Go to Brilliant.org/SciShow to learn more. {♫Intro♫}. The Congo River is one of the largest rivers in the world, stretching thousands of kilometers across Africa.
And the last three hundred kilometer stretch of the river, referred to as the lower Congo. River, empties into the Atlantic ocean in an incredibly dramatic way -- turbulent and treacherous rapids. And it’s deep, too.
But inhospitable as it may seem, over three hundred species of fish are thriving in the lower Congo River, and many are found nowhere else on Earth, including some that are... frankly bizarre. For these fish, in a sense, the lower Congo isn’t one river. Its a bunch of isolated habitats.
Incredibly powerful rapids separated by stretches of calm water have kept fish populations apart long enough that they can’t breed with one another. This isolation causes new species to evolve side by side, a process called allopatric speciation. Normally it’s caused by much larger barriers, like, a mountain range, but in the lower Congo, some of these populations are only separated by a kilometer or so.
And this isolation is happening in 3D. The Congo is the deepest river in the world, measured at well over two hundred meters in places. That’s roughly equivalent to a sixty-story building.
And researchers have discovered one fish species that is seemingly so isolated from the surface, in deep underwater canyons, that it’s led to some extreme adaptations. There’s a species of cichlid that unlike its colorful aquarium cousins, shares characteristics with fish found in caves. For one thing, they have no pigment.
Delightfully, the local fisherman refer to these weird pale fish as mondelli bureau, which translates to “white man in an office”. And their eyes are basically nonfunctional -- underdeveloped and covered in skin. And when they come to the surface, these cichlids rapidly die of decompression sickness.
But it’s not just cichlids that are blind, white, and weird looking in the lower Congo. This river is also a perfect place to study convergent evolution. That refers to the way species that aren’t closely related can evolve very similar adaptations because of the conditions they’re in.
Pale, blind species of distantly related fish have been found in the river, including the cichlid, along with elephantfish, members of different catfish families, and spiny eels. We’re talking so distantly related, they’re as genetically distinct as armadillos are from blue whales. These characteristics developing in caves make a lot of sense.
They are pretty dark, after all. But aside from the cichlid, these other cave-like fish are found alive, which means they don’t have the same deep water adaptations, and are likely living somewhere a lot shallower. Discovering these species tells us that there are likely other low-light micro habitats in the river -- and that they’re stable and isolated enough to drive the evolution of low light-adapted species.
But while the strange fish that live in the lower Congo River can tell us a lot about how the river’s conditions are driving evolution, it’s such a dangerous place for humans that there’s still a lot we don’t know. Like, where exactly are these other fish living? We’re really just starting to piece together a bigger picture of what’s going on there.
Hydrologists, geologists, and ichthyologists are working together to better understand the unique biodiversity, geology and hydrology of the river, and to make sure local Congolese researchers are driving future efforts. And there are still tons of questions to answer. Like, what genes are driving the evolution of these cave fish characteristics?
It could be the same ones each time -- or totally different ones producing similar outcomes. So while we don’t know yet, these researchers are working hard to find out. This research is super collaborative -- the product of lots of researchers from multiple institutions working together.
So it’s a good thing great scientists think alike. You, too, can learn the language of science with Brilliant’s in-depth course on scientific thinking. It’s a course that uses various problems to give you an intuitive feel for the laws of physics and the principles of engineering.
Brilliant offers loads of courses to help you hone your STEM skills -- from math to computer science to engineering. Each one has interactive elements to help you learn. Right now, you can save 20% on an annual premium subscription if you’re one of the first 200 people to sign up at Brilliant.org/SciShow.
So you can head over there and keep learning! {♫Outro♫}.