Fish Section visitors
Every year many scientists visit the Australian Museum Research Institute Ichthyology department for their research. Further information is available on the AMRI Awards & Fellowships pages.
Every year many scientists visit the Australian Museum for their research. Discover the people who visited the Fish Section during 2023.
Every year many scientists visit the Australian Museum for their research. Discover the people who visited the Fish Section during 2022.
Professor Mike Bennett works at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland. He visited on 28 March 2018 to sample tissues from shark jaws and vertebrae.
Mike's research will undertake high-resolution retrospective genomic analyses using DNA extracted from contemporary and archival Tiger Shark, Greynurse Shark, Mako Shark, and White Shark skeletal material held in museum and trophy collections around the world.
Image: Amanda Hay© Australian Museum
Professor Mike Bennett
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh is Assistant Professor at the Department of Fisheries, Chahabar Maritime University, Iran.
He visited for three days during the week of 10 September, 2018.
Javad's area of expertise is the family Mugilidae, the mullets. During his visit he examined numerous specimens from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh
Dr Chris Goatley (left) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England.
He visited on 7 May to discuss potential areas of collaboration with Joseph Dibattista (right). Mark McGrouther, the fish collection manager, joined the discussion to clarify the Australian Museum's position on accepting fishes collected during potential research programs.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Chris Goatley
Richard Grainger is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, studying the foraging ecology of white sharks in NSW, in collaboration with the NSW DPI.
As part of this project he is conducting diet assessments using stomach contents analysis.
Richard visited the Australian Museum from 4 - 6 July to examine bones and otoliths in the ichthyology collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Richard Grainger
Dr Hisashi Imamura works in the Faculty of Fisheries Sciences at Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan. He visited from the 11 to 15 June 2018. During his stay he examined many specimens of flatheads from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hisashi Imamura
Dr Graham Short, Holiday Johnson, and Dr Healy Hamilton. Graham is a regular visitor to the Australian Museum. He is a Research Associate at the Californian Academy of Sciences and works on Pygmy Seahorses. Healy is Chief Scientist & Vice President of Conservation Science at NatureServe. Graham, Holiday and Healy stopped at the Australian Museum on their way to Lord Howe Island where they were conducting fieldwork.
Image: Amanda Hay© Australian Museum
Dr Graham Short, Holiday Johnson, and Dr Healy Hamilton.
Dr Tony Miskiewicz is an Australian larval fish expert, being co-author of the book, Larvae of Temperate Australian FIshes.
He works as an Environment Project Officer in the Environment and Health Division of Wollongong City Council.
Tony has visited many times over the years to examine specimens in the larval fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Miskiewicz
Dr Fanny de Busserolles works at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland.
She visited on 15 and 16 January to examine specimens of Discfish (Diretmus) and discuss lanternfish (Myctophidae) identifications with John Paxton. During her visit Fanny donated specimens of deepsea fishes recently collected in the south-eastern Indian Ocean.
Image: Amanda Hay© Australian Museum
Dr Fanny de Busserolles
Dr Barry Russell visited the Australian Museum for two days to further his work on the fishes of Francis Castelnau.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell
Yato Takuji is affiliated with Kochi University. His research focuses on the gurnard fishes (Family Triglidae).
During his visit from 16 - 24 March, he examined many type specimens of triglids and non-types of the genera Lepidotrigla and Pterygotrigla.
Prior to his arrival at the Australian Museum, Yato examined fishes at Museum Victoria for a week.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Yato Takuji
Dr Peter Unmack visited on 22 May 2018 to process fishes that he collected. All specimens will be registered and stored in the ichthyology collection. Peter is a Research Fellow that the University of Canberra. He has conducted extensive freshwater fieldwork over the years.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Unmack
Dr Ruzena Gregorova (left) with Senior Fellow, John Paxton in the Fish Section office, 23 January 2017. Dr Ruzena Gregorova is head of the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic. During her visit she examined specimens of roughies and lanternfishes. Ruzena also visited the palaeontology and mineralogy collections.
Image: Sally Reader© Australian Museum
Dr Ruzena Gregorova
Dr Michael Hammer is the Curator of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
During his visit, from 8-12 December, he examined recently-collected specimens of Glossogobius as well as many preserved specimens from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Michael Hammer
Harutaka Hata has almost finished the first year of his doctoral research at the Kagoshima University Museum where he is working on herrings (Clupeidae) and anchovies (Engraulidae). He visited for 5 days during the week of 13 March 2017.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Harutaka Hata
Wouter Holleman is a Research Associate at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (formerly the JLB Smith Institute).
He visited from 18-20 October 2017.
During his visit Wouter examined specimens of Helcogramma and Springeratus from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Wouter Holleman
Eliza Belle Matthews is a 3rd year Marine Science and Management student at Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales.
She is working full-time for 8 weeks on an internship program.
Her duties thus far have included handling incoming and outgoing specimen loans, databasing and labelling.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Eliza Belle Matthews
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura (dark blue shirt, standing in photo), and 7 of his students from the Kagoshima University Museum examined many specimens in the fish collection. Hiro has visited on a number of previous occasions. He is an Australian Museum Research Associate and world expert on the scorpionfishes. The students and their taxa of research are as follows:
Ayumi Bandai (back, centre) - Mullidae (goatfishes), Byeol Jeong (red shirt) - Soleidae (soles), Satokuni Tashiro (black shirt, seated) - Tripterygiidae (triple fins), Sirikanya Chungthanawong (back right) - Tetrarogidae (wasp fishes), Tomohiro Yoshida (blue shirt)- Apogonidae (cardinal fishes), Tomoki Inaba (striped shirt) - Synanceiidae, Inimicus (stinger fishes), Yoshino Fukui (back, second from right) - Labridae (wrasses)
Prior to their visit to the Australian Museum they examined fish specimens at the Western Australian Museum. After leaving the Australian Museum 5 students travelled to Brisbane to work at the Queensland Museum and two went to Darwin to work at the Northern Territory Museum.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australia Museum
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura and students
Dr Naohide Nakayama is the Project-based Assistant Professor at the Kyoto University Museum. He is studying the taxonomy of rattail fishes (family Macrouridae).
During his stay of one week, starting 21 August 2017, he examined specimens of Coelorinchus from Australian waters.
Prior to arriving at the Australian Museum, he spent a week at both the Northern Territory Museum, Darwin and the Australian National Fish Collection, Hobart.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Naohide Nakayama
Rohan Pett is an Australian Museum Reseach Associate.
He visited on October 5 and 10 to examine historic specimens collected by Francis Day.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Rohan Pett
Dr Graham Short is a Research Associate at the Californian Academy of Sciences. He visited for 4 days during February 2017, during which time he examined and photographed specimes of seahorse and pipehorse from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Graham Short
Andrew Stewart is the Ichthyology Collection Manager at Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.
He had just finished taking part in a research cruise on the Investigator. The ship had berthed in Sydney, so Andrew took the opportunity to visit the Australian Museum and donate a collection of deepsea fish specimens that were collected during the voyage.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Andrew Stewart
Dr Christine Thacker is the curator of fishes at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
During her visit on 27 February 2017, she examined specimens of several genera of native Australian freshwater gudgeons, including Hypseleotris, Philypnodon, and Mogurnda.
She photographed specimens for use in morphometric analysis as part of a wide scale evolutionary study of gudgeon phylogeny and evolution.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Christine Thacker
Dr Peter Unmack (left) is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra. Karl Moy (right) is his Masters student.
Over the years, Peter has conducted extensive freshwater fieldwork. During their visit from 28 to 30 August, Peter and Karl sorted and identified many specimens that they collected. The specimens will soon be registered into the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Unmack and Karl Moy
Deborah Bowden visited on 16 November 2016. She is currently doing a PhD at the University of Queensland where her reseach deals with odontaspid sharks. As part of her research, Deb is reviewing the phylogenomics and morphometrics of the sandtiger sharks (Greynurse Shark, Smalltooth Sand Tiger and Bigeye Sand Tiger).
During her visit, Deb took photographs and measurements of the holotype of Odontaspis herbstii (AMS IB.2136); this species is now known as O. ferox. These measurements will be compared to those of Greynurse Sharks in an effort to better understand relationships within the odontaspid family and broader Lamniform order.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Deborah Bowden
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh is Assistant Professor at the Department of Fisheries, Chahabar Maritime University, Iran. His main field of research is on the family Mugilidae, the mullets. Javad worked at the museum on a number of research projects from late July to September.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh
Dr Michael Hammer in the ichthyology lab, 11 February 2016. During his visit, Michael examined specimens of Rainbowfishes from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Michael Hammer
John Pogonoski works at the Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO, Hobart. During his visit John examined specimens of moray and conger eels in the fish collection. He visited from 13 to 17 October, 2017.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Pogonoski
Agathe Ribereau-Gayon visited on 16 September 2016. She is currently doing a PhD at University College London (UK) where her research deals with Forensic Anthropology. As part of her research she analyses the scavenging patterns of marine fauna on human victims submerged in marine environments.
So far, she has been able to identify the presence of numerous cookiecutter shark (Isistius spp.) bitemarks on the bodies of victims. This shows that cookiecutter sharks have a significant impact on the degradation of the corpses, something that may have been previously underestimated in Forensic Anthropology and Pathology.
Agathe is now interested in furthering these findings by documenting the dimensions of the mouths of cookiecutter shark specimens in order to look for any statistical match with the dimensions of the bitemarks.
During her visit, Agathe took photographs and collected macroscopic measurements of specimens of Isistius brasiliensis and I. plutodus, as well as species of the so-called ‘dwarf sharks’, including Squaliolus aliae, Squaliolus laticaudus and Euprotomicrus bispinatus.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Agathe Ribereau-Gayon
Dr Clive Roberts is the Curator of Fishes at Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.
He visited on 22 and 23 September to examine specimens of Hypoplectrodes in the fish collection and to attend the Whitley Awards evening during which he and colleagues Andrew Stewart and Carl Struthers were presented with the prestigious Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitley Medal for their four volume book, The Fishes of New Zealand
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Clive Roberts
Stuart Sexton visited for three weeks in January 2016. He is working on a PhD through Flinders University, in conjunction with the South Australian Research and Development Institute. His research is investigating the effects of habitat conditions on the growth and survivorship of sardine larvae off the east coast.
Stuart is accessing larval fish specimens held in the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection that were collected during surveys undertaken up to 30 years ago. Each larva is measured and using length as a proxy for age, the relationship between environmental conditions and larval age can be estimated enabling us to better understand what conditions promote high levels of survivorship.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Stuart Sexton
Andrew Stewart is the Ichthyology Collection Manager at Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.
Andrew visited for the week beginning 19 September to examine specimens of Microstoma and Nansenia in the fish collection. During his stay, he and colleagues Dr Clive Roberts and Carl Struthers were presented with the prestigious Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitley Medal for their four volume book, The Fishes of New Zealand.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Andrew Stewart
Carl Struthers works in the Fish Department at Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington.
He visited for the week beginning 19 September to examine specimens of Ocean Perch, Helicolenus and beardies in the fish collection.
During his stay, he and colleagues Dr Clive Roberts and Andrew Stewart were presented with the prestigious Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitley Medal for their four volume book, The Fishes of New Zealand.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Carl Struthers
E-Kai (lemon) Tea is an under-graduate student at the University of Sydney. He is working with Australian Museum Research Associate Dr Anthony Gill on fish taxonomy at the Macleay Museum. E-kai is currently working on the descriptions of several new species of Cirrhlabrus (wrasse) and Synchiropus (dragonet) as well as evaluating the phylogenetic relationships of the species within these genera.
Image: Anthony Gill© Australian Museum
E-Kai (lemon) Tea
Dr Peter Unmack and Carson Creagh in the fish lab, 11 February 2016. Peter is a Research Fellow that the University of Canberra. He has conducted extensive freshwater fieldwork over the years. During this visit he and Carson unpacked many of the fishes he collected. The specimens were transferred from formalin to ethanol and sorted by species. They are now jarred separately and await registration into the ichthyology collection.
Peter visited from 9-11 February; Carson assisted him for two days.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Unmack and Carson Creagh
Australian Museum Research Associate Ken Graham and CSIRO researchers Sharon Hook and Alan Williams teamed up to prepare for an exciting expedition to explore the deep sea environments in the Great Australian Bight.
