The Neotropical Eartheaters

Lee Newman
Curator of Tropical Waters at the Vancouver Aquarium

Lee Newman joined the Vancouver Aquarium’s Aquarist Department in 1990 with over 20 years experience in the husbandry of freshwater fishes. His specific husbandry expertise is in the maintenance and breeding of South American cichlidae. He is also competent in aquarium fish (SLR) photography and is a well-known published author and international speaker. Mr. Newman brings to his curatorial role an ability to understand and collate, life support, biological and husbandry, educational and aesthetic requirements into new and existing exhibits. Mr. Newman has extensive aquatic animal collecting and transport experience gained in four overseas field trips to South America and Africa. He also has experience in field conservation work, having been part of the 1996 LV-SSP trip to Uganda.

The UBC Fish Collection and Cool BC Fish Stories

Dr. Eric B. (Rick) Taylor, Professor
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia

My talk will include an introduction to the value and history (brief) of
the UBC Fish Collection and a more detailed introduction to some of the
fascinating evolutionary stories involving BC freshwater fishes, from
resolving cryptic species, to unisexual fishes, to hotsprings fishes.

Biographical Profile

Dr. Eric Taylor’s research focuses on understanding patterns of genetic variation within and between natural populations, the processes that promote and organize such variation, and their relevance to the origins and conservation of biodiversity.   Dr. Taylor is also part of the Native Fishes Research Group which focuses on ecological and genetic studies of native fish diversity and their relevance to conservation. Dr. Taylor is curator of the UBC Fish Collection and Associate Director of the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre, and a Professor in the Department of Zoology at UBC.

Martin Haulena DVM, MSc, Dipl. ACZM

Dr. Martin Haulena, the Vancouver Aquarium’s Staff Veterinarian, will be speaking for the Wet Coast Aquarium Society. He’ll review some of the problems that aquarists and veterinarians encounter in a large, diverse fish collection, and will highlight infectious diseases, some of which are common in home aquaria.

Biographical Profile

Dr. Martin Haulena graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in 1993. He completed a clinical internship in aquatic animal medicine at Mystic Aquarium in 1996 and a Master’s degree in pathobiology investigating clinical pathology of sharks from the University of Guelph in 1999. He became a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine in 2007 with a subspecialty in aquatic animal medicine. Dr. Haulena was the Staff Veterinarian at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA for 9 years and has been Staff Veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium since 2006. His special interests are in the medical management of aquatic animals, with emphasis on innovative diagnostic methods such as MRIs, endoscopy and sonography, developing safe anaesthetic protocols and improving surgical techniques. Veterinary students from around the world study aquatic animal medicine each year under the direction of Dr. Haulena. He serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University and Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. His professional affiliations include the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, Wildlife Disease Association and the American Association of Zoological Veterinarians. He has authored over 30 scientific journal articles and book chapters.

Attention Beaty Biodiversity Museum Members: show your Beaty Museum membership card at the May 9th meeting when you purchase 3 raffle tickets for $5 and you’ll receive one additional raffle ticket FREE!

Buy a Wet Coast Aquarium Society Membership by the May 9th, 2011 Kick-off meeting and one lucky member will win the following 45 Gallon Bowfront Aquarium Kit and Stand donated by Gold Sponsor Aquariums West! Prize draw will be held at the May 9th meeting.

Fluval 45 Gallon Bowfront Premium Aquarium Kit

• 45 US Gal. / 170 L Polished Edged Glass Aquarium
• Aqua-Glo 25 Watt T8 Fluorescent Bulb
• Fluval M200 Watt Submersible Heater
• Nutrafin Max Tropical Fish Flakes
• Nutrafin Aqua Plus Water Conditioner
• Nutrafin Cycle Biological Supplement
• Fluorescent Canopy
• LCD Thermometer
• Mesh net for fragile fish
• Clip-on Fluval C4 Power Filter
• Quick and easy set-up Care Guide
• Cabinet featuring polished steel handles, convenient shelf and rear cut-out ports

Membership application forms are currently available at Aquariums West in Vancouver and Pet Boutique in North Vancouver, or may be downloaded from our website.

Getting there: The AERL Building is immediately next door to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (on the North side of the Museum), for directions to the Museum and parking information see:  http://www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca/about/contact

High-value raffle prize and Member’s-only door prize draws will be held at the meeting.

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Getting Information on Fishes out of and into FishBase

Dr. