Dr Sophie von der Heyden

Fields of interest

Cape Times, 26 April, 2009

My interests lie chiefly in the field of marine population genetics and the use of genetic markers in delineating population and stock structure in commercially exploited fish and invertebrate species. I am fascinated how life history and oceanography interplay to shape the population genetic structure of marine organisms. Further, I am investigating ways to incorporate genetic data into marine conservation planning in southern Africa, and especially their applicability in Marine Protected Area design. This part of my postdoctoral research focuses on a wide variety of marine organisms, ranging from commercially exploited species to intertidal molluscs, crustaceans, fishes and more! See for a list of projects below…

Secondly, I seem to have developed a love affair with clinid fishes! This group displays an amazing amount of morphological (especially colour) diversity, strange modes of reproduction (Superembryonation) and extreme ecological adaptations. As such, they are a brilliant study system for understanding not only phylogeographical patterning in the light of reduced larval dispersal, but also aspects of the evolution of reproductive mechanisms. I have started a study on the paternity of two viviparous clinid species, Clinus superciliosus and Muraenoclinus dorsalis, for which I received funding from the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (http://www.fsbi.org.uk/) and the Claude Leon Foundation (www.leonfoundation.co.za) in the form of a postdoctoral fellowship.

These are some of the projects the marine group is working on:

• Southern African hake species, Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus : population structuring and stock delineation of adult and juvenile hake, identification of eggs and larvae in the Benguela


• Palinurus spp. population structuring and larval dispersal of the rock lobsters Jasus tristani and J. lalandii,


• Population structure of Clinidae and South African gobies


• Phylogeny and larval identification of South African clinids


• Population structuring of South African molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, tunicates

Please email me ( svdh@sun.ac.za ) or Conrad Matthee ( cam@sun.ac.za ) to enquire about student projects and bursaries (MSc, PhD and Postdoctoral)