Hacker News Reader

Comment by pvaldes | Hacker News Reader

Not so much as you think. Biologists are trained for many years to know where to look for. There are lots of species of Amphipods, but obviously you can discard most species and quickly delimit it to family level if you have a microscope.

In this case you need to be able to recognise only one species that is named and described and the genus can be assured looking at the third segment of the peduncle in the first antenna, eyes medium, gnathopod 1 fully subchelate, etc, etc.

Scholars should focuse in your studies, and let this kind of work for professionals, obviously. Amphipod specimens need to be dissected for identification, and is too easy to misplace, mistake or miss important facts, distroying unique valuable specimens for nothing.

View on HN

Biologists are trained for many years to know where to look for.

But high school students aren't.

High school students can be guided.

I had identified amphipods after its remains (there was two or three legs, half a head, part of the coxas and so), and is feasible, but not easy. Inside the chilean complex of this species would be even more dificult. High school students can't really do it, and local fishermen do not have this knowledge or the tools to adquire it.

I can think only in one reason to not contact the chilean biologists, or visit Chile, and is a language barrier, easy to overcome since we have google translate and similar tools.

On the other hand, amphipods are really easy to keep in aquariums for many months. Females incubate its eggs under the legs in a sort of pouches (kangaroo style) and there is often a clear and obvious sexual dimorphism, so their reproductive life is not dificult to study at all. You can easily observe the breeding behaviour, clutch size, embriology, hatching, season and number of generations by year. Why they didn't it in all of those years is a mystery to me. (Shrug) maybe fear that the species would be disclosed as belonging to a yet described species and became a synonym?.

Many academic Chileans speak conversational english, either most speak basic english.

Most business performed in multi-nationals in "Sanhattan" (Las Condes/Providencia), for example, is conducted in English.

There are chilean experts in amphipods also, Gonzalez, Morrone, De los Ríos-Escalante or Rivera for example. Their address and email are very easy to find. Is unclear if Mr. Bousfield tried to communicate with they, but if not, probably should try it first.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com