The interview conducted by the well-known YouTuber Claudio Montenegro on his account "PezCazaMan" with the academic and geneticist of the Department of Biology of the ULS Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Cristian Araya, has had almost 2 thousand views.

Chile has 6.435 kilometers of coastline, being the habitat of various species of marine fauna. Among the group of fish most recognized for fishing are horse mackerel, hake and pippin. However, this has meant that research on other marine and freshwater species has been scarce over the years. It is in this sense that Cristian Araya, ULS Academic and Doctor in Biological and Medical Sciences with a mention in Genetics, together with Mg. Claudio Palma, from the Faculty of Sciences of the ULS, Dr. Natalia Lam, from the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the U. of Chile, and Dr. Elisabeth Von, from the UCN, carried out research in order to know certain elements and characteristics through the information provided by the chromosomes of different species.

The ULS academic, Cristian Araya, author of the research, works and develops in the description of biodiversity, through chromosomal studies, which help extract information about biological particularities of organisms. In relation to this, he explains that “each animal and plant species has a chromosomal constitution from a numerical point of view, its shape, etc. Among all species there are differences, in size, morphology, numbers, that varies, but animal cytogenetics, in general, always required access to living organisms to be able to stimulate cellular mitosis [...] What we did In this work together with the fishermen, we managed to extract, from specimens captured by them, tissues where living and dividing cells were still maintained. “We took these tissues, placed them in a special culture medium and from there we could make them grow, divide and obtain the chromosomes of that species.”

Interaction with the community

To extract the sample of the fish in the field, Araya resorted to the help of fishermen who work in this activity, whether as a hobby or profession. Among them, Claudio Montenegro, a native of Sotaquí, who currently publishes videos about fishing through his YouTube channel “PezCazaMan”.

Montenegro points out that he started in the world of photography, capturing images of bicycle races and competitions. Later, she had good reception of his photographic content and was able to sell images. After developing that for a while, she wanted to change content. “All my life I have gone out fishing, hunting and everything related to the outdoor world (outdoor activities) and I said I will start making fishing videos. I made a YouTube channel, people started to like it, and it went so well that I became known and received sponsorship from a brand, I accepted it, and they continued to come to this day,” says the content creator.

In relation to the work he did together with the academic Cristian Araya, he maintained that “working with him means a great step for me to educate people, to learn personally and to be able to deliver that knowledge to my followers. I believe that the main thing, apart from studies, is to generate some positive contribution to everything related to fishing, to the care of the environment and marine resources. Try to have a positive impact, not only by showing the fishing technique, but by educating people and trying to ensure that everyone knows or is informed in the best way possible. It is super important, because it is a scientific way of looking at fishing that I never imagined and that you learn a lot.”

For his part, Araya concludes that “it is important that scientists get closer and closer to the community, not only through the use of tools, but also to give back a little of the knowledge that we have achieved. And given this interaction with Claudio from a field point of view, the possibility of participating in his videos and lives has also allowed me to transmit a little of the knowledge generated with the participants through my research.”

Without a doubt, being able to count on these contributions and cross-experiences to investigate and establish results is essential for a country that has countless species in its marine flora and fauna.

You can see the full interview at youtube.com/c/PesCazaMan. If you want to know more about Claudio Montenegro and his work, you can visit his Facebook and Instagram page as “Pescazaman”.

Written by Nicolás Monardes, ULS Journalism intern student - Faculty of Sciences - Office of Dissemination and Dissemination of Science and Technology