Outreach with Killi-Kits
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Information Leaflet
Step-by-Step Guide
Instructional Video
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Annual killifishes are small, colorful aquarium fishes that live in small pools in Africa and South America. During the dry season, their ponds dry out and all of the adults die. However, these “fish out of water” can survive as dormant embryos inside eggs laid in the soil. Their unique life cycle (right) and hardiness makes them great educational tools that are easily kept at home or in the classroom.
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Killifish require very little infrastructure and maintenance (no heaters/filters). We have developed a “Killi-Kit” designed to help families and students learn about developmental biology, genetics, and evolution. Dormant killifish eggs (right) are easily transportable and viable for months after fertilization, making them a unique way to engage young students in exploration of scientific methods.
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A Killi-Kit (right) will include dormant killifish eggs, a small tank (A), food (brine shrimp, B), a clip-on microscope (C) connecting to a smartphone for photo/video recording, small plastic containers (D) to hold killifish eggs, paint brushes (E) to pick up and clean killifish eggs, and instructional resources. Brine shrimp eggs represent an invertebrate dormancy example for comparison. Everyone can easily observe the different developmental stages with the smartphone microscope. Eggs from both organisms (killifish and brine shrimp) can be hatched just by adding water.
Our outreach program offers citizen scientists of all ages a chance to explore the natural world in a way they may not have access to in their daily lives. |
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Get in touch: killi.kits@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter: @nematolebias
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The Killi-Kit is developed by Andrew W. Thompson and Ingo Braasch from the Fish Evo Devo Geno Lab (Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University) and funded by the NSF BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action.
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