"Mangrove 'killifish': an exemplar of integrative biology": introduction to the symposium

The mangrove rivulus, Kryptolebias marmoratus, (hereafter, rivulus) is one of the only two vertebrates known to self-fertilize, with the other being a recently named close relative, Kryptolebias hermaphroditus (Tatarenkov et al. 2012). Rivulus is also the first fish species found to have environmental sex determination, whereby lower temperatures inhibit ovarian development, thus providing one potential route that avoids inbreeding depression (Harrington 1967; Conover 2004). Wild rivulus exist as androdioecious populations in which both hermaphrodites and, although relatively rare, males are found (Taylor 2000). In the laboratory, individual adult rivulus can produce isogenic embryos. Under as yet unknown environmental conditions, males develop and outcrossing between the hermaphrodites and males occurs (Taylor 2000; Mackiewicz et al. 2006a, 2006b). It is intriguing to consider the behavioral, neurological, and endocrinological control necessary to accommodate this reproductive strategy (Sakakura et al. 2006; Orlando et al. 2006; Earley et al. 2008). In addition to environmental sex determination and androdioecious reproduction, rivulus is also known to emerge from its aquatic surroundings and assume a transitory, terrestrial existence (Ong et al. 2007; Taylor et al. 2008; Cooper et al. 2012). Rivulus is an emerging and potentially powerful model for integrative and comparative biological research and, in part, this emergence has been catalyzed by this first symposium on its biology. The well-attended symposium comprised 11 speakers, which included four women and seven men, with academic ranks ranging from postdoctoral fellow to full professor, who came from four countries. This symposium will help drive future research within this taxon and will facilitate collaborations among researchers. It has already facilitated networking between heads of laboratories and current and potential future postdoctoral fellows and students. The organizing committee looks forward to the next rivulus symposium with great anticipation.