Scientists on board the RV Investigator will be learning about the geology of submarine canyons, volcanoes, and hydrocarbon seeps, as well as the animals that live there. Specimens will be collected for museum collections, so we can learn about the types of animals that live in the deep sea, and tissue collections will be made so that we can better understand the adaptations that allow animals to survive in these environments.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Ken Graham, Dr. Sharon Hook and Dr. Alan Williams
Joanna Browne recently visited the lab on behalf of Marianne Nyegaard, a PhD candidate at Murdoch University in Western Australia. Marianne studies ocean sunfish (genus Mola) in the waters off Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. She mainly looks at population genetics and migrations, but is also interested in historical species identification in the context of genetic analysis. Museum collections provide an important background to the analysis and identification of new material, which Marianne mainly obtains through collaboration with the fishing industry.
Joanna has just had her PhD thesis, "Parasites of jellyfish in eastern Australia", accepted. Her thesis was undertaken through Griffith University and Museum Victoria. She is one of the first researchers to study jellyfish parasites in Australia and investigated relationships between jellyfish (including the blue blubber Catostylus mosaicus, upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea, hydromedusae and ctenophores) and digenean trematodes, cestodes, hyperiid amphipods, a parasitic anemone, and a sphaeromatid isopod, using molecular and ecological techniques. Joanna is currently based in Western Australia and is hoping to continue researching these fascinating associations.
Due to the trophic link between sunfish and jellyfish, Joanna and Marianne are currently looking at collaborative research on the parasites occurring in both jellies and sunfish, using molecular techniques.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Joanna Browne
Dr Kevin Conway is an Assistant Professor of Ichthyology at Texas A&M University. He works on the taxonomy and systematics of clingfishes (Family Gobiesocidae).
During his visit from 17-24 February, he examined specimens in the Ichthyology collection. He also collected, photographed and took tissue samples from fresh clingfish specimens collected in the Sydney and Newcastle regions.
After leaving the Austrailan Museum his clingfish research took him to New Zealand.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Kevin Conway
Aaron Davis is a Research Officer at James Cook University, Queensland. He works on the taxonomy and evolution of terpontid grunters and allied families.
During his visit (12-13 October 2015), Aaron collected information on aspects of morphology (dentition and intestine structure) to examine the role of trophic ecology in shaping evolutionary trajectories of several related marine and freshwater fish families.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Aaron Davis
Humberto Ferrón Jiménez is studying for his PhD on the paleoecology of early and basal vertebrates, based at the University of Valencia, Spain.
His current research involves understanding the relationship between squamation (denticles/'scales') and ecology of sharks in order to make inferences about the lifestyles of both extinct and living groups with similar squamation. These groups are often poorly studied from an ecological perspective. He is also compiling data on several shark species to be used in an updated atlas of squamation.
His project received funding support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2014-52662-P).
Humberto visited for 2 weeks in November - December, 2015.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Humberto Ferrón Jiménez
Jennifer Freer is studying for her PhD on the evolutionary ecology of lanternfishes (Family Myctophidae), based at the Univeristy of Bristol, UK.
Her research involves understanding the mechanisms that have promoted myctophid diversification and also how their distributions may be affected by future climate change.
During Jennifer's visit she had discussions with Drs John Paxton and Jan Poulsen.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jennifer Freer
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh is Assistant Professor at the Department of Fisheries, Chahabar Maritime University, Iran. He is a leading researcher on the family Mugilidae, the mullets. Javad visited from 4 - 9 September 2015.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh
Dr Tony Gill, Research Associate and regular visitor to the Fish Section, visited for the first time this year on 5 February. During his visit he examined specimens of dottybacks, a group for which Tony is a world expert.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Gill
Dr Martin Gomon visited from 18 to 22 May, 2015 to continue his research on labrid fishes. He examined many specimens of Choerodon from the collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Martin Gomon
Dr Michael Hammer is the Curator of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Michael Hammer
Dr Eri Katayama visited from 5 to 8 May, 2015. She works at at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. During her stay Eri examined specimens in the family Creediidae (the Sandburrowers and Tommyfishes).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Eri Katayama
Dr Mao-Ying Lee works at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. He is an expert on the taxonomy of the tongue soles, family Cynoglossidae. During his visit, from 8 to 11 September 2015, he examined specimens in the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Mao-Ying Lee
Clayton Manning is studying for his MSc on the feeding behaviours and diets of syngnathids (Family Syngnathidae), based at the University of British Columbia, Canada, as a member of the marine conservation group Project Seahorse.
His research involves understanding how habitat characteristics dictate the foraging behaviours and diets of syngnathids. He will be using White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei, in Port Stephens, as a case-study.
During his visit from 23 - 25 September 2015, Clayton examined many specimens from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Clayton Manning
Drs Lindsay Marshall and Alan Williams (artist and scientist respectively), visited on 26 and 27 August to work with John on a paper on lanternfishes (family Myctophidae).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Drs Lindsay Marshall and Alan Williams
Dr Tony Miskiewicz examining a larval fish in the ichthyology collection, 11 March 2015.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Miskiewicz
Drs Einar Neilsen and Julian Pepperell visited many fishing clubs and other institutions on the New South Wales coast to take samples from tiger shark jaws as part of their genetic research.
Einar is the Research Coordinator of the Section for Marine Living Resources, National Institute of Aquatic Resources at the Technical University of Denmark.
Julian is a freelance researcher and writer with extensive knowledge of the fisheries and game fishing industries.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Drs Einar Neilsen and Julian Pepperell
John Pogonoski (left) and Jan Poulsen examining a bobtail snipe eel, 6 March 2015.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Pogonoski (left) and Jan Poulsen
Dr Barry Russell (ex. Northern Territory Museum) working on lizardfishes (family Synodontidae) in the the ichthyology visitor lab, 23 April 2015. Barry visited from 13 April to 24 April 2015.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell
Anthony Seward has just completed an Honours degree at the University of New South Wales and has begun a Masters at Macquarie University.
His current research involves the diversity and distribution of larval pleuronectids in the south-east region of Australia, to make inferences about their distribution across water masses and the value of larval identification beyond the family level. He is also compiling a larval identification index for several pleuronectid genera and species for the south-east region.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Anthony Seward
Scott Tuason (right) and Tony Gill in the fish lab, 18 August 2015. Scott is working on a book about blackwater diving. 'Blackwater diving' is scuba diving at night over very deep water. This mode of diving allows the diver to see many unusual fishes that live in the pelagic zone. Scott does most of his blackwater diving in the Philippines but his early diving was in Hawaii. More information on Scott.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Scott Tuason (right) and Tony Gill
Dr Franz Uiblein (right) visited on 26 and 27 March 2015, to continue his research on goatfishes. During his visit he examined specimens of Mulloidichthys and Upeneus from the ichthyology collection.
Image: Jan Poulsen© Australian Museum
Dr Franz Uiblein
Claire Mahendradatta, Daniel Wang, Anna Hespe-Poulos and Joanne Holman. University of Technology students topping up jars in the fish collection with fresh 70% ethanol. From front to back, Claire Mahendradatta, Daniel Wang, Anna Hespe-Poulos and Joanne Holman. The students have generously given their time to help overcome one of the ongoing problems with wet collections - evaporation from jars.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Claire Mahendradatta, Daniel Wang, Anna Hespe-Poulos and Joanne Holman.
Dr William White is the Senior Curator at the Australian National Fish Collection at CSIRO, Hobart, Tasmania.
He visited on 19 November to examine sharks and rays in the fish collection that were collected in Papua New Guinea.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr William White
Dr Gerry Allen is a world-renowned ichthyologist who has published many books and papers. He worked in the fish collection during the week of 3 November 2014. The focus of his research was the Epaulette Sharks in the genus Hemiscyllium.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Gerry Allen
Sue and Don Cotterill with Ichthyology Collection Manager Mark McGrouther, 5 May 2014. The jar Mark is holding contains a larval flounder that was donated to the Australian Museum by Sue and Don.
Image: Annette Townsend© Annette Townsend
Sue and Don Cotterill
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh is an expert on the taxonomy of mullets. During his visit he examined fish specimens, including one mullet sent to him from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh
Dr Tony Gill is a regular Fish Section visitor. He works at the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney. During his visit on 17 March, Tony examined dottyback fishes from the collection and specimens of a fish family previously unrecorded from Australia.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Gill
Jacqueline Gribbin and Rex Mitchell's visit aimed to gather information about Gilbert Whitley's historic fish printing blocks. She and Rex spent the day working through Whitley literature. They will also spend time in the Australian Museum Archives.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jacqueline Gribbin and Rex Mitchell
Dr Charlie Huveneers visited on 2 May, 2014. He is based at the School of Biological Sciences at Flinders University, where he leads the Southern Shark Ecology Group. One of his current project aims to assess trends in the population size of White Sharks since protection in the late 1990s.
During his visit, Charlie took small tissue samples from 3 White Shark jaws and has previously obtained genetic samples from other White Shark specimens within the collection.
The project is being undertaken with the collaboration of the CNRS (French research institute), CSIRO and the Fox Shark Research Foundation. Funding is being provided by Save our Seas Foundation and Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Charlie Huveneers
Dr Kazuo Inaba and Dr Kogiku Shiba work at the Shimoda Marine Research Centre, University of Tsukuba, Japan. They travelled to Australia to attend a conference in Newcastle and beforehand had a short visit to the Australian Museum to investigate the collection holdings of flatfishes.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Kazuo Inaba and Dr Kogiku Shiba
Dr Patricia Kailola visited on 3 April 2014. During her stay she examined the paratype of the pipefish, Microphis cruentatus. The image shows Tricia, left, talking with Gina Cooke about Fijian blennies.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Patricia Kailola
Alyssa Kanyasi is doing an Honours degree at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her research involves examining the age and growh of Shortfin Makos based on vertebral analysis.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Alyssa Kanyasi
Dr Helen Larson, formerly a research scientist at the Northern Territory Museum, was awarded an AMRI Visiting Research Fellowship for her project entitled “Exploration of gobioid type specimens". She visited for the month of November 2014.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Helen Larson
Franz and Daisy Lidz visited the museum to research a feature story on Mr Blobby that he is writing for the Smithsonian Magazine.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Franz and Daisy Lidz
Matthew (Yuen Ho) Ma is studying for a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience at Sydney University. He is interested in marine biology and took the opportunity to work for the week of 30 June 2014 as part of his research component of the professional experience program.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Matthew (Yuen Ho) Ma
Drs Graham Doig and Kaveh Kabir measuring billfish specimens in the tank area, 11 November 2013.
Graham and Kaveh work at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales.They examined specimens of billfishes as part of their research into rostrum hydrodynamics.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Drs Graham Doig and Kaveh Kabir
Sam Edmonds photographing a set of White Shark jaws from the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection (AMS I.34192-001), 8 April 2013.
Notes
Sam is studying photography at the Queensland College of Art, majoring in photojournalism.
He has had a number of exhibitions in Australia and south-east Asia.
Sam visited the Australian Museum to photograph shark jaws for a body of work concerning shark attacks and shark stigma in Australia. Sam hopes to exhibit this work at the Queensland College of Art in 2013.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Sam Edmonds
Javad Ghasemzadeh in the ichthyology dry lab, 30 August 2013.
Notes
Javad Ghasemzadeh visited the museum between 30 August and 3 September 2013. During this time he examined type and non-type mullet specimens (family Mugilidae) from the ichthyology collection. He also examined specimens that were loaned from SAIAB.
Javad did his postraduate studies at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University in Sydney. For his PhD project on the Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Indo-Pacific Mullets with special reference to the Australian Mullets, he spent considerable time at the Australian Museum. Javad also had a fellowship to reexamine the museum's specimens of mullets in 1999. At present he is an associate professor at Chabahar Maritime University in Iran.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Javad Ghasemzadeh
Hans Ho made his fourth visit to the Australian Museum in February 2013. He spent 2 weeks examining batfish specimens (Family Ogcocephalidae) from the collection.
Notes
Hans is Assistant Research Fellow at the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium and Associate Professor at the National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Hans Ho - 2013
Selma Klanten in 'the fish office'. The large specimen in the background is a Queensland Grouper, Epinephelus lanceolatus.
Notes
Selma works in the Fish Ecology Group at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is interested in the evolution of marine vertebrate and invertebrates. This includes inferring phylogenies and phylogeography, as well as examining hybridisation and speciation.
Selma and Kerryn Parkinson visited on 13 June 2013.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Selma and the Queensland Groper
Toshio Kawai in the ichthyology dry lab, 20 May 2013.
