Biodiversity of small cryptic fishes in the Coral Sea

Presented by Dr Chris Goatley

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of New England; Research Associate, Ichthyology, Australian Museum Research Institute; and, 2020-21 AMF/AMRI Visiting Research Fellow.

Dr Chris Goatley is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New England in Armidale. He was recently appointed as an AMRI Research Associate-Ichthyology and received a 2020-21 AMF/AMRI Visiting Research Fellowship. His research focuses on the biodiversity and functional ecology of small cryptobenthic reef fishes, which are highly abundant on coral reefs around the world, yet often overlooked.

In this seminar, Chris presents preliminary data from a recent research trip, during which he and other AMRI staff collected these cryptobenthic fishes from reefs spanning the length of the Coral Sea. He discusses the patterns of cryptobenthic fish biodiversity, new species records and potential new species discoveries made on these remote Australian reefs.