Our colleague Luís Carneiro died, struck by lightning, during a birdwatching expedition to Georgia and Turkey on the afternoon of 12 September 2002. He was together with José Pedro Tavares (RSPB) and another Portuguese friend in the mountains of Georgia when they were caught by a storm and sought shelter in a mountain refuge hut. There was another group of locals already there and the conversation had started. As usual Luis was talking over everybody describing all the new bird species he had just added to his beloved tick list. And then it happened... So, apparently Luis died having a good time and doing something he loved.

Luís was finishing his PhD thesis on the role of AVT in the expression of alternative reproductive tactics in blenniid fish and he had collaborated in a number of other projects going on in the laboratory. As a graduate student he had already co-authored over ten refereed papers (including one in Nature) and given several talks in international meetings. He had recently been elected Secretary of the Portuguese Ethological Society, and was a student member of other scientific societies including the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, the Society for Neuroscience and the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.

But more than a PhD student with a promising career, Luís was a beloved friend and his humor and attitude towards life made him the soul of our laboratory. The laboratory (and in fact nothing) will ever be the same without him around. But we believe that for those of you that ever met him he will stay in our hearts (neocortex Luís would point out) as an example of how intensively life can and should be lived. Luís leaves a wife (Patricia) and a 2.5-year-old daughter (Constança).

As Buzz Lightyear (a Space Ranger from Toy Story that is the favourite hero of my 3-year-old daughter) says "To infinity and beyond"; See you there Luis!

From a mourning laboratory.

Publication list of Luis A. Carneiro (in reverse chronological order)

2003

  • Miranda JA, Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Santos RS, Grober MS. Neurochemical correlates of male polymorphism and alternative reproductive tactics in the Azorean rock-pool blenny, Parablennius sanguinolentus parvicornis. Gen Comp Endocrinol (in press)

2002

  • Oliveira RF, Hirschenhauser K, Carneiro LA, Canário AVM. Social modulation of androgen levels in teleost fish. Comp Biochem Physiol B 132:203–215

  • Grober MS, George AA, Watkins KK, Carneiro LA, Oliveira RF. Forebrain AVT and courtship in a fish with alternative reproductive tactics. Brain Res Bull 57:23–25

2001

  • Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Gonçalves DM, Canário AVM, Grober MS. Effects of 11-Ketotestosterone in sneaker males of the peacock blenny, a species with male alternative mating tactics. Brain Behav Evol 58:28–37

  • Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Canário AVM, Grober MS. Effects of androgens on social behaviour and morphology of alternative reproductive males of the Azorean rock-pool blenny. Horm Behav 39:157–166

  • Oliveira RF, Lopes M, Carneiro LA, Canário AVM. Watching fights raises fish hormone levels. Nature 409:475

  • Carneiro LA, Andrade RP, Oliveira RF, Kotrachal K. Sex differences in home range and dorso-lateral telencephalon in the Azorean rock-pool blenny. Soc Neurosci Abstr 27 Prog 535.4, 2001

  • Marxer-Miller S, Carlisle S, Canario AVM, Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA Grober MS. Androgen effects on internal reproductive structures in a hermaphroditic fish. Horm Behav 39:338

2000

  • Carneiro LA, Oliveira RF, George AA, Watkins KK, Grober MS. Courtship in a sexually polymorphic fish: the role of vasotocin and gonadal steroids. Trab Inst Cajal 77:324–325

  • Carlisle SL, Marxer-Miller SK, Canário AVM, Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Grober MS. Effects of 11-ketotestosterone on genital papilla morphology in the sex changing fish, Lythrypnus dalli (Teleost, Gobiidae). J Fish Biol 57:445–456

  • Miranda JA, Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Canário AVM, Santos RS, Grober MS. The role of arginine vasotocin in a sexually polymorphic fish. Soc Neurosci Abstr 26 Prog 373.12, 2000

1999

  • George AA, Watkins KK, Carneiro LA, Oliveira RF Grober MS. Courtship in a sexually polymorphic fish: the role of vasotocin and gonadal steroids. Soc Neurosci Abstr 25:74

1998

  • Oliveira RF, Carneiro LA, Borges RA, Canário AVM. Androgens and social behaviour in a cichlid fish, Oreochromis mossambicus. J Fish Biol 53 [Suppl] A:440

1997

  • Carneiro LA, Matos RJ, Oliveira RF. Do herring gulls spy on each other? Adv Ethol 32:264