Notes
Toshio is assistant professor at the Hokkaido University Museum. He visited the Australia Museum from 20 - 22 May 2013.
During his stay, he examined specimens of armoured searobins (Family Triglidae) from the ichthyology collection. He also tasted his first glass of 'Pure Blonde' beer!
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Toshio Kawai
Eliza McDonald examining a Lined Bristletooth, Ctenochaetus striatus, from the fish collection, 30 September 2013.
Notes
Eliza is studying for a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience at Sydney University. She is interested in marine biology and took the opportunity to work for 8 days in September and October, 2013 as part of the research component of the professional experience program.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Eliza McDonald
Tony Miskiewicz examining specimens in the dry lab, 16 May 2013.
Notes
Tony Miskiewicz has been a regular visitor to the Fish Department over the last two decades. He is currently working as an Environment Project Officer in the Environment and Health Division of Wollongong City Council.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Miskiewicz - 2013
Jenny Ovenden in the fish dry lab, 12 November 2013.
Notes
Jenny is working on the genetics and stock structure of Gemfish, Rexea solandri. During her visit in November 2013, Jenny subsampled alcohol-fixed Gemfish tissues and had discussions with Drs Don Colgan and John Paxton, the Australian Museum authors of a 1997 paper on Gemfish genetics and stocks (download the paper).
Jenny will be sending tissues to Dr Andrea Armani in Italy to help in her gemfish genetics work.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Jenny Ovenden
Flávia Petean examining a Cookiecutter Shark, Isistius brasiliensis, from the fish collection (AMS I.43094-001).
Notes
Flávia is a post-graduate student at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. During her three-week stay in August 2013, she examined many sharks in the family Dalatiidae (Kitefin Sharks) for her taxonomic and morphological research.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Flávia Petean
Koichi Shibukawa in the ichthyology dry lab, 20 May 2013.
Notes
Koichi is a researcher at Nagao Natural Environment Foundation, Tokyo. He visited the Australian Museum from 20-24 May 2013.
During his stay, he examined specimens of gobies and sleepers (families Gobiidae and Eleotridae) from the ichthyology collection and talked with Dr. Doug Hoese about taxonomy of several kinds of gobies.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Koichi Shibukawa
Carol Stepien taking data on weedfish specimens from the collection, 22 February 2013. Carol is the Director of the University of Toledo's Lake Eerie Center.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Carol Stepien
Tom Summers examining a Combtooth Blenny, Istiblennius bellus, from the fish collection (AMS I.46143-016), September 2013.
Notes
Tom Summers is an honours student at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Part of his research involves using the extensive fish collection to study morphological traits of 'terrestrial' blennies.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Tom Summers
Staff (Paul Armson on left and Michele Veness in yellow shirt) and students of the Stage 3 Bio-Environmental Diploma, from the TAFE NSW-Sydney Institute (Ultimo Campus), after a tour of the ichthyology collection,10 May 2013.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
TAFE fish collection tour 2013
Professors Mike Delong and Martin Thoms visited the museum between 29 April and 2 May 2013. During this time they extracted fish and mollusc tissue samples from the freshwater collections. The image shows them in the ichthyology dry lab.
Notes
Mike Delong is from the Large Rivers Studies Center at Winona State University, USA while Martin Thoms works at the University of New England. The pair have an international project that is researching changes in freshwater ecosystems as a result of flow alteration in rivers. Fish samples from the Museum collection will be used to build a time line of food web structure for comparison of hydrological conditions before and after river modification.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Martin Thoms and Mike Delong
Sarah Viana examining a Mandarin Shark. This specimen is a paratype of Cirrhigaleus australis (I.42891-001).
Notes
Sarah is a post-graduate student at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. During her two-week stay in February and March, 2013, she examined many specimens of squalid sharks (dogfishes) for her taxonomic and systematic research. Her work was supported by an Australian Museum Geddes Visiting Collection Fellowship (2012-2013).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Sarah Viana
Senior Fellow Dr John Paxton talking with visiting scientist Dr Alan Williams in the 'fish lab'.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Alan Williams - 2013
Ofer Gon is Senior Aquatic Biologist at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB). He visited on 13 and 14 August 2012, during which time he worked on fishes in the genus Champsodon.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Ofer Gon
Dr Hisashi Imamura in the ichthyology dry lab, 7 June 2012.
Notes
Hisashi is an ichthyologist at the Hokkaido University Museum, Hakodate, Japan. He examined many flathead specimens from the ichthyology collection during his stay from 6 to 11 June 2012.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hisashi Imamura - 2012
Melissa Martin examining a flying fish in the Ichthyology Collection.
Notes
Melissa is a PhD student at the University of Tasmania but is currently based at the Museum of Tropical Queensland. She visited the Australian Museum for 2 weeks in October, 2012 on a Geddes Postgraduate Award. Melissa studies cymothoid isopods, which are crustacean parasites of fishes. Her work is currently focusing on the mouth-attaching parasites commonly called fish doctors and tongue biters.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Melissa Martin
Mizuki Matsunuma examining a lionfish specimen at the Australian Museum, May 2012.
Notes
Mizuki is a student at Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima, Japan. During his visit, from 7 to 11 May 2012, he examined many lionfish specimens from the Ichthyology Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Mizuki Matsunuma - 2012
Graham McLean is a volunteer in the Australian Museum's Palaeontology Section. He is working on ancient shark egg cases and visited on 20 November 2012 to photograph egg cases of Port Jackson Sharks.
Notes
In August 2014, Graham's paper that used specimens from the ichthyology collection was published.
Reference:
McLean, G. 2014. A comparative study of the Australian fossil shark egg-case Palaeoxyris duni, with comments on affinities and structure. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 136, 201-218.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Graham McLean
Masatoshi Meguro in the ichthyology dry laboratory at the Australian Museum, May 2012.
Notes
Masatoshi is a student at Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima, Japan. He is working on the triplefin genus Enneapterygius. During his visit, from 15 to 31 May 2012, he examined many specimens from the Ichthyology Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Masatoshi Meguro - 2012
Professor Hiroyuki Motomura working at the Australian Museum, 8 May 2012.
Notes
Hiro, who is an Australian Museum Research Associate, and 3 of his students from the Kagoshima University Museum visited from 7 to 11 May 2012. He continued his research on scorpionfishes.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Professor Hiroyuki Motomura - 2012
Keita Koeda is a PhD student of University of the Ryukyus, Japan. He is working on the taxonomy and ecology of fishes in the genus Pempheris. Keita visited the fish section beween 31 July and 14 August 2012.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Keita Koeda
Yuki Nagano at the Australian Museum, 8 October 2012.
Notes
Yuki is working on her PhD at the Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Japan. Her area of expertise is the family Hoplichthyidae, the ghost flatheads. She worked with specimens in the collection from 8 October until 15 October.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Yuki Nagano
Hajime Nishiyama with a damselfish specimen at the Australian Museum, May 2012.
Notes
Hajime is a student at Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima, Japan. During his visit, from 7 to 11 May 2012, he examined many damselfish specimens from the Ichthyology Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Hajime Nishiyama
John Pogonoski working in the Ichthyology Dry Laboratory.
Notes
John works at CSIRO Fisheries, Hobart. He visited for three days in March / April 2012 to scan slides of fishes from the Australian Museum's collection. The images will be used on the Atlas of Living Australia web site.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Pogonoski - 2012
Senior Fellow Dr John Paxton talking with visiting scientist Dr Alan Williams in the 'fish lab'.
Notes
Alan visited for two days in March 2012 to work with John on their joint publication that will allow identification of the myctophid (lanternfishes) species of Australia.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Paxton and Alan Williams
Dr Bruce Robison giving a presentation to Australian Museum members, 10 July 2012. Bruce is Senior Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). His fascinating talk was titled "Dragonfish, Spookfish and other unbelievable animals".
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Bruce Robison
Barry Russell in the ichthyology dry lab, June 2012.
Notes
Barry visited on 12 and 13 June to continue with his work on nemipterid fishes.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell - 2012
Darryl Houston (left), Bradley Traynor (on right of sign) and Stage 3 students of the Bio-Environmental Diploma, from the TAFE NSW-Sydney Institute (Ultimo Campus), after a tour of the ichthyology collection, 30 March 2012.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
TAFE fish collection tour 2012
Tomohiro Yoshida in the ichthyology dry laboratory at the Australian Museum, May 2012.
Notes
Tomohiro is a student at Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima, Japan. During his visit, from 7 to 11 May 2012, he examined many cardinalfish specimens from the Ichthyology Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Tomohiro Yoshida - 2012
Adrian Flynn at the Australian Museum, 8 September, 2011. The petri dish in the foreground and the one under the microscope contain lanternfish otoliths taken from the stomachs of Bigeye Tunas, Thunnus obesus.
Notes
In 2010 Adrian Flynn and John Paxton trawled a Dana Lanternfish, Diaphus danae, spawning aggregation in the Coral Sea, off northern Queensland, for the first time. Adrian and John have been studing the reproductive biology and ageing of lanternfishes from the aggregation. Adrian spent a week at the Australian Museum during September 2011 processing samples and analysing data from that study.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Adrian Flynn - 2011
Dan Gledhill (left) and Dr Peter Last with a Whitespotted Dogfish, Squalus acanthias.
Notes
Dan and Peter both work at the Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO, Hobart.
They visited the fish section on 26 and 27 July 2011 to source images for a web project and to continue their research on Australian fishes.
Image: David McClenagan© CSIRO Fisheries
Dan Gledhill and Peter Last
Fanny de Busserolles examining a lanternfish specimen at the Australian Museum, 20 September 2011.
Notes
Fanny is currently doing a PhD on the vision of lanternfishes (family Myctophidae) with the Neuroecology Group at the University of Western Australia.
During her two week visit, Fanny worked with Australian Museum Senior Fellow, and lanternfish expert, John Paxton.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Fanny de Busserolles
Dr Martin Gomon examining specimens of Chlorophthalmus (greeneyes).
Notes
Martin is the Senior Curator of Ichthyology at the Museum Victoria. He and Carl Struthers from the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, visited the Fish Section for two weeks in August 2011.
They worked on a number of projects including examining the morid fishes in the ichthyology collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Martin Gomon
Dave Holliday working in the fish collection, 8 March 2011.
Notes
Dave is a Post-doctoral Researcher at the School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University. He visited the Ichthyology Section for 3 days to examine larval fish specimens. Dave worked with Jeff Leis on species identifications for larval fish collections from the Kimberley, north-western Australia, particularly the lutjanids.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr David Holliday
Bonnie Holmes is a PhD student based at the University of Queensland. She is working on the biology and ecology of Tiger Sharks off south-eastern Queensland.
On 8 June 2011, Bonnie visited the Australian Museum to subsample Tiger Shark vertebrae from the Ichthyology Collection.
The borrowed vertebrae will be sectioned for use in ageing studies, before being returned to the museum.
Click the link below the third image to the right to find out more about 'reading' the age of sharks from their vertebrae.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Bonnie Holmes
Steen W. Knudsen is a PhD student based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is working on the taxonomy and phylogeny of drumers and rudderfishes (family Kyphosidae) of the world.
Steen visited the Australian Museum for 2 weeks, arriving on 19 July 2011. He examined specimens in the ichthyology collection and will be using tissue samples from old specimens for molecular identification of species.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Steen Knudsen
Teagan Marzullo is a PhD student at the University of New South Wales. As a part of her research she examined the spines of stingrays and stingarees from the fish collection. Teagan visited on 18 April 2011.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Teagan Marzullo
Dr Keiichi Matsuura examining a specimen of Threetooth Puffer, Triodon macropterus, 1 February 2011.
Notes
Dr Matsuura is the Chief Curator in the Division of Fishes at the National Science Museum, Tokyo.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Keiichi Matsuura with a Threetooth Puffer
Professor Hiroyuki Motomura from Kagoshima University Museum, Japan, worked in the Fish Section on 24 and 25 January 2011. Hiro, who is an Australian Museum Research Associate, continued his work on scorpionfishes of the genus Scorpaena.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Professor Hiroyuki Motomura
Dr Barry Russell examining a lizardfish from the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection, 9 February 2011.
Notes
Barry is Curator Emeritus of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. His work at the Australian museum is being supported by a Geddes Visiting Collection Fellowship. He began work on 7 February 2011 and will continue his work on lizardfishes for one month.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell, 2011
Carl Struthers in the fish laboratory, 22 August 2011.
