Collected Ogoense

Начало книги

In the basement of the research institute, Sarafina kept the rainforest killifish that obsessed her. Oh-go-en-say, as the nomenclature police would have it spoken, is an Aphyosemion species or group of almost identical species from the Ogo drainage of Gabon and Congo. African Rift Lake cichlids evolved the fastest of Earth’s fishes, but killifishes in their small disrupted waters were close. Other Aphyosemions presented more interesting material, but Sarafina loved the ogoense.

For five years, Sarafina took her vacation in Africa and smuggled out fish. Customs never bothered her, as she looked small and older than she was, a prematurely middle-aged woman in her early thirties, not yet old enough to have to smuggle to aid desperate finances, not young enough to smuggle for adventure.

Sarafina kept all her collected ogoense in two air-conditioned closets off her main work space. One was set to vary between 68 degrees at night to 72 during the day. The other closet had night and day temperatures 5 degrees higher. Sarafina wondered how domestication would affect ogoense, if more variants would develop in her aquariums.

Читать дальше →