ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prosanta Chakrabarty - Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Why you should listen

Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Science at Louisiana State University.

Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. His natural history collecting efforts include trips to Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Madagascar, Panama, Kuwait and many other countries. He has discovered over a dozen new species including new anglerfishes and cavefishes.

The LSU Museum of Natural Science fish collection that Chakrabarty oversees includes nearly half a million fish specimens and nearly 10,000 DNA samples covering most major groups of fishes. He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree is from McGill University in Montreal. He has written two books including A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job. He is also a former Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016 and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018.

More profile about the speaker
Prosanta Chakrabarty | Speaker | TED.com
TED2016

Prosanta Chakrabarty: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish

Prosanta Chakrabarty: Sledi prazgodovinskih časov najdene v slepih jamskih ribah

Filmed:
1,220,884 views

TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty raziskuje skrite dele sveta v iskanju novih vrst rib, ki živijo v jamah. Te podzemne ribe so razvile neverjetne adaptacije in nam dajejo biološki uvid v slepoto in geološke sledi o premikanju kontinentov pred milijon leti. Premišljujte o davnih časih v tem kratkem govoru.
- Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
IchthyologyIchthyornis Victor,
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Ihtiologija,
00:14
the studyštudija of fishesribe.
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veda o ribah.
00:16
It looksizgleda like a bigvelik, boringdolgočasno wordbeseda,
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Izgleda kot velika, dolgočasna beseda,
00:18
but it's actuallydejansko quitečisto excitingvznemirljivo,
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a je pravzaprav precej vznemirljiva,
00:21
because ichthyologyIchthyornis Victor is the only "ologyology"
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ker je ihtiologija edina "ologija",
00:24
with "YOLOLETALIŠČA YOLO" in it.
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ki ima v sebi YOLO.
00:25
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
00:27
Now, to the coolkul kidsotroci in the audienceobčinstvo,
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Tisti v občinstvu, ki ste kul, že veste,
00:29
you alreadyže know, YOLOLETALIŠČA YOLO standsstojala for
"you only livev živo onceenkrat,"
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da YOLO pomeni "samo enkrat se živi"
("you only live once")
00:33
and because I only have one life,
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in ker imam samo eno življenje,
00:35
I'm going to spendporabiti it doing
what I always dreamtsanjal of doing:
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bom počel nekaj, o čemer sem vedno sanjal:
da bi videl skrita čudesa sveta
in odkrival nove vrste.
00:37
seeingvidenje the hiddenskrito wondersčudeže of the worldsvet
and discoveringodkrivanje newnovo speciesvrste.
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In to tudi počnem.
00:41
And that's what I get to do.
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00:42
Now, in recentnedavno yearslet, I really focusedosredotočen
on cavesjame for findingugotovitev newnovo speciesvrste.
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V zadnjih letih sem se osredotočil
na jame, da bi našel nove vrste.
00:47
And it turnszavrti out, there's lots of newnovo
cavefishcavefish speciesvrste out there.
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In izkaže se, da je tam
veliko novih vrst jamskih rib.
00:50
You just have to know where to look,
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Samo vedeti moraš, kje iskati
00:52
and to maybe be a little thintanek.
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in biti morda malo suh.
00:54
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
00:55
Now, cavefishescavefishes can tell me
a lot about biologybiologija and geologygeologija.
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Jamske ribe mi lahko veliko povedo
o biologiji in geologiji.
01:00
They can tell me how the landmasseskopenske mine
around them have changedspremenjeno and movedpreselil
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Lahko mi povedo, kako so se zemeljske
mase okrog njih spreminjale in premikale,
01:04
by beingbiti stuckzaljubljen in these little holesluknje,
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ker so obtičale v teh malih luknjah,
01:06
and they can tell me about
the evolutionevolucijo of sightpogled, by beingbiti blindslepi.
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in lahko mi nekaj povedo
o evoluciji vida, ker so slepe.
01:11
Now, fishribe have eyesoči
that are essentiallyv bistvu the sameenako as oursnaša.
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Ribe imajo oči,
ki so pravzaprav enake našim.
01:14
All vertebratesvretenčarjev do, and eachvsak time
a fishribe speciesvrste startsse začne to adaptprilagoditi
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Vsi vretenčarji jih imajo in vsakič,
ko se vrsta ribe začne prilagajati
01:18
to this darktemno, coldhladno, cavejama environmentokolje,
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na temno, mrzlo jamsko okolje,
01:20
over manyveliko, manyveliko generationsgeneracije,
they loseizgubi theirnjihovi eyesoči and theirnjihovi eyesightvid
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čez mnogo, mnogo generacij,
izgubijo oči in vid,
01:24
untildo the endkonec up like an eyelessočes
cavefishcavefish like this one here.
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dokler ne končajo
kot tale brezoka riba tule.
01:27
Now, eachvsak cavefishcavefish speciesvrste
has evolvedevolucijo in a slightlymalce differentdrugačen way,