Notes
Carl is from the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. He and Martin Gomon from Museum Victoria visited the Fish Section for two weeks in August 2011.
They worked on a number of projects including examining the morid fishes in the ichthyology collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Carl Struthers
Darryl Houston (left), Michele Veness (centre), Kerry Nichol (right) and students from the TAFE NSW-Sydney Institute (Ultimo Campus), on a tour of the ichthyology collection, 8 April 2011.
Notes
The students are studying for their Diploma in Laboratory Technology (specialising in Biological and Environmental Testing). The group of 12 students were shown around the fish collection by Fish Collection Manager, Mark McGrouther. The photograph was taken inside the large goods lift in the collections and research building.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
TAFE fish collection tour 2011
Rebecca Field working in the Ichthyology Section, 4 May 2010.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Rebecca Field
Tony Gill at the Australian Museum 22 December, 2010.
Notes
Tony Gill is the Natural History Curator at the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney.
He worked in the Fish Section for three days beginning on 20 December 2010. During this time he examined cleared and stained specimens and worked on a paper on goby classification.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Anthony Gill - 2010
Martin Gomon photographing a flatfish specimen (AMS I.27228-001 - Poecilopsetta plinthus) in the dry lab.
Notes
Dr Gomon is the Fish Curator at Museum Victoria.
He visited on 18 and 19 March 2010 to continue his research on flatfishes in the genus Poecilopsetta.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Martin Gomon
Melissa Hetherington at the Australian Museum, July 2010.
Melissa is currently studying Archaeology honours at the ANU. Her research is on Indigenous Australian shell middens from the coastal Pilbara, WA. Melissa was visiting the Ichthyology Collection to use otoliths to help identify the species of fishes captured and consumed at her research sites.
Image: Amanda Hay© Australian Museum
Melissa Hetherington
Tricia Kailola at the Australian Museum, 22 December 2010.
Notes
Tricia Kailola is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South Pacific, Fiji and an Australian Museum Research Associate.
On 22 December 2010, she used the Fish Section's reprint collection in her research on a preliminary guide to fishes imported to Australia via the aquarium trade.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Patricia Kailola - 2010
Jerraleigh Kruger and Ernst Swartz examining the holotype of Otolithes teraglin (AMS I.9773) in the wet lab, 6 October 2010.
Notes
Jerraleigh is an MSc student at the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science of Rhodes University. Dr Ernst Swartz is a researcher at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.
Jerraliegh studied Teraglin (Atractoscion aequidens) specimens in the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection while Ernst visited the DNA collection facilities.
Jerraleigh and Ernst visited from 1 to 7 October, 2010.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jerraleigh Kruger and Ernst Swartz
Vanson Liu at the Australian Museum, 28 November 2010.
Notes
Vanson has a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University.
He is working for two months in the Fish Section in close association with Jeff Leis, from whom he is learning about larval fishes. He began full-time work at the Australian Museum on 22 November 2010.
Vanson stated that his "research interests and experience are centered on the evolution, phylogeography, species boundaries and population connectivity of coral reef fishes. I frequently try to combine multiple methods (molecular tools and otolith chemistry) to reveal reef connectivity. Also, I applied molecular tools to test hypotheses, both biogeographic (barriers and historical events) and taxonomic (color morphs and cryptic species). Current research projects include comparative phylogeography of the Pomacentrus coelestis complex (Neon Damsel and related species), species boundaries of the Apogon properuptus complex (Coral Cardinalfish and related species) and the connectivity pattern of the Barramundi Cod, Chromileptes altivelis, in Penghu Island, Taiwan.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Shang Yin (Vanson) Liu
John Pogonoski examining a moray eel specimen, 4 March 2010.
Notes
John Pogonoski works at CSIRO, Hobart in the Fish Taxonomy group.
He has visited the Australian Museum on a number of occasions, most recently on the 4th, 5th and 22nd of March 2010.
During his visit John examined specimens from the Australian Museum's large holdings of morays eels.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Pogonoski
Teacher, Darryl Houston with students from the TAFE NSW-Sydney Institute (Ultimo Campus), 28 May 2010.
Notes
The students are studying for their Diploma in Laboratory Technology (specialising in Biological and Environmental Testing). The group of 12 students was shown around the fish collection by Fish Collection Manager, Mark McGrouther. The photograph was taken inside the large goods lift in the collections and research building.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
TAFE students on fish collection tour
Dr Franz Uiblein using calipers to measure a goatfish at the Australian Museum, 1 December 2010.
Notes
Franz Uiblein works at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway. He is currently studying goatfishes and is most interested in the diversity and ecology of aquatic animals.
Franz worked at the Australian Museum for 3 days during late November and December, 2010. During this time he continued his research on the goatfish genus Upeneus.
His visit was part of a research trip to Australia, which included visits to the CSIRO fish collection in Hobart and the Western Australian Museum fish collection in Perth.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Franz Uiblein at the Australian Museum
Richard Vevers from Underwater Australia visited the Museum on 25 October 2010 to photograph a specimen of the Sydney Scorpionfish for a new display on the marine life of Sydney at Oceanworld.
Notes
The display is part of the Underwater Sydney Project - a new initiative to promote the marine life of Sydney.
The Underwater Sydney team will be researching the entire coast of Sydney including the Harbour with the aim of teaching locals about the amazing marine life that lives on their doorstep.
As part of this research process they hope to find and photograph a living specimen of the Sydney Scorpionfish at Clifton Gardens, Mosman, where the only two specimens known were caught.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Richard Vevers
Stuart Welsh examining a specimen of Freshwater Catfish, 23 August 2010.
Notes
Stuart Welsh is Associate Professor at the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, West Virginia University.
He visited the Fish Section for four days during August 2010.
During his stay he examined specimens of Freshwater Catfish, Tandanus tandanus from the collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Stuart Welsh
Jason Armstrong working at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jason Armstrong
Rachel Arnold visited the Australian Museum in May 2009. The fish is a Tasselled Anglerfish, Rhycherus filamentosus.
Notes
During her visit Rachel examined specimens of anglerfishes in the fish collection. Her previous visit was in 2007.
Image: Greg Arnold© Greg Arnold
Rachel Arnold
John Blackwood at the Australian Museum, 2 September 2009.
Notes
John is a high school teacher who previously worked in the field of engineering design. He is applying mathematics to the natural world. John visited to discuss fish morphology and consider whether to include fishes in the manuscript of his book (visible at the front left of the image).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Blackwood
Dr Matthew Brandley, from Yale University and Dr Ainsley Seago from the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, at the Australian Museum, February 2009. They are measuring a flying fish specimen from the fish collection.
Notes
Matt, who is the Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University, New Haven, was collecting morphometric data on flying fishes (Exocoetidae) and their relatives for a project that will explore the body evolution of the group.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Matthew Brandley and Ainsley Seago
David beside decommissioned sub-sea structures collected from 150m on the NW shelf, Australia.
Notes
David is currently researching trophic interactions within deep water communities as part of his PhD at the University of Sydney with the SERPENT Project. The purpose of his visits to the Australian Museum was to identify a number of deep water specimens collected of decommissioned petroleum infrastructure and from the RV Southern Surveyor, which recently surveyed the Bass Canyon to depths of 2800 metres. David sought assistance for the identification of the fishes from Ken Graham, Australian Museum Ichthyology Research Associate.
Image: David Cummings© David Cummings
David Cummings
Clinton holding a small Spotted Smoothhound (Rig), Mustelus lenticulatus.
Notes
Clinton is currently working on the taxonomy of Mustelus (Triakidae:Carcharhiniformes) occurring in New Zealand waters and the southern Norfolk Ridge, including re-description of the Spotted Smoothhound or Rig (Mustelus lenticulatus). The purpose of his visit to the Australian Museum was to collect comparative morphological data for the Gummy Shark (Mustelus antarcticus).
Clinton is a scientist at the Department of Conservation (DOC), New Zealand, he previously vistied the Australian Museum Fish Department in 2005 and 2008.
Image: Clinton Duffy© Clinton Duffy
Clinton Duffy
Dianne Hughes examining a velvetfish from the Australian Museum Fish Collection, 29 September 2009.
Notes
Dianne is an Honorary Associate with the Electron Microscope Unit at Sydney University.
She is working on the morphology of scales and has examined the scales of many fishes using a scanning electron microscope.
Dianne visits regularly to read literature on fish scales in the library.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dianne Hughes
Zeehan Jaafar at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Zeehan works at the National University of Singapore. She examined and reidentified many specimens of gobies during her ten day visit to the Australian Museum in June 2009.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Zeehan Jaafar
Eri Katayama working at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Eri Katayama is a PhD student who is based at Kochi University, Kochi, Japan. She is working on a review of the genus Trichonotus, the sanddivers.
Eri-san visited the Australian Museum for a week in June, 2009 after she and her supervisor, Dr Hiromitsu Endo, presented a poster at the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Eri Katayama
David Kaus examining an old register at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
David is senior curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs at the National Museum of Australia. He visited the Australian Museum to investigate the collections of anthropologist, geologist, explorer and medical practitioner Herbert Basedow (1881 - 1933).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
David Kaus
Dr Peter Last examining a Cowtail Stingray specimen at the Australian Museum, 17 September 2009.
Notes
Peter Last is Curator at the Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO, Hobart.
He is a world authority on the taxonomy of sharks, skates and rays.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Last
Jennifer Martin at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Jennifer Martin works at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Virginia, USA. She is studying lampridiform fishes, which include the Oarfish and Ribbonfishes and is most interested in the systematics, ontogeny and phylogeny of the Trachipteridae.
Jennifer worked at the Australian museum for six weeks from June until August, 2009. During this time she examined both adult and larval fishes. Her visit was funded by a fellowship from the US National Science Foundation and the Australian Academy of Sciences.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jennifer Martin
Mizuki Matsunuma at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Mizuki Matsunuma is a Masters student at Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan. He is working on a review of the scorpionfish genus Dendrochirus.
Mizaki-san visited the Australian Museum for a week in June, 2009 after he attended the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Mizuki Matsunuma
Masatoshi Meguro at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Masatoshi Meguro is a Masters student at Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan. He is working on a review of the triplefin genus Enneapterygius.
Masatoshi-san visited the Australian Museum for a week in June, 2009 after he attended the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Masatoshi Meguro
Dr Michael Miller examining eel leptocephali on board the Japanese research vessel Hakuho Maru in May 2009.
Notes
Mike works at the Ocean Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan.
During his visit four week visit to the Australian Museum in February / March, he examined thousands of eel leptocephali, with the assistance of Museum volunteers, which are part of two huge collections of midwater fishes caught by CSIRO in the North West Coral Sea in 1995 and 1997. Read more about this research project.
A recent research paper (see below) by Mike and his colleagues has confirmed that eel leptocephali feed on marine snow. Read more about this research.
Reference:
Miller, M.J., Chikaraishi, Y., Ogawa, N.O., Yamada, Y., Tsukamoto, K., Ohkouchi, N. 2012. A low trophic position of Japanese eel larvae indicates feeding on marine snow. Biology Letters. 20120826. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0826. View an overview of the paper.
Image: Michael Miller© Michael Miller
Dr Michael Miller
Beth Moore and Mark Gunderson at the Australian Museum, 3 August 2009.
Notes
Beth works at California Academy of Sciences in the Seahorse Research and Conservation Program.
Beth and Mark visited the Australian Museum on 3 August 2009.
During their visit Beth examined specimens of pipefishes, close relatives of the seahorses and seadragons in the family Syngnathidae.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Beth Moore and Mark Gundersen
Hiroyuki Motomura at the Australian Museum, February 2009.
Notes
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura works at the Kagoshima University Museum, Kagoshima, Japan. He is a world expert on the scorpionfishes.
During his three week stay at the Australian Museum over February and March, Hiro examined many specimens of scorpionfishes, in pa
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura
Dr Joe Nelson at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Dr Nelson is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is author of 'Fishes of the World', a very important ichthyological reference work that is now in its fourth edition.
Joe worked at the Australian Museum after attending the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in June 2009.
During his visit he examined fishes in the families Cottidae, the sculpins and Psychrolutidae, the flathead sculpins.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Joseph Nelson
Ai Nonaka, Dave Johnson and Bruce Collette on level 2 of the Australian Museum Collections and Research building, June 2009.
Notes
Ai Nonaka, Dave Johnson and Bruce Collette visited the Australian Museum after the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in June 2009.
