Royal visitor examines Australian Museum collections

  • Author(s)
    Dr Stephen Keable
  • Category
    Science
  • Published
    09 February 2010
  • Read time
    2 minutes

During his recent visit to Sydney His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales examined specimens from the Australian Museum collection aboard RV Southern Surveyor.

Prince William CSIRO
CSIRO's Dr Alan Williams shows Prince William a specimen of Gigantactis paxtoni. Image: Belinda Mason
© CSIRO

The Southern Surveyor is the Marine National Facility research vessel operated by CSIRO and is regularly used by Australian Museum staff to explore the biodiversity of Australian waters. A variety of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and other invertebrates are held in the Museum collections from these expeditions.

Prince William has studied marine pollution and its effects on coral reefs and indicated that his visit to CSIRO aboard the Southern Surveyor was a 'personal highlight' of his visit.

Prince William CSIRO 169
These photos were taken in the Fish Lab on the Marine National Facility Research Vessel Southern Surveyor as CSIRO's Dr Alan Williams provided the Prince with a five-minute overview of CSIRO's marine biodiversity research. Specimens were provided by Marine Invertebrates and Ichthyology Image: Belinda Mason
© CSIRO