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Vsaka vrsta jamske ribe se je razvila
na rahlo drugačen način
01:31
and eachvsak one has a uniqueedinstven geologicalgeološko
and biologicalbiološko storyzgodba to tell us,
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in vsaka nam lahko pove drugačno
ekološko in geološko zgodbo
01:35
and that's why it's so excitingvznemirljivo
when we find a newnovo speciesvrste.
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in zato je tako vznemirljivo,
ko najdemo nove vrste.
01:39
So this is a newnovo speciesvrste
we describedopisano, from southernJužni IndianaIndiana.
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Nova vrsta, ki smo jo opisali,
je iz južne Indiane.
01:43
We namedimenovan it AmblyopsisAmblyopsis hoosierihoosieri,
the HoosierHoosier cavefishcavefish.
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Poimenovali smo jo Amblyopsis hoosieri,
Hoosier jamska riba.
01:46
(LaughterSmeh)
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(smeh)
01:48
Its closestnajbližji relativessorodniki
are cavefishescavefishes in KentuckyKentucky,
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Njeni najbližji sorodniki
so jamske ribe iz Kentuckyja,
01:51
in the MammothMamut CaveJama systemsistem.
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v Mamutovi jami.
01:52
And they startZačni to divergerazhajajo
when the OhioOhio RiverReka splitsplit them
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In začeli sta se razlikovati,
ko ju je reka Ohio razdelila
01:55
a fewmalo millionmilijonov yearslet agonazaj.
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pred nekaj milijoni let.
01:57
And in that time they developedrazvili
these subtlesubtilno differencesrazlike
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V tem času so se razvile
te subtilne razlike
02:00
in the geneticgenetski architecturearhitektura
behindzadaj theirnjihovi blindnessslepoto.
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in genetska arhitektura za njuno slepoto.
02:03
There's this genegen calledpozval rhodopsinrodopsina
that's super-criticalsuper-kritično for sightpogled.
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Gen, imenovan rodopsin,
je zelo pomemben za vid.
02:06
We have it, and these speciesvrste have it too,
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Mi ga imamo in vse te vrste tudi,
02:09
exceptrazen one speciesvrste has lostizgubljen
all functionfunkcijo in that genegen,
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razen ene, ki je izgubila
vso funkcijo tega gena,
02:12
and the other one maintainsohranja it.
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in druge, ki jo je ohranila.
02:14
So this setssklopov up this beautifullepo
naturalnaravno experimentposkus
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Tako to nastavi čudovit
naravni eksperiment,
02:18
where we can look at the genesgeni
behindzadaj our visionvizijo,
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kjer lahko pogledamo gene,
odgovorne za naš vid,
02:21
and at the very rootskorenine of how we can see.
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in korenine izvora našega vida.
02:25
But the genesgeni in these cavefishescavefishes
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A geni v teh jamskih ribah
02:26
can alsotudi tell us
about deepgloboko geologicalgeološko time,
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nam lahko povedo tudi
nekaj o geoloških dobah
02:29
maybe no more so
than in this speciesvrste here.
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in nobena tako kot tale vrsta tu.
02:32
This is a newnovo speciesvrste
we describedopisano from MadagascarMadagaskar
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To je nova vrsta, ki smo jo
opisali v Madagaskarju
02:34
that we namedimenovan TyphleotrisTyphleotris mararybemararybe.
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in jo poimenovali Typhleotris mararybe.
02:38
That meanssredstva "bigvelik sicknessbolezen" in MalagasyMadagaskarja,
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V malgaškem jeziku to pomeni
"velika bolezen",
02:41
for how sickbolan we got tryingposkušam
to collectzbiranje this speciesvrste.
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ker smo skoraj zboleli
med iskanjem te vrste.
02:44
Now, believe it or not,
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Verjemite ali ne,
02:46
swimmingplavanje around sinkholesPonikve
fullpolno of deadmrtev things
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plavanje v luknjah polnih mrtvih stvari
02:48
and cavejama fullpolno of batnetopir poopritko
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in jami polni iztrebkov netopirjev
02:50
isn't the smartestnajpametnejši thing you could
be doing with your life,
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ni najpametnejša stvar, ki jo
narediš s svojim življenjem,
02:53
but YOLOLETALIŠČA YOLO.
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ampak YOLO.
02:55
(LaughterSmeh)
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(Smeh)
02:58
Now, I love this speciesvrste despiteKljub the factdejstvo
that it triedposkušal to killubiti us,
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Rad imam to vrsto kljub temu,
da nas je poskušala ubiti,
03:03
and that's because
this speciesvrste in MadagascarMadagaskar,
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zato ker so najbližji sorodniki
te vrste iz Madagaskarja
03:05
its closestnajbližji relativessorodniki
are 6,000 kilometerskilometrov away,
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6.000 kilometrov oddaljene
03:08
cavefishescavefishes in AustraliaAvstralija.
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jamske ribe iz Avstralije.
03:10
Now, there's no way a three-inch-longtri-inch-long
freshwatersladkovodne cavefishcavefish
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Ni možno, da bi 7,5 centimetrska
sladkovodna jamska ribica
03:14
can swimplavati acrossčez the IndianIndijski OceanOcean,
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preplavala Indijski ocean,
03:16
so what we foundnajdemo when we comparedprimerjali
