作者：辛西娅·休伯特

2024年10月23日

这一切都始于苦役役慈鲷。

The small striped fish, native of Central America, captured 囊状态 Biology Professor Ron Coleman’s attention in a laboratory at the University of Toronto in 1993 while he was pursuing a doctorate in Zoology.

“The Convicts pulled me in,” Coleman said.

Because of their breeding habits and methods for caring for their young, they were perfect subjects for studying fish parental behavior, which would be the subject of Coleman’s  doctoral thesis.

今天，罪犯慈鲷是科尔曼和他的学生在洪堡大厅实验室里研究的几十种鱼类之一。

For his studies on fish parenting, Coleman recently received 囊状态’s Senior Faculty Award, bestowed by the 研究、创新和经济发展办公室（ORIED）. Coleman’s work, which takes him and his students to Costa Rica annually to study cichlids in the wild, has attracted national attention. 他的Sac州立实验室在全国的大学中是独一无二的。

“Different fish parent differently,” Coleman said during an interview amid 170 bubbling tanks holding thousands of colorful fish. “We are constantly learning new things.”

有些慈鲷在发育过程中会把卵和幼鱼含在嘴里。 有些把蛋产在岩石上。 Others are “shell dwellers,” monitoring their young inside a protective cave of discarded exoskeletons.

科尔曼和他的学生们研究了求爱模式、领土之争以及鱼类养育和保护幼鱼的多种方式。

Typically, both parents “work together to take care of their kids,” he said. “In general, they’re fabulous parents, these cichlids.”

科尔曼最初计划追求一个不同的研究方向。 他对研究东非的角马很感兴趣。 然后，作为一名本科生，他在不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华水族馆找到了一份工作。

“The more time I spent at the aquarium, the more I became intrigued with fishes,” he said.

在攻读博士学位期间，科尔曼结识了苦胆慈鲷，并开始认真研究它们。

他在加州大学伯克利分校（University of California, Berkeley）做博士后，继续这些研究。

After joining 囊状态’s faculty in 2001, he launched the Fish Lab in a room in Humboldt Hall. 他帮助整修的实验室向公众开放，科尔曼热情地鼓励人们在正常营业时间参观洪堡119号的实验室。

Coleman’s work is part of a broader field known as behavioral ecology.

一些实验室研究涉及改变鱼缸内的条件，包括取出鱼卵和后代，或插入鱼类捕食者的塑料复制品，并观察父母的反应。

“You can take their babies from them. You can threaten them with models,” Coleman said. “We’re looking at how their environment affects the way that they parent.”

每年，科尔曼和他的学生前往哥斯达黎加雨林研究野生慈鲷。 除此之外，他们还研究天气模式的变化如何影响鱼类和它们的幼崽。

More than 200 students have worked in Coleman’s lab over the years, and not all of them have been Biology majors.

“I’ve had Engineering students, Computer Science students, students from lots of different fields,” he said. 他的“鱼实验室”的学生已经成为教授、医生、牙医、鱼类和狩猎专家，其中一名还成为了大学院长。

“That’s my main source of pride, seeing my students succeed,” Coleman said.

对生物系学生德西蕾·托马斯来说，Fish实验室是她在校园里的试金石。 她每周去实验室五天，推进她对鱼的形状和大小的研究，并与其他学生互动。

“It’s very holistic,” Thomas said. “The fish, the community, the mentoring that I get – it’s very rewarding in so many ways.”

科尔曼说，学生、教师甚至管理人员都很享受实验室的宁静。

“It’s very soothing,” he said. “We have people who come in just to relax and watch the fish.”

科尔曼和他的学生们用他们训练有素的眼睛知道，水箱里的生活并不总是那么平静。

“These fish are fighting every moment of their lives to keep their kids alive,” he said. “If they make a mistake, the consequences are severe and very rapid.

“It’s all fascinating. 我们还有很多问题要回答。 The learning never ends.”

 

来看看科尔曼的鱼类实验室