Abstract
All systematists should be just as comfortable examining and comparing museum specimens as they are at examining and comparing DNA sequences;...the future will favor...researchers who are not afraid to choose the best approach for any given phylogenetic puzzle - whether it means studying morphological or molecular variation, or both.—Hillis & Weins, 2000, p. 15. The molecular revolution in phylogenetic biology and its widespread application to fishes has in some ways complicated the task of teachingmy craft of ichthyology. Beginning students know nothing of the history of fish classifications, how they were created, how they have changed over the years or how and why they continue to change. On the first day of class I typically bring in the foureditions of Joe Nelson's classic Fishes of the World (Nelson, 1976, 1984, 1994, 2006) to show students that systematic ichthyology is a vibrant and dynamic science and that these are exciting times. Then I add that the latest of these encyclopedias of our current knowledge has for the most part not incorporated the more radical changes in our understanding of fish relationships suggested by many recent
NSTL