Maybe it’s simply vicariance that I like. Over the years here at Studia Mirabilium, I’ve gone on and on about how much I love island biogeography. I like how islands can isolate terrestrial biota and allow for interesting evolutionary experiments. But I am also fascinated by freshwater ecosystems. Again, freshwater bodies can clearly demarcate between distinctive biota and allow for interesting biodiversity.

I was in Chicago for a conference last month and was able to visit the Shedd Aquarium. They had a neat exhibit: it was a touch pool, but unlike other touch pools with starfish and other nearshore critters, this one had sturgeon!

Sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae are a very early radiation of ray-finned fish found in both oceanic as well as freshwater ecosystems. In the upper Midwest, several species are found, enriching the freshwater biota. I was always fascinated by all the weird fish taxa that survived in North American ecosystems. We may have lost most of our unique terrestrial megafauna, but at least our river and lake systems still harbor some very cool things.