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By Jess Carey
Cal Poly Humboldt’s proximity to the ocean and on-campus resources like the fish hatchery and Telonicher Marine Lab make it an ideal place to study aquatic organisms. Biology graduate student Lucas Kebow is unraveling the evolutionary history of a local fish species through a lens of embracing queer perspectives in science.
“The tubesnout is not the most important economically, but they’re interesting in the sense that there is so little information on them,” Kebow said. “They’re also a huge food source for a bunch of the animals we have here [in Humboldt Bay]. They’re super important for other animals’ diets and they nest on kelp and eelgrass, which is in decline.”
Despite their low intelligence and small size, tube snouts have notably complex behavioral tendencies. The male fish not only creates the nest, but also guards it like a stay-at-home dad. They act hostile toward invaders, although they are so tiny that it is not a very effective defense. The female fish lays her eggs and then moves on, not investing in the eggs’ development or safety.
Historically in science, species that don’t fit heteronormative standards have been sidelined, especially with behavioral studies, as researchers often project their own personal biases onto what they are studying. The world of aquatic biology is full of exceptions to the dominant narratives of gender and sex, from male seahorses giving birth, to hermaphrodite slugs or sex-changing clownfish.
“A lot of the queer folks I know find these particular topics interesting,” Kebow said. “It sort of illuminates the natural diversity of evolution and how things have evolved and continue to evolve in animal populations.”
In addition to a sidelining of non-heteronormative behavior, there is a historical trend of overemphasizing competition in ecological studies.
“You can think of everything as a competition or you can think of everything as just kind of happening by chance,” Kebow said. “Of course, evolutionary drivers are very important, and competition is important. But, I think there’s a lot to be said about just accepting nature as it is and meeting it halfway instead of trying to force competitiveness onto it.”
Photo by Jess Carey | The sticky glue-like substance that the tubesnout uses to build its nests on plants is called spaggin.
He also noted that fish are notoriously difficult to study due to being underwater and difficult to access. In future projects, he hopes to fill in gaps in our understanding of diverse behaviors and life histories in fish and other organisms.
“I think queer voices are really important in the sciences to expand our horizons,” Kebow said. “To have different views on what the hell is going on that’s not just so single-mindedly focused on one perspective.”
The tubesnout is a sister species of the stickleback, another ray-finned fish that is very well-studied. The stickleback is a type genus, a phenomenon in biology where a particular species is used as a reference point for other related organisms. There is an extensive understanding of stickleback development, evolutionary history and genetics.
Unlike the stickleback, the lack of information on tubesnout’s biology and evolutionary history leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Despite being incredibly common — with a native range from Baja, California up to Alaska — little is understood about their anatomy and behavior.
The tubesnout makes a nest and lays eggs by secreting glue from its kidneys onto a host kelp. However, the mechanisms of this glue production are not completely understood and not universally shared throughout all relatives of the stickleback.
“It’s a little unclear whether [tubesnouts] separately evolved the characteristic to create the glue, or if it’s from a shared ancestor and was lost a couple of times,” Kebow said.
He explained that since genes for glue production have been identified in the stickleback, he is able to develop genetic probes that will indicate whether or not the same genes are present in the tubesnouts. Kebow is also developing a concise anatomical survey of the tubesnout, which is challenging due to the fish’s small size. He is constructing the first scientific drawings of the species’ anatomy by dissecting male and female fish of different age groups.
“The more you know about a species, the better you can conserve what is important to that ecosystem,” Kebow said.
Jess Carey is a senior at Cal Poly Humboldt, majoring in ecology and minoring in journalism. They are passionate about telling stories that are inspiring to the community, branching their interests in science, music, and storytelling.
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