Re: NANFA-L-- World's Smallest Fish?

dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:07:26 -0600

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. So, smallest isn't smallest? You guys really have
confused me. If the largest specimens of a population have to be
smaller than the smallest specimens in all populations in order for
that population to be considered to have the smallest, then there might
be no smallest. You are setting up-in-the upper end of the spectrum
the same conundrum-in-the lower end that you claim eliminates a
population from consideration as including the smallest.

For years, until the goby that was recognized as the smallest living
vertebrate was discovered, the least killifish (Hetorandria formosa,
not really a killifish, but livebearers used to considered so) was so
recognized. Was every least killifish smaller than every other
sexually mature vertebrate? No, but many (most?) individuals mature-in-
a tiny size. Suppose there were least killifish that were, say, 1.1
inch long. Would that eliminate the thing from consideration, because
these giants exist?

Why so set on eliminating consideration of the newly discovered minnow
because not every individual is smaller than every individual of the
goby?

Dave

David L. McNeely, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Langston University; P.O. Box 1500
Langston, OK 73050; email: dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
telephone: (405) 466-6025; fax: 405) 466-3307
home page http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely/index.htm

"Where are we going?" "I don't know, are we there yet?"

----- Original Message -----
From: EELReprah-in-aol.com
Date: Thursday, January 26, 2006 7:09 pm
Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- World's Smallest Fish?
> In a message dated 1/26/06 5:25:43 PM, dsmith73-in-hotmail.com writes:
>
> << By this I mean, shouldn't the largest
> specimen of one animal be compared against the largest specimen of
> another
> animal when determining their full grown lengths >>
>
> That was/is my opinion. It is sort of like the confusion I created
>-in-work
> when I bragged about the largest smallmouth bass that I had caught
> on vacation.
> A non fisherman asked what I meant by that or was it any different
> than the
> smallest largemouth bass. When you claim the smallest you have to
> define your
> terms. Many young fish are sexually mature long before they reach
> maximum
> growth. Others are stunted by conditions. Neither is a candidate
> for world record
> smallness.
>
> Lee Harper
> Media, PA
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