A recent paper authored by the Sea Around Us’ PI, Dr. Daniel Pauly, research assistant, Elaine Chu, and Dr. Johannes Müller from Leiden University, has made the cover of the June print issue of the Journal of Fish Biology, where it was introduced by a brief essay in the ‘Between the Covers’ section. The image that illustrates it is that of a large mythical sea creature known as an Aspidochelone, which appeared in a French bestiary around 1270 A.D.
The paper, titled “Brobdingnagians and Goliaths: Two forms of gigantism in fish,” identifies, for the first time, two forms of gigantism in fish: Brobdingnagian gigantism, which applies to populations within a species, or species within a genus or higher taxon, that become giants in certain habitats; and Goliathan gigantism, which refers to individuals within a population that get considerably bigger compared to other adults in the same habitat.
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“This work by Pauly et al. has proposed a powerful new framework for looking at gigantism, which may finally begin to unravel the mystery of giants below the waterline,” William Bernard Perry, senior editor of the Journal of Fish Biology, wrote in his ‘Between the Covers’ essay “James and the giant perch: a fresh framework for understanding gigantism in fish.”
