Home | David de Santana

C. David

de Santana PhD

Research Associate
National Museum of Natural History - NMNH

I am an evolutionary ichthyologist who studies freshwater fish diversity and evolution through scientific collections and fieldwork. I also participate in capacity building, public outreach, and minority representation. I am the principal investigator for the "Diversity and Evolution of Gymnotiformes" project at NMNH, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and FAPESP.

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Upper Oyapock River. Photo by C. David de Santana

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Featured papers, expeditions, media coverages & SciComm

Out of Africa! 2024 - A New Species of Banded Nannocharax from the Luapula River Basin, Zambia	The Bento Lab 2024 - Partnership to accelerate species identification & discovery	AI - Fish identification 2024 - Smithsonian Magazine
French Guiana 2024 - Expedition	Rio Negro - Brazil 2024 - Expedition	Vermont Public - NPR 2023 - But why? A podcast for curious kids. Episode: What are eels?
Ecology and Evolution 2023 - Robillard et al. Deep learning image classifier for identification of Amazonian fishes	Book chapters 2023 - Lasso et al. Peces del fundo - río Orinoco	Tapajós Expedition 2023 - Bottom trawling the Tapajós River, Brazil
Museum für Naturkunde 2022 - Electric eel project	Upper Rio Negro Expedition 2022 - Working with Baré people on fishes of the upper Rio Negro	Systematics and Biodiversity 2022 - Systematics of Tembeassu
Podcast - Que bicho é esse? 2022 - Poraquês	Smithsonian Magazine 2021 - Hunting behavior in eels among 10 most popular scientific discoveries!	Podcast - 37 Graus 2021 - Viagem pela selva elétrica
Icht & herp 2021 - Apteronotus albertoi - a rare and critically endangered Species from the Amazon basin	Scientific Reports 2021 - The critical role of natural history museums in advancing eDNA for biodiversity studies: a case study with Amazonian fishes	Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research Morphology-based phylogeny of Glass Knifefishes
Revista Galileu 2021 - Técnica possibilita estudar peixes da Amazônia sem capturar animais	BBC News 2021 - Electric eels work together to zap prey	Citizen Science initiative! 2021 - Project Poraquê Science made with the help of the community
Smithsonian Magazine 2021 - Shocking Study Finds Electric Eels Hunt Together	CNN 2021 - 'Extraordinary' research finds electric eels hunt in packs	Ecology and Evolution 2021 - Social predation in electric eels Ecology & Evolution 10th Anniversary editors' choice!
The New York Times 2021 - Electric eels hunt in packs, shocking prey and scientists	Nat Geo Magazine 2020 - Shocking Behavior by Diana Marques	A Moment of Science 2020 - Listen "The origin of the electric eel's electricity" by Sara Loy
Nature Communications 2019 - Unexpected species diversity in electric eels with a description of the strongest living bioelectricity generator	The New York Times 2019 - New Electric Eel Is Most Shocking Yet by Emma Goldberg	Smithsonian Magazine 2019 - Electric eels in top 10 most popular discoveries!
Smithsonian Magazine 2019 - Fish Detective Solves a Shocking Case of Mistaken Identity	A Moment of Science 2019 - Listen "Scientists discover two new species of eel" by Sara Loy	Smithsonian Voices 2018 - Discovery and Danger: The Shocking Fishes of the Amazon's Final Frontier