Dave worked with John Paxton on their whalefish project. Bruce identified many of the previously unidentified halfbeaks and garfishes fishes in the collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Ai Nonaka, Dr Dave Johnson and Dr Bruce Collette
Jack O'Connor sorting fishes in the wet lab at the Australian Museum, 7 September 2009.
Notes
Jack is a second year University of Technology student who is doing voluntary work with the Fish Section.
He is currently sorting and identifying fishes collected by Australian Museum staff near Caves Beach, New South Wales in May 2009.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jack O'Connor
Gota Ogihara and Masahiro Yamashita working in the fish wet lab at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Gota-san and Masahiro-san are both students at Kagoshima University, Kyushu, Japan. Gota-san is working on stonefishes for his Masters Degree. Masahiro-san is a fourth year undergraduate student who is working on goatfishes of the genus Upeneus that occur around southern Kyushu, Japan.
Both students visited the Australian Museum for one week in June 2009 after attending the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Gota Ogihara and Masahiro Yamashita
John Pogonoski at the Australian Museum, July 2009. John is holding the tail of a ray from the fish collection. Note the multiple spines projecting from behind the dorsal fin.
Notes
John Pogonoski works at CSIRO, Hobart in the Fish Taxonomy group.
He visited the Australian Museum on 30 and 31 July 2009.
During his visit John examined specimens of stingrays, morays and silverbiddies (family Gerreidae).
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
John Pogonoski with a ray tail
Dr Barry Russell examinig a Saury (Saurida) from the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Notes
Barry Russell is a Senior Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory and Research Associate, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT.
He visited the Australian Museum from the 8th to 11th December, 2009 to examine fish specimens of the genus Saurida (Sauries).
© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell 2009
David Ryan at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
David Ryan is an aquatic ecologist with Department of Water and Energy (DWE) in Parramatta, Sydney. He visited the Australian Museum in early June 2009 to examine specimens of Flathead Gudgeon, Philypnodon grandiceps and Dwarf Flathead Gudgeon, Philypnodon macrostomus.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
David Ryan
Jonathan Sandovall-Castillo sorting eel leptocephali at the Australian Museum, May 2009.
Notes
Jonathan Sandovall-Castillo is a PhD student who is working on sharks.
He volunteered with the Fish Section for several months during 2008 and 2009.
In addition he worked tirelessly with Dr Mike Miller on eel leptocephali during Mike's visit.
Image: Michael Miller© Michael Miller
Jonathan Sandovall-Castillo
Dr Keiichi Sato in the Ichthyology wet lab, 8 June 2009. He is holding a jar containing a catshark egg case. On the bench are two more jars containing egg cases.
Notes
During his visit to the Australian Museum Dr Sato of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium worked on specimens of Catshark, Apristurus.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Keiichi Sato
Minoru Toda examining a spiny pufferfish at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Minoru Toda works at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Okinawa, Japan. This huge aquarium is home to whale sharks and manta rays, both of which Toda-san has taught how to feed in captivity.
During his visit in June 2009, he examined many specimens of spiny pufferfishes from the fish collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Minoru Toda
Dr Franz Uiblein at the Australian Museum, August 2009.
Notes
Franz Uiblein works at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway. He is currently studying goatfishes and is most interested in the diversity and ecology of aquatic animals.
Franz worked at the Australian Museum for 2 days in August 2009. During this time he examined about 40 lots of fishes of the genus Upeneus.
His visit was part of a research trip to Australia, which included attendence at an ecology conference in Brisbane and fish collection work at Museum Victoria and the Australian Museum.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Franz Uiblein
Peter Unmack worked in the Fish Section during May 2009. The image shows Peter seining in Lake Borumba, Mary River, Queensland, in June 2009.
Notes
During his visit Peter x-rayed many specimens of Australian Smelt to examine geographic trends in fin ray counts. He also took tissue samples from a number of freshwater and estuarine species, including Estuary Catfish, Estuary Glassfish and Fly-specked Hardyhead. Find out more about Peter and his research.
Image: Tim Page© Tim Page
Dr Peter Unmack
Tomohiro Yoshida at the Australian Museum, June 2009.
Notes
Tomohiro-san is a fourth year undergraduate student at Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan. He is working on cardinalfishes.
Tomohiro-san visited the Australian Museum for a week in June, 2009 after he attended the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Tomohiro Yoshida
Tom Fraser at the Australian Museum, February, 2008. Photo: M. McGrouther
Notes
Tom Fraser is an Adjunct Scientist at the Center for Coastal Ecology at the Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida, USA.
He is a world expert on the taxonomy of Cardinalfishes.
During his visit to the Australian Museum Tom examined many cardinalfish specimens from the research collection.
A highlight of the visit was the discovery of three new Australian species. A specimen of one of these species was collected during the north-eastern New South Wales fieldtrip in December 2002.
Tom visited the Australian Museum from 25 February until 11 March 2008.
His visit was supported by an Australian Museum Research Fellowship.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tom Fraser
Australian Museum Research Associate, Ken Graham examining rattail specimens (family Macrouridae) at the Australian Museum, January 2008.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Ken Graham
Hsuan-Ching (Hans) Ho with a seabat specimen from the Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection, February 2008.
Notes
Hsuan-Ching (Hans) Ho is a Ph.D. student at the Research Centre for Biodiversity, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Hans is studying the taxonomy of Batfishes (Family Ogcocephalidae).
He worked for four days at the Australian Museum in late January 2008.
During his visit he examined specimens of Malthopsis and Halieutaea.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Hsuan-Ching (Hans) Ho
Barry Russell at the Australian Museum, January 2008.
Notes
Barry Russell is a Principal Scientist at the Department of Natural Resources of the Northern Territory.
He visited the Australian Museum to examine fish specimens collected from the Nhulunbuy region of the Northern Territory.
A query of the database revealed over 300 lots in the collection from the region.
Barry visited on 31 January and 1 February 2008. He is a regular visitor to the museum, with previous visits in 2003 and 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Barry Russell
Augy Syahailatua examining a flyingfish at the Australian Museum, September 2007.
Notes
Augy Syahailatua is an ichthyologist at the Research Centre for Oceanography - LIPI, Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2007 he was a visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales under the Endeavour Australia Program.
His research focused on the diversity, distribution and abundance of flyingfishes in Indonesian waters.
Augy examined specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection on a number of occasions during September and October 2007 and January 2008.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Augy Syahailatua
Will Trueman with a Trout Cod specimen (AMS A.18045) at the Australian Museum, January 2008.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Will Trueman with a Trout Cod specimen
Rick Winterbottom at the Australian Museum, February 2008.
Notes
Rick Winterbottom is a Senior Curator of Ichthyology at the Royal Ontario Museum and is a cross-appointed Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.
During his visit Rick examined many specimens of Trimma, a large genus of tiny gobies. This research project is being conducted in collaboration with Doug Hoese.
Rick visited the Australian Museum from 11 February until 28 February 2008. His visit was supported by an Australian Museum Research Fellowship.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Rick Winterbottom
Neerav Bhatt at the Australian Museum, October 2007.
Notes
Neerav Bhatt is doing a digital libraries and collections course as part of an Information Management postgraduate degree at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Neerav’s work at the museum involved making high resolution scans of 50 slides of fishes from the Australian Museum Fish Collection. The scans were used by Neerav and his team of three other students to produce a prototype of a digital library using Greenstone digital library software. The images will also be loaded into the Museum’s fish database.
Neerav visited the Australian Museum on four occasions during October 2007.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Neerav Bhatt at the Australian Museum
Les Edwards examining juvenile fishes at the Australian Museum, March 2007.
Notes
Les Edwards was a PhD student at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales.
Les studied fish assemblages in coastal lagoons on the central coast of New South Wales, specifically the Avoca, Cockrone, Terrigal and Wamberal lagoons.
During his visit he examined larval fishes and sought the advice of his co-supervisor Tom Trnski at the Australian Museum.
He visited on 8th March 2007.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Les Edwards
Tony Gill at the Australian Museum.
Notes
Tony Gill was Assistant Museum Curator at the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, USA.
He is the world authority on the systematics of Dottybacks, family Pseudochromidae.
Tony visited the Australian Museum on a Research Fellowship to work with Jeff Leis. Their research project aimed to assess whether evolutionary relationships exist between the Tripletails, Tigerperches and Velvetchins. In his research Tony used characteristics of the larvae, osteology (bones) and cheek myology (musculature).
Tony visited from 21 May until 18 June 2007. His previous visit was in March/April 2002.
References
Gill, A.C. 2004. Revision of the Indo-Pacific dottyback fish subfamily Pseudochrominae (Perciformes: Pseudochromidae
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Anthony Gill
Adel Heenan
Notes
Adel Heenan was a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
She studied the orientation behaviour of larval coral reef fishes, and the potential to use this behaviour as a reef fisheries management tool. After two months of field work at Lizard Island Research Station, Adel visited Jeff Leis at the Australian Museum to work on the larval samples she collected.
Adel visited the Australian Museum from 9 January until 4 February, 2007.
Phoebe Hill
Notes
Phoebe Hill was a PhD student at the University of Sydney, New South Wales. She worked in collaboration with Taronga Zoo and DPI Fisheries.
Phoebe worked on the reproductive biology and evolution of viviparity in sharks. Of particular interest were embryo development and the structure and function of the uterus in relation to maternal-embryonic gas exchange.
During her visits to the Australian Museum she examined specimens of wobbegong sharks. Phoebe visited on several occasions during November 2007.
Dr Clint Kelly
Notes
Dr Clint Kelly has a PhD from the University of Toronto. He is currently doing a postdoc at the Australian National University.
Clint is studying geographic variation in body size and shape of the Pacific Blue Eye, Pseudomugil signifer.
During his visit, Clint photographed many specimens of Pacific Blue Eye using the photographic setup shown in the image.
Clint visited the Australian Museum on 19 and 20 July 2007
Dr Helen Larson
Notes
Dr Helen Larson was Curator of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Helen is one of the world's experts on the systematics of gobies. She visited the Australian Museum to work on species of the goby genus Pseudogobiusand to work with Doug Hoese on their gobioid database.
Helen visited the Australian Museum from 5 January until 19 January 2007. Her last visit was in March 2005.
Dr Peter Last - 2007
Notes
Peter Last is Curator at the Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO, Hobart.
Peter is a world authority on the taxonomy of sharks, skates and rays.
He visited the Australian Museum on 30 July 2007 to work on species of Cephaloscyllium and Raja.
During Peter’s previous visit was in September 2005 he examined specimens of Cowtail Stingray.
Nicole Maloney with seahorse and seadragon illustrations.
Notes
Nicole Maloney was a History Illustration student at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales.
Nicole worked on the illustration of a number of species of seahorses.
During her visit to the Australian Museum she produced sketches of White's Seahorse (Hippocampus whitei), Shorthead Seahorse (H. breviceps), Pygmy Seahorse and the Thorny seahorse (H. histrix).
Nicole stated that working with the specimens is beneficial because "The scientific accuracy of the initial drawings is very important because they are the foundations for the final illustrations".
Nicole visited the Australian Museum on 25 June 2007.
Image: Nicole Maloney© Nicole Maloney
Nicole Maloney
Dr Natascha Miljkovic
Notes
Natascha Miljkovic worked with the Morphology Section of the Department of Theoretical Biology at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Natascha was granted an Australian Museum Visiting Collection Fellowship to visit the museum and use specimens from the fish collection in her research.
During her visit to the Australian Museum, she examined many specimens of mudskippers. These small fishes usually live in tropical mangroves and can often be seen skipping across exposed mud flats or climbing the roots and stems of mangrove plants.
Natascha visited the Australian Museum between 25 October and 14 November 2007. Towards the end of her stay she presented a seminar entitled '"Fishy" things occur in Mangroves, the forgotten Forest between Land and Sea'.
Dr Meredith (Meri) Peach
Notes
Meri Peach has a PhD in biology from the University of Sydney.
She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, where she is doing a painting of the mangrove ecosystem at Homebush Bay.
During her visit to the Museum on 21st August 2007, Meri drew sketches of Mugilogobius stigmaticus, Tetractenos hamiltoni and larval Acanthopagrus australis.
Dr Thomas Munroe
Notes
Dr Tom Munroe works for the National Marine Fisheries Service National Systematics Laboratory at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Tom is one of the world's experts on the systematics of flatfishes especially the families Cynoglossidae and Soleidae.
