Now Posted on E-Fauna BC: An Introduction to the Fishes of British Columbia

 

 Ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei)

This month, E-Fauna Fish Editor Eric (Rick) Taylor has posted his new Introduction to the Fishes of British Columbia.  He says:  "The fishes of British Columbia are an extremely diverse and interesting wildlife group. With 67 native and 15 or so introduced species of freshwater fishes and 409 native species of marine fishes, British Columbia boasts a fish fauna much richer than most provinces in Canada. A simple count of named species as a measure of diversity, however, does not tell the true story of BC’s diversity of fishes. First, many species are endemic to BC; that is, they occur nowhere else in Canada. Second, BC, owing to its mountainous terrain and a mix of freshwater and marine habitats, possesses myriad genetically distinct populations within species (including several thousand distinct populations of Pacific salmon and trout). In addition, some “species complexes” comprise genetically distinct populations living together that act as distinct biological species, but have not yet been named as such (e.g., BC’s world famous “species pairs” of threespine sticklebacks)." 

Read the rest of Rick's article here. 

New E-Fauna Species Account Now Posted: Eubranchipus hesperius n. sp. (Western Ethologist Fairy Shrimp)

 

 Eubranchipus hesperius n. sp. (Western Ethologist Fairy Shrimp), photo by Ian Gardiner

A new species account for Eubranchipus hesperius n. sp. (Western Ethologist Fairy Shrimp--unofficial name), Order Anostraca, prepared by Thalia Grant, has now been posted on E-Fauna BC.  In her write up, Thalia says: 

"Eubranchipus hesperius was recently declared a new species, separate from Eubranchipus serratus Forbes 1876 (Rogers, 2014). It differs from E. serratus in the morphology of its antenna, brood pouch and abdomen, and in its geographical range; E. hesperius is found in North American transmontane and cold desert bioregions west of the Great Plains. E. serratus is now considered restricted to the Appalachian/Ozark bioregions and eastern Great Plains of the United States."

"Eubranchipus hesperius has been recorded in British Columbia, eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, northwestern California, northeastern Nevada and central Arizona. In British Columbia, E. hesperius has been found at altitudes of 600 to 1700 meters around Merritt, south of Merritt on Iron Mt., Selish Mt., Gillis Mt. and Shovelnose Mt., southwest and southeast of Kamloops, and in Curzon in the southeastern part of the province (Smithsonian collections, RBCM collections, Ian Gardiner, Thalia Grant)."

Read about the Western Ethologist Fairy Shrimp (unofficial name) here.
View Ian Gardiner's fabulous photos for this species here.  
Read Thalia's species account for the Oregon Fairy Shrimp here.
View Thalia's key to the Anostraca.

Note to Registered E-Fauna Photographers

This week E-Fauna was hacked into, and there was some damage.  While we now have the site back up and running, some data was lost. The database that holds the photo details that accompany your photos was corrupted.  Our back up files were also corrupted.  The result of this is that if you submitted photos to E-Fauna between August 2014 and now, your photo details will have been wiped out. This includes the location information, date, habitat, and comments. Lats and longs will still be there, as these were unaffected.  We are asking you, if you have the time, to re-enter the details, particularly the location of your shot.  To do this, go to the 'edit my photos' link at the top of the photo upload page. That will take you to your photo file where you can re-enter the data.

Steps have already been taken to ensure that if we are hacked again, we will have back ups to replace lost data that can't be corrupted.