Re: NANFA-- re: policy on grey publication & collecting

Frauley/Elson (fraulels_at_minet.ca)
Fri, 17 Mar 2000 16:26:02 -0500

Hi,
I would just like to add to Chris Scharpf's excellent comments that part
of this is motivated by some shaky descriptions of new species that Dr.
Kullander, the sender of the original e-mail, disagrees with. It
involves the publication of descriptions in American cichlid magazines,
when some researchers don't feel proper work was done prior to
publication. The fear is amateur publication of species descriptions
will muddle the picture, and provide work to be undone later. This is
something that happened through the 1950s in the study of Apistogramma
dwarf cichlids, and which may be on again. An uncharitable soul might
say some European aquarist/collectors have a bit of a vanity press
going. Pretty fish are being described, ugly fish are being ignored -
and the scramble for immortality via discovery is compromising the work
of researchers, as it is alienating the local powers that be.
It's an interesting problem - not one that I have heard of with North
America's fauna.
Gary Elson

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