Randolph-Macon College Visiting Biology Professor Ray Schmidt was part of an international collaboration with researchers from Europe, South Africa, Brazil, and the U.S. that studied the diversity of banded lampeye, a fish species along the coast of West Africa.

The fish and mangrove connection

The banded lampeye is a fish that was known to live within the mangrove forests along the western coast of Africa. The mangroves are unique habitats that are incredibly important to freshwater and marine biodiversity and the human communities that live along the coast. Healthy mangroves provide these communities with many important services including food from the fisheries and they also protect these areas from coastal flooding. The group determined that there are more species of the banded lampeye present in the waters along the western coast of Africa than previously thought. It also discovered that the way in which the fish diversified and spread along coast is related to how the mangroves spread and contracted over time.

Building awareness

In addition to discovering more species of the banded lampeye fish, this research helps build awareness of the threat of development and extraction of natural resources to mangrove forests.

Schmidt said, “Not only does this help us understand the history of these fishes, but it should help us realize how other organisms that occur with these coastal waters spread along the coast.”  

Schmidt explains that the findings likely mean that other fishes that inhabit the mangroves also have more species present than originally thought. Because of the link discovered between the banded lampeye and the mangroves, we can infer that the hidden diversity within other species in the mangroves is likely also threatened by development in the region.

Schmidt’s work was partly supported by the National Geographic Society and a Chenery Research Grant from Randolph-Macon College. For more information, visit  https://rdcu.be/cfHvK.

Ray Schmidt

Schmidt earned his B.S. from South Dakota State University; his M.S. from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; and his Ph.D. from Tulane University. At RMC, Schmidt teaches a variety of courses, including Foundations of Experimental Biology, Evolution, Biological Diversity, and Human Anatomy & Physiology.

Schmidt’s research interests focus on the diversity of African freshwater fishes. In conjunction with his research, he has conducted expeditions in several countries throughout western and eastern Africa, the most recent of which was a National Geographic-funded trip to Equatorial Guinea. Schmidt was also recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant that will allow undergraduate students to study the freshwater biodiversity in Kenya.