He visited the Australian Museum on a Collection Fellowship to work on Tongue Soles of the genera Paraplagusia, Cynoglossus, and Symphurus and the sole genus Soleichthys.
Among some of the samples he examined was a specimen of P. unicolor collected by the U.S. Fisheries Commission in Batemans Bay, New South Wales in 1906. The U.S. Fisheries Commission is the predecessor agency of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
Tom visited the Australian Museum from 17 May 2007 until 22 June 2007 then traveled to Taiwan to examine specimens. He resumed work at the Australian Museum between 9 to 17 July 2007.
Dr Graham Short & Dr Healy Hamilton
Notes
Graham Short and Healy Hamilton visited the Australian Museum during late March and early April 2007.
Healy, who is the director of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), is doing genetic research on seahorses.
Graham took small samples of seahorse muscle tissue that were preserved in absolute alcohol and sent to the CAS for genetic research which will help to enlighten us about seahorse classification.
Holly Stephens at the Australian Museum, November 2007.
Notes
Holly Stephens is a second year Masters student at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Her current study entails a taxonomic review of Zebrias, a genus of Indo-Pacific flatfish, (Family Soleidae).
During her visit she examined flatfish specimens from the Australian Museum and five other Australian fish collections: the Australian National Fish Collection (CSIRO, Hobart), Museum Victoria, Queensland Museum, South Australian Museum and Western Australian Museum.
Holly visited the Australian Museum from 19 November until 7 December 2007.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Holly Stephens
Diana Tsoulos
Notes
Diana Tsoulos was an Indigenous Studies student working on her Honours thesis at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Diana did research on an Aboriginal midden at Kurnell, Botany Bay, Sydney.
During her visits to the Australian Museum she compared bones found at her research site with those of known species in the skeleton collection. The bones of many fishes found in the Sydney region were examined.
Diana visited the Australian Museum on several occasions during October 2007.
Nicholas Wegner
Notes
At the time of his visit, Nick was a PhD student from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
Nick studied gill specializations in high-performance fishes such as tunas, billfishes, and lamnid sharks.
During his visit Nick examined the gills of specimens of tunas and mackerels endemic to Australia and the Indo-Pacific region.
He visited the Australian Museum on 2nd and 3rd March 2007.
Dr William White examining a Mandarin Shark at the Australian Museum, January 2007. Will works at the CSIRO fish collection (Marine & Atmospheric Research), Hobart, Tasmania.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Will White examining a Mandarin Shark
Notes
Dr Jürgen Herler is a marine biologist at the University of Vienna, Austria.
He currently works on the biodiversity, habitat choice and eco-morphology of coral-associated gobiid fishes from the Red Sea. The main purpose of his visit to the Australian Museum was the examination of type specimens of several Gobiodon and Bryaninops species.
His current research project is funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences and runs from 2005 to 2008. It focuses on the biology of the gobiid genera Bryaninops, Gobiodon, Paragobiodon and Pleurosicya, which live in obligatory association with different species of corals.
Jürgen visited the Fish Department on 28 February 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jürgen Herler
Hans Ho at the Australian Museum, October 2006.
Notes
In 2006, Hans Ho was a Ph.D. student at the Research Centre for Biodiversity of Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Hans studied the taxonomy of Batfishes (family Ogcocephalidae), deepsea Anglerfishes and Coffinfishes (family Chaunacidae).
Hans spent the last four months traveling to museums in Europe and America where he examined many specimens, including types. During his stay in Australia, Hans spendt nine days at the Australian Museum (arrived on 30 October 2006), followed by work in the fish collections at the Northern Territory Museum and Queensland Museum.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Hsuan-Ching (Hans) Ho - 2006
Hisashi Imamura examining a flathead specimen at the Australian Museum, 2006.
Notes
Hisashi Imamura is an ichthyologist at the Hokkaido University Museum, Hakodate, Japan. Hisashi is one of the world's experts on the systematics of the flatheads (Family Platycephalidae).
During his visit, he worked on specimens in the collection, in particular specimens in the genera Platycephalus and Ratabulus. He visited the Australian Museum from 27 February until 23 March 2006.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hisashi Imamura
Ian Jacobsen examining a specimen of Australian Butterfly Ray, Gymnura australis from the Australian Museum Fish Collection, February 2006.
Notes
Ian Jacobsen is a PhD student in Marine Biology and Fisheries at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Ian is working on the biology and taxonomy of north-east Australian benthic elasmobranchs.
He visited the Australian Museum to examine the collection's holdings of the family Gymnuridae (Butterfly Rays).
Ian visited the Australian Museum on the 9th, 10th and 13th February 2006 before returning to the University of Queensland to complete his PhD.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Ian Jacobsen
Patricia Kailola in the Australian Museum fish collection, April 2006.
Notes
Australian Museum Research Associate Patricia Kailola is a fisheries consultant who works mostly in the tropical Indo-Pacific.
She is the author of several books on tropical fishes and specialises in the marine and freshwater catfish family Ariidae, the fork-tailed catfishes.
Tricia visited the Australian Museum to examine specimens of fork-tailed catfishes stored in the research collection.
Catfishes are an important food fish in Asia, India, South America and Africa. On this visit, Patricia examined specimens from India and East Africa to help in her contribution to a forthcoming book on Western Indian Ocean fishes. She also took some time to confirm the identifications of the Australian Museum holdings of this fish family.
Fork-tailed catfishes are fascinating fishes. Males brood the large eggs and larvae in their mouths until they become fully developed fish.
Tricia visited the Australian Museum from 4 to 13 April 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Patricia Kailola
Jamie Knight at the Australian Museum, November 2006.
Notes
Jamie Knight is a biologist and PhD student associated with NSW DPI and Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales.
Jamie’s research interests include studying the conservation biology of Australia’s threatened freshwater fishes and invasion biology of introduced species.
He visited the Australian Museum from 23 to 24 November 2006, to co-ordinate research with Tom Trnski on the embryonic and larval development of the endangered Oxleyan Pygmy Perch, Nannoperca oxleyana.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jamie Knight
Krystal Lapierre examining a specimen of Brachirus at the Australian Museum, July 2006.
Notes
Krystal Lapierre is a Masters student at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
She is working on the taxonomy and systematics the flatfish genus Brachirus (Family Soleidae).
During her visit she examined specimens of Brachirus from the collections of the Australian Museum, Queensland Museum and Western Australian Museum.
Krystal visited the Australian Museum from 24 July until 4 August 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Krystal Lapierre
Lindsay Marshall photographing teeth of a Whale Shark (AMS IB.7100) at the Australian Museum, April 2006.
Notes
Lindsay Marshall is doing her PhD through the University of Tasmania and CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart.
In recent years, there has been an increase in illegal shark fishing across northern Australia, mainly by foreign fishing vessels. Vessels are regularly intercepted and catches confiscated. These often include dried shark fins. Identification of the shark species from which the fins were taken is crucial to risk assessment and exploitation rate estimates for north Australian sharks.
Lindsay’s work aims to examine the morphology of shark fins (denticle shape, fin size and shape, fin colour) as a tool to identify the species from which confiscated fins were removed.
She visited the Australian Museum on 12 April 2006 to photograph specimens and parts of Basking Sharks and Whale Sharks held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Image: Amanda Hay© Australian Museum
Lindsay Marshall
Dr Keiichi Matsuura examining spikefish specimens, November 2006.
Notes
Dr Keiichi Matsuura is Head of Collections and Chief Curator in the Division of Fishes at the National Science Museum, Tokyo.
Keiichi visited the Australian Museum from 17 November until 24 November, 2006. During his visit, he examined specimens of Spikefishes and Sunfishes stored in the research collection.
Spikefishes (family Triacanthodidae) are small bottom dwelling fishes that occur in continental slope depths in tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. Some species, such as those in the genus Halimochirurgus have greatly elongated, tubular snouts.
Despite the huge size of adult Sunfishes, there is still much to learn about the taxonomy and biology of these fishes. Keiichi is using specimens in the Australian Museum collection to improve our knowledge of this family.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Keiichi Matsuura, 2006
Cathy Nock taking a tissue sample from a freshwater cod at the Australian Museum, April 2006.
Notes
Cathy Nock is a PhD student at the Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales.
Cathy is studying the population genetics of the endangered Clarence River Cod, Maccullochella ikei and the evolutionary history of all four Maccullochella species (Clarence River Cod, Mary River Cod, Murray Cod and Trout Cod).
Cathy visited the Australian Museum on 26 April 2006 to take small fin clip samples from Maccullochella specimens for DNA analysis.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Cathy Nock
Barry Russell examining a Rockcod specimen at the Australian Museum.
Notes
Dr Barry Russell is the Assistant Director Natural Sciences, at the Northern Territory Museum, Darwin.
During his visit Barry examined and photographed specimens of Rockcod of the genus Epinephelus held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Barry visited the Australian Museum on 21 April 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Barry Russell examining a Rockcod specimen
Caroline Sanchez in the Fish Department, March 2006.
Notes
Caroline Sanchez works in the Department of Fisheries at the South Pacific Commission (SPC) in Noumea, New Caledonia.
Caroline is working on the ecology of pelagic fishes (eg tunas) by analysing their stomach contents. She identifies the prey species and then enters this information in a database.
She visited the Australian Museum to confirm species identifications with specialists, and to complete the identification of unidentified specimens from the Pacific. One of the important aspects of her visit was to work with the extensive reprint collection held in the Fish Department.
Caroline visited on 20 and 21 March 2006.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Caroline Sanchez
Leah Williams photographing a fish, April 2006.
Notes
At the time of her visit, Leah Williams was an honours student in printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. She was also a photography graduate of the National Art School, Sydney.
Leah has had works exhibited in Australia and Japan.
She visited the Australian Museum in order to work in the Spirit House, where she photographed fish specimens for use in her current project ‘Still Life’.
A selection of different fishes (and parts of fishes) were chosen that would make interesting photographic subjects. The image to the right, which shows parts of two cleared and stained fish, is one of many photographs that Leah shot for her project.
Leah visited on 4 April 2006.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Leah Williams
Emily Buckle in the tank area with a Black Cod, August 2006.
Notes
In 2006 Emily Buckle was a Ph.D. student in Fish Ecology at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Emily worked on the conservation ecology of Black Rockcod, Epinephelus daemelii, a vulnerable fish species in New South Wales marine waters.
She visited the Australian Museum during August 2006 to gather morphometric (lengths and weights) information from specimens in the Ichthyology Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Emily Buckle
Zach Baldwin examining a Black Dragonfish specimen in the Spirit House collection area at the Australian Museum, May 2005.
Notes
Zachary Baldwin was a student in Fisheries, Evolution and Ecology at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Zach was working on the systematics of the Black Dragonfishes (family Stomiidae).
He visited the Australian Museum to examine the collection's holdings of the genus Leptostomias.
Zach visited the Australian Museum on 23 and 24 May 2005 before traveling to Hobart to work at the I.S.R. Munro Fish Collection at the CSIRO Marine Research facility
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Zachary Baldwin
Dianne Bray examining fish distributions on the Australian Museum mapping site, May 2005.
Notes
Dianne Bray is the Collection Manager of Ichthyology and Herpetology at the Museum Victoria.
During her visit to the Australian Museum, Di worked with John Paxton on the Lanternfishes accounts for a new edition of 'The Fishes of Australia's South Coast'.
Di worked in the Fish Department between 31 May 2005 and 3 June 2005.
References:
Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dianne Bray
Dianne Bray examining a Jellynose in the fish collection, December 2005.
Notes
Dianne Bray is the Collection Manager of Ichthyology and Herpetology at the Museum Victoria.
During her visit to the Australian Museum, Di worked with John Paxton on the temperate Australian species of lanternfishes (Family Myctophidae) for a new edition of 'The Fishes of Australia's South Coast', which will be be published in 2007. She also examined specimens of Ateleopus and Ijimaia.
Di worked in the Fish Department between 2 December 2005 and 7 December 2005.
References
Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dianne Bray - 2005
Hans Ho holding a Deepsea Anglerfish specimen in the Spirit House collection area at the Australian Museum, May 2005.
Notes
Hans Ho was a Ph.D. student at the Research Centre for Biodiversity of Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
Hans studyied the taxonomy of deepsea Anglerfishes, Coffinfishes (family Chaunacidae) and the Batfishes (family Ogcocephalidae).
