Dr. Benjamin C. Victor

The fish was sent to Dr. Benjamin Victor of the Ocean Science Foundation in California, who used a new biochemical technique known as barcoding to match DNA from the larva to an adult fish Victor himself stumbled upon a quarter of a century earlier in Panama.Testing confirmed that the fish was in fact a new species, genetically different from its closest know relatives by about 25%.The specimen in Jones's trap turned out to be a Coryphopterus kuna, a new species of goby named after the indigenous people of Panama.

This discovery marks the first vertebrate to have its genetic barcode included in its original species description, which was published by Victor in the July 2007 issue of Zootaxa http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01526p061.pdf.The process involves identifying and isolating a section of an organism's mitochondrial DNA to allow researchers a simple and definitive method of recognizing and categorizing existing species by assigning each a unique, searchable DNA barcode.

"DNA barcoding allowed me to match the larva to the adult ... [and] prove to the other fish biologists that this was a new species," said Victor.

The fish was sent to Dr. Benjamin Victor of the Ocean Science Foundation in California, who used a new biochemical technique known as barcoding to match DNA from the larva to an adult fish Victor himself stumbled upon a quarter of a century earlier in Panama.Testing confirmed that the fish was in fact a new species, genetically different from its closest know relatives by about 25%.The specimen in Jones's trap turned out to be a Coryphopterus kuna, a new species of goby named after the indigenous people of Panama.

This discovery marks the first vertebrate to have its genetic barcode included in its original species description, which was published by Victor in the July 2007 issue of Zootaxa.The process involves identifying and isolating a section of an organism's mitochondrial DNA to allow researchers a simple and definitive method of recognizing and categorizing existing species by assigning each a unique, searchable DNA barcode.

"DNA barcoding allowed me to match the larva to the adult ... [and] prove to the other fish biologists that this was a new species," said Victor.

The fish was sent to Dr. Benjamin Victor of the Ocean Science Foundation in California, who used a new biochemical technique known as barcoding to match DNA from the larva to an adult fish Victor himself stumbled upon a quarter of a century earlier in Panama.Testing confirmed that the fish was in fact a new species, genetically different from its closest know relatives by about 25%.The specimen in Jones's trap turned out to be a Coryphopterus kuna, a new species of goby named after the indigenous people of Panama.

This discovery marks the first vertebrate to have its genetic barcode included in its original species description, which was published by Victor in the July 2007 issue of Zootaxa.The process involves identifying and isolating a section of an organism's mitochondrial DNA to allow researchers a simple and definitive method of recognizing and categorizing existing species by assigning each a unique, searchable DNA barcode.

"DNA barcoding allowed me to match the larva to the adult ... [and] prove to the other fish biologists that this was a new species," said Victor.

Benjamin VictorBen Victor Ocean Science Foundation, Inc.
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Benjamin C. Victor
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Benjamin C. Victor

"Virtually all published descriptions of larval fishes are long and technical and illustrated with line drawings" says Benjamin Victor, founder of the site, "I thought that, in this web-age, lively photographs are the way to go."

The guide will be comprehensive and is starting with the Caribbean fauna, where the number of fish species is not overwhelming- a few hundred vs. thousands in the Indo-Pacific.This allows most larval fishes to be identified down to species.

Victor is photographing his large larval fish collection from the San Blas Islands of Panama, as well as other collections from Belize and Barbados.In addition, Victor is recruiting a variety of DNA labs to apply the latest DNA-sequencing technology to identify larvae in some groups with numerous species.

Benjamin C. Victor
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Benjamin C. Victor, M.D. Ph.D. Founder and President Ocean Science Foundation

Dr. Benjamin Victor has a variety of interests - fish biology, evolution, medicine, mycology (molds), geography, economics. His primary interest is in the larval ecology of coral reef fishes and its role in determining biogeography and population dynamics. Dr. Victor has worked in Panama, Galapagos, Baja California, Palau, Brazil and Bali with research concentration on the wrasse family (Labridae). He received his Ph.D. in population biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1986, working on tropical reef fishes and the importance of recruitment and larval ecology to reef populations. After that, Dr. Victor continued his research on fishes, while graduating from medical school at The University of California at Irvine. This was followed by an internship at Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Victor returned to Southern California to finish a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at UC Irvine. Since then he has worked as a consultant in medicine and ecology, and received an M.B.A. from UC Irvine. In 2001, Dr. Victor started the non-profit Ocean Science Foundation to facilitate coral reef research by providing a research vessel to conservation and academic NGOs. He is also the editor of CORALREEFFISH.COM, a website devoted to internet-speed scientific communication for coral reef fish biologists. With his wide-ranging experience,

Benjamin Victor Director of Operations