Doubling down: A new molecular taxonomy more than doubles the number of sculpin species

Michael K. Young

Treesearch

Doubling down: A new molecular taxonomy more than doubles the number of sculpin species

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Michael K. Young

Year:

2023

Type:

Science Bulletins and Newsletters

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

Science You Can Use (in 5 Minutes), March 2023. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 2 p.

Download (PDF 1.14 MB)

Download (PDF 1.14 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/65920.pdf

Abstract

While sampling freshwater fish across Montana and northern Idaho about 15 years ago, Michael Young, a research fish biologist at the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, became interested in the taxonomy for sculpins. “Biologists across the West, including us, were resorting to labeling our field-collected specimens as ‘Cottus sp.,’ which is shorthand for ‘we don’t know what we’re looking at,’” Young recalled. “We got fed up not knowing the identity of these fish and decided to do something about it.”

Keywords

sculpin, Cottus, freshwater fish, molecular taxonomy, genetic sequencing

Citation

Young, Michael K. 2023. Doubling down: A new molecular taxonomy more than doubles the number of sculpin species. Science You Can Use (in 5 Minutes), March 2023. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 2 p.