Hans examined specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection on 23 and 24 May 2005 before traveling to Hobart to work at the I.S.R. Munro Fish Collection at the CSIRO Marine Research facility.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Hsuan-Ching (Hans) Ho - 2005
Klaus Huebert at the Australian Museum, November 2005.
Notes
Klaus Huebert is a PhD student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.
His research focuses on the active transport of coral reef fish larvae in the Straits of Florida.
Klaus will be working with Jeff Leis, Amanda Hay and Tom Trnski at Lizard Island Research Station between 16 November and 14 December 2005.
Image: S. Reader© Australian Museum
Klaus Huebert
Chris Kenaley examining a loosejaw specimen in the Spirit House collection area at the Australian Museum, May 2005.
Notes
Chris Kenaley was a PhD student at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Chris worked on the systematics of the Loosejaws (family Stomiidae).
He visited the Australian Museum to examine deepwater fish specimens, with particular emphasis on the genera Photostomias and Malacosteus.
Chris visited the Australian Museum on 23 and 24 May 2005 before traveling to Hobart to work at the I.S.R. Munro Fish Collection at the CSIRO Marine Research facility.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Chris Kenaley
Helen Larson working at the Australian Museum, March 2005.
Notes
Dr Helen Larson is Curator of Fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory , Darwin.
Helen is one of the world's experts on the systematics of gobies. She visited the Australian Museum to work with Doug Hoese on two genera of gobies, Gnatholepis and Hetereleotris.
Helen visited the Australian Museum from March 16 till March 31, 2005.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Helen Larson
Peter Last (left) talking with Dr Bruce Thompson who visited on 12 September 2005.
Notes
Peter Last works at CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart.
During his visit, Peter examined specimens of the Cowtail Stingray, Pastinachus sephen, as well as the holotype of Taeniura atra (AMS I.9762) as part of his ongoing research on the sharks and rays of Australia. He was assisted by Tom Trnski who retrieved specimens from the tank area.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Peter Last talking with Dr Bruce Thompson
Jenny McIlwain working at the Australian Museum, June 2005.
Notes
Dr Jenny McIlwain is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Science and Fisheries, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
Her primary research interest is fish recruitment and growth, and grouper taxonomy and biology.
Jenny visited Tony Miskiewicz, Tom Trnski and Jeff Leis at the Australian Museum on 16 June 2005 to identify larval fishes and to discuss their current research activities.
Image: T. Trnski© Australian Museum
Dr Jenny McIlwain
Keiichi Matsuura working at the Australian Museum, March 2005.
Notes
Dr Keiichi Matsuura is Chief Curator in the Division of Fishes at the National Science Museum, Tokyo.
Keiichi visited the Australian Museum to examine specimens of pufferfishes stored in the research collection. Despite the fact that some species are extremely toxic, pufferfishes are an important food fish in parts of Asia. Keiichi's work is particularly important, because he is discovering ways to accurately identify these fishes. His work will lead to a reduction in the number of pufferfish poisoning cases, and thus the prevention of many human deaths.
Keiichi visited the Australian Museum from March 16 till March 22, 2005.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Keiichi Matsuura
Peter Møller at the Australian Museum with a Barathrites sp. (AMS I.28746-002), November 2005.
Notes
Peter Møller is the Assistant Professor/Curator at the Zoological Museum University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Peter, who visited in January/February 2003, has been working for some years on bythitid fishes. Since August 2005 he has been working on the molecular phylogeny of ophidiiform fishes at the South Australian Museum.
He paid a quick visit to the Australian Museum on 28 November 2005, to check a few voucher specimens, before traveling to the National Museum New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to work for two weeks with Dr Clive Roberts.
Image: T. Trnski© Australian Museum
Peter Møller
Masao Taniguchi measuring a fish specimen.
Notes
At the time of his visit Masao Taniguchi was in the second year of his Masters degree under the supervision of Dr Yukio Iwatsuki at the Faculty of Agriculture, Miyazaki University, Japan.
He was working on sparid fishes (breams, porgies, snapper). In particular he worked on fishes in the genera Argyrops, Evynnis, Pagrus and Acanthopagrus.
Masao visited the Australian Museum from 12 September until 16 September 2005, after spending four days working at the Queensland Museum.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Masao Taniguchi
Tony Rose examining Black-necked Stork gut contents at the Australian Museum, October 2005.
Notes
Tony Rose is an Australian Museum Associate. He is a keen naturalist who has donated fishes to the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
He is currently assisting with the research of PhD student Greg Clancy, Jerry Olsen (Canberra University) and Stephen Debus (University of New England). Tony has been examining the dried gut contents of Black-necked Storks (Jabiru).
He brought a sample of gut contents during his visit. The sample contained small scales and bones from fishes. Of particular interest was whether some of the scales examined could have been from the introduced Redfin Perch.
Tony visited the Australian Museum Fish Department on 20 October 2005.
Further reading:
Llewellyn, L.C. 1969. Scale variation in freshwater fish of the inland of NSW. Fisherman. 3(6): 16-27.
© Australian Museum
Tony Rose
Jim Wetzel in the Spirit House laboratory, July 2005.
Notes
Dr Jim Wetzel is the Pulaski L. Bealy Smith Professor of Biology at the Department of Biology, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina, USA.
Jim visited the Australian Museum on July 11 2005. He worked on the development of young syngnathiforms (seahorses, seadragons and pipehorses). He was particularly interested in materials transfer to young in the brood pouch.
Image: mark mcgrouther© Australian Museum
Dr James Wetzel
Gordon Yearsley talking with Hiroyuki Motomura at the Australian Museum, 2005.
Notes
Gordon Yearsley works at CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart.
He is working on the shark genus Chiloscyllium. During his visit in September 2005 he examined specimens as part of his work on the description of a new species.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Gordon Yearsley talking with Hiroyuki Motomura
Amanda Cass at the Australian Museum September 2004.
Notes
Amanda Cass from Bar Harbor, Maine is a recent graduate of Mt Holyoke College and is visiting the Australian Museum on a Fulbright Fellowship. The Fulbright Fellowship program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, and provides funding for recent graduates to conduct research abroad.
Amanda's senior honours project at Mt Holyoke investigated the interrelationships of the flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes) using morphological and molecular characters.
During her stay at the Australian Museum, she will be describing the developmental series for several species of Alabes (Gobiesocidae). She will also be investigating the bones and cartilage of developing flatfishes to try to shed light on their homologies.
Amanda will be at the Australian Museum for 8 months. She will return to the USA to begin her PhD work in systematic ichthyology at Cornell University in June 2005.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Amanda Cass
Dr Sarah Colley and Chloè Weir at the Alexandria collection storage facility. Note the skeleton storage boxes on shelving in the background.
Notes
Dr Sarah Colley and Chloè Weir work in the Department of Archaeology, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiries, Sydney University.
They spent two days in late November 2004 working in the fish skeleton collection at the Alexandria storage facility.
Sarah and Chloè were comparing the bones from known species in the collection with fish bones excavated from a recent urban historical archaeological dig in Sydney.
Image: A. Hay© Australian Museum
Dr Sarah Colley and Chloè Weir
Jim Cooper and a Green Turtle at One Tree Island, January 2004.
Notes
In 2004 Jim Cooper was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, though he does most of his work at the Field Museum.
His project focused on the evolution and development of damselfish jaws. He combined morphometric and biomechanical analyses of a wide taxonomic sample of pomacentrids with phylogenetic analyses of regulatory genes that were thought to influence the development of skull shape.
He was also interested in changes in damselfish jaws during development, particularly determining trajectories of shape change as planktonic, planktotrophic larvae develop into adults with different trophic habits.
Jim arrived at the Australian Museum on 15 January 2004 and departed on 20 January.
Image: Jim Cooper© Australian Museum
Jim Cooper
Jim Cooper and Geeta Sawh at the Australian Museum August 2004.
Notes
Jim Cooper is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, though he does most of his work at the Field Museum.
He works on the evolution and development of damselfish jaws.
This is Jim's second visit to the Australian Museum, his previous visit was in January 2004.
During his stay he did two scuba dives in Sydney Harbour to collect specimens for his research. He dived from the Australian Museum's research boat RV Baragula along with Amanda Hay, Mark McGrouther, Tom Trnski and Matt Humphries.
Jim arrived at the Australian Museum on August 17 2004 and departed on August 23
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jim Cooper and Geeta Sawh
Dr Carl Ferraris working at the Australian Museum, September 2004.
Notes
Dr Carl Ferraris is one of the principal investigators for the All Catfish Species Inventory.
He worked in the Fish Section from late September till early October 2004.
During his stay, he examined plotosid catfishes, working together with Dr Edward Murdy on a revision of the genus Euristhmus.
Image: M. McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Carl Ferraris
Jenny Giles examining the rostrum of a Narrow Sawfish Anoxypristis cuspidata, May 2004.
Notes
At the time of her visit Jenny Giles worked at CSIRO Marine Research, Cleveland, Queensland.
She was employed on a project to assess sawfish catch characteristics in Northern Australia, by collating available data from all fishing methods and sectors. The work was part of a wider study on the sustainability of shark and ray bycatch in the region.
During her visit Jenny examined whole sawfish specimens along with large rostrums (saws) held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Jenny worked at the Australian Museum in May 2004.
Image: Sally Reader© Australian Museum
Jenny Giles
Kevan Hardacre measuring a Clown Triggerfish, April 2004.
Notes
Kevan Hardacre calls himself an environmental artist. He spent many years in the graphic arts industry as a consultant and designer and a few years teaching at New South Wales TAFE. He now concentrates on fine art with the message 'share and care'.
Kevan is producing replicas of many endangered fish species as bas-relief, scale plaques and as half-scale specimens in the round. These will all be in authentic colours.
Kevan stated that: "The personnel and the facility at the Australian Museum have helped me greatly. I seek truth (authenticity) so that the public will better appreciate the wildlife around us".
Kevan worked in the Fish Section during April 2004.
Kevan's contact details: Phone and fax (+612) 99535161.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Kevan Henry Hardacre
Charlie Huveneers measuring a small wobbegong shark in the Australian Museum Fish Collection, July 2004.
Notes
Charlie Huveneers was a PhD student at Macquarie University, Sydney. Originally from Belgium, he worked on the biology and ecology of wobbegong sharks along the New South Wales coast.
Charlie examined wobbegong sharks in the fish collection. He also used the otolith collection to identify fish found in the stomach of wobbegongs and dolphins in order to investigate their diets.
He visited the Australian Museum on several occasions during July and August 2004.
Image: Sally Reader.© Australian Museum
Charlie Huveneers
Dr Hiroshi Kawase in the fish collection, March 2004.
Notes
Dr Hiroshi Kawase works at the Coastal Branch of the Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, Japan.
During his two month visit to Sydney he conducted research as a visiting scientist under a bilateral agreement from the Australian Academy of Science and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
His research has focused on the behaviour of several species of local leatherjackets. He has made many scuba dives to observe their natural behaviour.
During his visit to the Australian Museum in March 2004, Dr Kawase examined leatherjacket specimens held in the Fish Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hiroshi Kawase
Trevor Krabbenhoft at his desk in the Fish Department, July 2004.
Notes
In 2004 Trevor Krabbenhoft was a Ph.D. student at the University of South Carolina, Columbia.
He participated in the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute, co-sponsored by the Australian Academy of Science and the U.S. National Science Foundation. This program provided U.S. graduate students the opportunity to collaborate with Australian researchers for a period of eight weeks. Trevor collaborated with Jeff Leis and Tom Trnski.
His research was focused on identifying larval flatfishes from New South Wales. Specifically, he was interested in describing developmental series of paralichthyid flatfishes ofthe genus Pseudorhombus.
Trevor arrived at the Australian Museum on 28 June 2004 and departed on 23 August.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Trevor Krabbenhoft
Peter Kyne examining a Smalleye Pygmy Shark specimen (AMS I. 43064-001), May 2004.
Notes
Peter Kyne is a PhD student at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. During his visit he examined specimens of the rare Smalleye Pygmy Shark, Squaliolus aliae.
The Smalleye Pygmy Shark is one of the smallest known living sharks, growing to only 22 cm in length. It is a deepwater species.
There are few specimens of the Smalleye Pygmy Shark in Australian fish collections, three of which are at the Australian Museum.
Peter worked at the Australian Museum in May 2004.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Peter Kyne
Matthew Lockett at the Australian Museum September 2004.
