Some of the most spectacular cataracts, falls, and gorges on Earth are found in the lower Congo River, in the heart of central Africa, near the twin Congolese capitals of Kinshasa and Brazzaville. This stretch of the river is also home to over 300 different species of fish, many with unique adaptations—including bizarre morphologies—that enable them to survive in an environment with intense rapids. Based on her many years collecting, documenting, and studying the fish in the lower Congo River, Dr. Melanie Stiassny will discuss the river’s unique hydrological and geographical characteristics and their role in driving the evolution and diversification of its exceptional fish fauna.
Melanie Stiassny is the Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, where she has active graduate and undergraduate teaching programs. Before coming to New York she was an Assistant Professor of Biology at Harvard University, where she taught for five years. After earning her Ph.D. at the University of London, she spent three years of postdoctoral research in the Netherlands before joining the faculty at Harvard University. Melanie has conducted extensive research throughout the World’s tropical waters studying the evolution, behavior, and conservation of fishes.