In the Classroom
How do fish in the Southern Ocean keep from freezing?

Participants

Guillaume Lecointre

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Photo of Guillaume LecointreProfessor at the Musem National d'Histoire Naturelle

I am working on interrelationships of fishes. Interrelationships are depicted using phylogenetic trees. I also work on methods of phylogenetic reconstruction. Among my favourite materials are acanthomorph teleosteans (spiny fishes) and notothenioids (Antarctic acanthomorphs). A number of my previous works contributed to our knowledge of notothenioid phylogeny and notothenioid origins, based on phylogenetic analysis of genes. But interrelationships can also be based on anatomy and genome structure. My colleague Catherine Ozouf-Costaz is a specialist of fish chromosomes and in situ hybridization of specific molecular markers onto chromosomes. Such techniques reveal parts of genome structure, and are best employed when done in a comparative manner. During the cruise, I will produce from fresh fish samples genomic preparations devoted to such hybridizations. Also I will sample acanthomorph and notothenioid species for later molecular phylogenetic studies. For anatomy, specimens will also be formaline-fixed and given to museum collections.