Notes
Matthew Lockett is a PhD student at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has been working on introduced marine fishes since 1995. He started investigating introduced fishes in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria while working at Museum Victoria.
Matthew is currently in the final stages of his PhD, which is based on the introduced Trident Goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus. The main focus of this work is on the reproductive biology of this species, and factors that may affect its distribution and abundance.
Matthew is currently investigating larval gobiids (gobies, eleotrids and related species) from Sydney Harbour and is using the Australian Museum's larval fish collection to assist in identifying specimens.
He has been a regular visitor (and part time employee) to the Australian Museum Fish Department since 2001.
Image: M. Mcgrouther© M. Mcgrouther
Matthew Lockett
Sara Lourie examining a pygmy seahorse, February 2004.
Notes
Sara Lourie works with Project Seahorse at the Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal Canada.
During her visit Sara examined type specimens of the newly described Coleman's Pygmy Seahorse, Hippocampus colemani, held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Sara worked at the Australian Museum in February 2004.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Sara Lourie
Dr Peter Miller examining a sleeper goby in the Australian Museum Fish Section.
Notes
Dr Peter Miller, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow from the University of Bristol, UK, is currently working in the Fish Section.
Peter is examining the head papillae of selected species of gobioid fishes. Data from his visit will help to refine current gobioid phylogenetic hypotheses.
He visited during the week of 3 June 2003, and then moved on to other Australian fish collections.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Miller
Tony Miskiewicz has been a regular visitor to the Fish Department over the last two decades. Tony's research interests include systematics of larvae from temperate Australia and distribution of fish larvae in estuarine and coastal waters and links to estuarine nursery habitats.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tony Miskiewicz - 2004
Barbara Muhling working in the Fish Department.
Notes
Barbara Muhling is a PhD student from Murdoch University in Western Australia.
She is examining the ichthyoplankton off south-western Australia, as part of the Strategic Research Fund for the Marine Environment (SRFME) Biophysical Oceanography Project.
Barbara visited the Australian Museum to work with Tom Trnski and Jeff Leis on the identification of some fish larvae.
She arrived on 22 July 2004 and departed on July 29.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Barbara Muhling
Ed Murdy working at the Australian Museum, September 2004.
Notes
Dr Ed Murdy works for the National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, USA.
He arrived on September 30 and departed on October 4.
During his visit to the Australian Museum, Ed studied fishes for two current projects. The first project is being done in collaboration with Dr Carl Ferraris and is a revision of the catfish genus Euristhmus. The second project is a long-term study of amblyopine gobies.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Edward Murdy
Andrew Stewart in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Notes
Andrew Stewart is the Fish Collection Manager at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.
He visited the Australian Museum with colleagues Phil Conroy and Mike Anthony to look at collection storage options. After their visit to the Australian Museum they travelled to Hobart to visit the Australian National Fish Collection and to Melbourne to discuss collection storage with Fish Section staff at Museum Victoria.
Andrew's research interests include mesopelagic fishes especially deepwater anglers.
He visited during July 2004.
Image: -© Australian Museum
Andrew Stewart
Chris Thacker at the Australian Museum, July 2004.
Notes
Dr Christine Thacker is the fish curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Chris visted to examine and photograph Australian gudgeons for a large-scale study of their relationships and distribution.
She also used the Australian Museum's extensive holdings of shrimp gobies as part of a new study of goby symbiosis and evolution. Results from this visit will be used in conjunction with DNA sequence data to build understanding of gobioid relationships and evolution.
Chris visited the Australian Museum from 26 July to 2 August 2004.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Christine Thacker
Bruce Thompson at his desk, January 2004.
Notes
Dr Bruce Thompson, Associate Professor/Research, Coastal Fisheries Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, visited the Fish Section from 19 January to 30 January 2004.
During his visit Bruce examined fished in the ichthyology collection. He was interested in fishes in the families Percophidae (particularly the genus Bembrops) and Aulopidae.
Image: Kerryn Parkinson© Australian Museum
Bruce Thompson
Beverley Veasey taking photographs of an x-ray plate of a seahorse, April 2004.
Notes
Beverley Veasey lectures in Photography at the National Art School, Sydney College of the Arts and College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
She has had a number of exhibitions in Australia, UK and Japan.
During her visit in April 2004, Beverley photographed a number of x-rays in the Australian Museum's collection. These will be combined to create 'new fish life forms'.
Beverley hopes to show this work in 2005.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Beverley Veasey
Leonard Compagno examining a catshark at the Australian Museum, March 2003.
Notes
Dr Leonard Compagno from the South African Museum, Cape Town, is an internationally recognised expert in shark taxonomy.
He visited the Australian Museum on March 13, 2003 before traveling to San Francisco on March 20. He returned to the Australian Museum for further work on April 8 and 9.
During his visit Leonard examined the type specimens of several species of catsharks and dogsharks held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Leonard Compagno examining a catshark
Tomio Iwamoto examining a rattail in the Australian Museum Fish Collection, March 2003.
Notes
Dr Tomio Iwamoto from the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco is currently working in the Fish Section.
Dr Iwamoto is an internationally recognised expert in the taxonomy of rattails, family Macrouridae.
He is examining rattails held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection that have been collected since his last visit to the Museum in 1993.
Dr Iwamoto arrived at the Australian Museum on 19 March 2003. During his month-long stay in Australia he has visited several of the fish collections in Australia.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Tomio Iwamoto
Zeehan Jaafar examining a goby, 15 July 2003.
Notes
Zeehan Jaafar from the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, visited the Fish Section from 14 -21 July 2003.
At the time Zeehan was doing research for her PhD. She looked at the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of gobiid fishes in the genus Acentrogobius and related genera.
During her eight day stay, Zeehan examined fishes from several gobioid genera.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Zeehan Jaafar
Aaron Jenkins Aaron Jenkins examining a goby in 2003.
Notes
Aaron Jenkins works for Wetlands International-Oceanea and visited the Australian Museum in October 2003.
He has most recently been working on the scaleless Schismatogobius and the Subfamily Sicydiinae from the Melanesian region.
Aaron has collaborated extensively with Dr G. Allen on the revision of Australian Mogurnda and work on a new species of freshwater damselfish from Papua New Guinea.
Aaron has contributed fishes to the Australian Museum Fish Collection from Papua New Guinea, Palau and Fiji.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Aaron Peter Jenkins, MSc
Jeff Johnson examining a specimen of Rare Velvetfish, Matsubarichthys inusitatus, August 2003.
Notes
Jeff Johnson from the Queensland Museum is an expert in the taxonomy of velvetfishes (family Aploactinidae).
During his visit, Jeff will examined velvetfishes, grubfishes (genus Parapercis) and several genera of soldierfishes (Ostichthys and Pristilepis) held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Jeff arrived at the Australian Museum on 18 August 2003 and departed on August 22.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Jeff Johnson examining a fish
Peter Last, Dan Gledhill and Gordon Yearsley working in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Notes
From 11 to 21 March 2003, three ichthyologists from CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart, worked on several families of fishes including the Callionymidae, Malacanthidae, Ogcocephalidae and Scorpaenidae.
Results from this work were incorporated into a large study of the bioregions of Australia's deepsea fauna.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Peter Last, Gordon Yearsley and Daniel Gledhill
Peter Rask Møller examining a fish specimen at the Australian Museum, January 2003.
Notes
At the time of his visit Peter was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow who worked at the Zoological Museum University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
He visited to examine the Museum's extensive holdings of live-bearing cusk-eels (Dinematichthyini).
Results from his work (in collaboration with Dr J. Nielsen and Dr W. Schwarzhans) at the Australian Museum were incorporated into a world revision of the group.
Peter worked at the Australian Museum with the support of an Australian Museum collection fellowship grant.
He arrived in Sydney on 23 January 2003 and returned to Copenhagen on February 12th.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Peter Rask Møller
Hiro Motomura at the Australian Museum, 2003.
Notes
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
1 April 2003 - 31 January 2005: Postdoctoral Fellow at Australian Museum
1 February 2005 - 31 March 2005: at CSIRO Hobart (see 'Related Links')
April 2005: in Japan
22 May 2005 - June 2005: Postdoctoral Fellow at Australian Museum
June 2005 - 14 October 2005: Australian Museum Collection Fellowship recipient
1 Nov 2005 - present: Associate Professor, Ichthyology, Kagoshima University Museum
Research Interests
Larval fishes
Systematics of the families Polynemidae, Scorpaenidae, Banjosidae and Tripterygiidae
Biogeography (especially antitropical distribution of fishes)
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Hiroyuki Motomura - 2003
Barry Russell examining a specimen of Threadfin Bream, 8 September 2003.
Notes
Dr Barry Russell, Assistant Director Natural Sciences, at the Northern Territory Museum, Darwin visited the Fish Section between 8th and 15th September 2003.
Barry is an expert in the taxonomy of the Threadfin Breams, family Nemipteridae.
During his visit, Barry examined Threadfin Breams, lizardfishes and several genera of lutjanoids held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Barry Russell examining a specimen of Threadfin Bream
Danny Tang worked in the Australian Museum Fish Collection for three weeks during November 2003.
Notes
Danny is from the School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia.
He is doing research for his PhD, which involves looking at the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of parasitic copepods and their fish hosts, with emphasis on the leatherjackets.
During his visit Danny searched for parasites in the gills of hundreds of fishes held in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Image: unknown© Australian Museum
Danny Tang working at the Australian Museum
Raymond Wilson contemplating the Georges River.
Notes
Dr Wilson is a professor in the Marine Biology Degree Program at CSU Long Beach, where he teaches ichthyology and genetics. His research is on the population genetics (mitochondrial DNA) of gobies that have recently colonised the estuaries of both California and south-eastern Australia, presumably from Japan. Those species include the Yellowfin Goby Acanthogobius flavimanus, and the Chameleon Goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus, among others.
During a sabbatical leave from CSU Long Beach between September and December, 2003, Dr Wilson worked with Australian ichthyologists and fishery biologists pursuing collections of the invasive gobies from the Hawkesbury, Parramatta, and Georges Rivers in New South Wales, and the Yarra River in Victoria.
The mitochondrial DNA of the collected Australian specimens are being sequenced in Long Beach and compared with DNA sequences obtained previously from Japanese and Californian specimens, to better understand the genetic histories of the twin invasions and to determine their common elements.
Image: Raymond Wilson© Raymond Wilson
Dr Raymond Wilson
Dr John Caruso examining a large monkfish.
Notes
Dr John Caruso is a fish researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans.
John's research concentrates on the goosefishes and coffinfishes.
During his visit (14 to 16 May 2002) he examined monkfish specimens and type specimens of coffinfishes.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr John Caruso
Tony Gill examining a fish specimen at the Australian Museum. He visited from 16 March to 21 April 2002.
Notes
At the time, Dr Anthony Gill was a fish researcher at the Natural History Museum, London (now at the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney, 2012)
He visited the Australian Museum to collect fishes with staff of the Fish Section in northern New South Wales.
Tony's research interests include biogeography and systematics of Indo-Pacific fishes and higher relationships of spiny-finned (acanthomorph) fishes.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Dr Anthony Gill
Dr Clive Roberts is Curator of Fishes at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The image shows Clive working aboard the RV Tangaroa on the NORFANZ expedition in May 2003.
Notes
Clive visited the Australian Museum to examine fishes in the genus Gephyroberyx, Hoplostethus and Centroberyx. The visit has resulted in the discovery of one new species, several new records and distributional range extensions.
Clive visited from October 29 till October 31 2002.
Image: NORFANZ Founding Parties© NORFANZ Founding Parties
Dr Clive Roberts
Brian Saunders examining the IA register, February 2001. The IA register contains information about specimens registered from 1920 to 1939.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
Brian Saunders
Chunguang Zhang and Mark McGrouther at the 9th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, Naha, Okinawa, Japan, June 2013.
Notes
Chunguang visited the Australian Museum for six months in 1997-8, arriving on 27 July 1997 and departing in late January 1998. During this time he sequenced tissues from whalefishes and relatives. His work culminated in publication of the following paper.
Colgan, D.C., Zhang, C.-G. & J.R. Paxton. 2000. Phylogenetic investigations of the Stephanoberyciformes and Beryciformes, particularly whalefishes (Euteleostei: Cetomimidae), based on partial 12S rDNA and 16S rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 17(1): 15-25.
Chunguang currently works on Chinese cave fishes at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
Image: Mark McGrouther© Australian Museum
