Killifish explorer Bela Nagy recounts his successes across Democratic Republic of Congo as he sought out new Nothobranchius species.
I REMEMBER AS IF it was yesterday. A decade ago, I was on my way to photograph, for the first time ever, the live colouration of a small, 4-5cm long Nothobranchius brieni. This pretty little toothcarp has been formally known to science since 1938, but the preserved specimens deposited in museum collections have long since lost their colours.
The only information we had was the collecting locality; the swamps in Bukama village, within the Lualaba river drainage in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Terrible road conditions hindered reaching the area. It would have normally taken a few days’ drive from Lubumbashi to get to Bukama with a decent 4x4, but our vehicle broke down in a remote area before we reached the destination. Worse still, the last 45 kilometres of that difficult, muddy, and bumpy journey I needed to take on a motorcycle—my back still hurts to this day, every time I think about that trip. But eventually I arrived at Bukama village and successfully found N. brieni in the swamps of the village.
For all of that trouble, I seem unable to stay out of Africa…
The Luba story
In Luba communities in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo there is a legend saying that fish fall with the rain from the sky. They can ‘prove’ that it happens as the legend describes: a couple of weeks after the start of the rainy season, small depressions and water holes in the temporary wetlands are filled with water and suddenly small colourful fish are found, despite the previously parched, long months of the dry season.
These are the seasonal fishes we look for: small fishes that complete their life cycle in seasonally arid savannah pools. Wetlands in the Congo River drainage in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo host an impressive richness and diversity of aquatic fauna, and doubtless many species in remote regions remain undiscovered.
I strongly remember the exciting results of two previous expeditions that I conducted in Democratic Republic of Congo, organised and carried out with local researchers. During these trips we successfully discovered several fish species new to science.
Still buzzing from the euphoria of these past expeditions, I was especially enthusiastic when planned my Congo journey for April 2023. The research expedition was organised (not for the first t
