Karel F. Liem
Henry Bryant Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology
Curator of Ichthyology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Honorary Associate and Former Master of Dunster House
Phone: 617-495-5203
E-mail:
Office: 112 MCZ Labs, 26 Oxford St
Functional morphology, ecology, and evolutionary aspects of teleost fishes. Particular interest in the interface between functional morphology of the feeding apparatus and trophic ecology and how functional morphological features relate with patterns of diversity and evolutionary rates. Physiology of air ventilation in air-breathing fishes. A functional approach to the development of the teleost skull.
Recent Publications
Liem KF, TM Jessell, J Briscoe, 2000. Regulation of the neural patterning activity of sonic hedgehog by secreted BMP inhibitors expressed by notochord and somites, Development 127 (22): 4855-4866
Liem KF, AP Summers, 2000. Integration of versatile functional design, population ecology, ontogeny and phylogeny. Netherlands Journal of Zoology 50 (2): 245-259
Liem KF, 1997. Developmental analysis of a functional complex that defines Amia and the Teleostei. South African Journal of Science 93 (11-12): 523-528
Liem KF, G Tremml, TM Jessell, 1997.A role for the roof plate and its resident TGF beta-related proteins in neuronal patterning in the dorsal spinal cord. Cell 91 (1): 127-138
Huber R, MJ vanStaaden, LS Kaufman, et al.. 1997. Microhabitat use, trophic patterns, and the evolution of brain structure in African cichlids. Brain Behavior and Evolution 50 (3): 167-182
Courses Taught
OEB 130. Patterns and Processes in Fish Diversity
OEB 211r. Form, Function, and Evolution
OEB 272r. Origin and Evolution of Vertebrate Complex Systems
OEB 335. Ichthyology and Functional Anatomy of Fishes