the DNADNA of these speciesvrste
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in ko smo primerjali DNK
teh dveh vrst, smo ugotovili,
03:19
is that they'veoni so been separatedločeni
for more than 100 millionmilijonov yearslet,
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da sta bili ločeni več kot
100 milijonov let,
03:22
or about the time that the southernJužni
continentsceline were last togetherskupaj.
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oziroma od takrat, ko so se
južni kontinenti nazadnje stikali.
03:27
So in factdejstvo, these speciesvrste
didn't movePremakni se at all.
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Torej se ti dve vrsti
sploh nista premaknili.
03:30
It's the continentsceline that movedpreselil them.
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Kontinenti so ju premaknili.
03:31
And so they give us, throughskozi theirnjihovi DNADNA,
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Tako nam skozi svojo DNK dajo
03:33
this precisenatančno modelmodel and measureukrep
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natančni model in mere,
03:36
of how to datedatum and time
these ancientstarodavne geologicalgeološko eventsdogodki.
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kako določiti čas geoloških dogodkov.
03:41
Now, this speciesvrste here is so newnovo
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Ta vrsta tu je tako nova,
03:43
I'm not even alloweddovoljeno
to tell you its nameime yetše,
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da vam ne smem še povedati njenega imena,
03:45
but I can tell you
it's a newnovo speciesvrste from MexicoMehika,
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lahko pa vam povem,
da je to nova vrsta iz Mehike
03:48
and it's probablyverjetno alreadyže extinctizumrla.
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in je najbrž že izumrla.
03:50
It's probablyverjetno extinctizumrla because
the only knownznano cavejama systemsistem it's from
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Najbrž je izumrla, ker se je
edini jamski sistem, kjer živi,
03:54
was destroyeduničeni when a damjez was builtzgrajeno nearbyv bližini.
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uničil, ko so v bližini zgradili jez.
03:56
UnfortunatelyNa žalost for cavefishescavefishes,
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Na njihovo smolo,
03:58
theirnjihovi groundwaterpodzemne vode habitathabitat
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je podvodno okolje jamskih rib
04:00
is alsotudi our mainglavni sourcevir of drinkingpitje watervoda.
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prav tako glavni vir naše pitne vode.
04:03
Now, we actuallydejansko don't know
this species'vrste closestnajbližji relativerelativno, yetše.
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Sedaj še ne poznamo
najbližjega sorodnika te vrste.
04:07
It doesn't appearPojavi se to be
anything elsedrugače in MexicoMehika,
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Zdi se, da ni ničesar v Mehiki,
04:10
so maybe it's something in CubaKuba,
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tako da je najbrž nekje na Kubi
04:12
or FloridaFlorida, or IndiaIndija.
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ali na Floridi ali v Indiji.
04:14
But whateverkarkoli it is, it mightmorda tell us
something newnovo about the geologygeologija
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A karkoli je, nam bo morda povedalo
nekaj novega o geologiji Karibov,
04:19
of the CaribbeanKaribi, or the biologybiologija
of how to better diagnosediagnosticirati
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ali o biologiji tega,
kako bolje diagnosticirati
04:22
certainnekateri typesvrste of blindnessslepoto.
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določene vrste slepote.
04:24
But I hopeupanje we discoverodkrijte this speciesvrste
before it goesgre extinctizumrla too.
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A upam, da odkrijemo to vrsto,
preden še ta izumre.
04:28
And I'm going to spendporabiti my one life
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In svoje življenje bom preživel
04:30
as an ichthyologistichthyologist
tryingposkušam to discoverodkrijte and saveshranite
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kot ihtiolog, poskušal
bom odkriti in rešiti
04:34
these humbleskromno little blindslepi cavefishescavefishes
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te skromne male jamske ribe,
04:36
that can tell us so much
about the geologygeologija of the planetplanet
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ki nam lahko toliko povejo
o geologiji planeta
04:40
and the biologybiologija of how we see.
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in biologiji našega vida.
04:42
Thank you.
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Hvala.
04:43
(ApplauseAplavz)
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(Aplavz)
Translated by Nika Kotnik
Reviewed by Matej Divjak

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prosanta Chakrabarty - Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Why you should listen

Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Science at Louisiana State University.

Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. His natural history collecting efforts include trips to Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Madagascar, Panama, Kuwait and many other countries. He has discovered over a dozen new species including new anglerfishes and cavefishes.

The LSU Museum of Natural Science fish collection that Chakrabarty oversees includes nearly half a million fish specimens and nearly 10,000 DNA samples covering most major groups of fishes. He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree is from McGill University in Montreal. He has written two books including A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job. He is also a former Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016 and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018.

More profile about the speaker
Prosanta Chakrabarty | Speaker | TED.com