What Controls Sex Development in Fish?

Abstract

“What controls sex development in fish?” is a collaborative graphic novel composed by Thomas Desvignes, John, and myself that explores the many ways sex is determined in fishes. My contribution focused on translating scientific concepts into an accessible visual formats for new readers who might be unfamiliar with the biological mechanisms contributing to sex development in fish. For example, this comic could become learning material for middle school and high school biology classes. Before this project, I had limited experience with drawing animals, let alone fish. This project thus challenged me, forcing me out of my comfort zone to represent genes and fishes in ways that any reader would understand. For that I met with Thomas weekly to ensure I understood key scientific concepts such as Genetic Sex Determination and sex chromosomes. I started by drafting the first pages onto paper using colored pencils, but later switched to a completely digital format for a more streamlined process. Every fish began as a simple geometric shape to which I layered on limbs and various textures to make each creature leap out of the page. I used Procreate to make this comic, a proprietary software available on iPads. It was important to make this comic accessible, so we used the font OpenDyslexic-Alta, that’s designed for readers with dyslexia. Our comic is freely available to read and download in eight languages–English, Danish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Spanish.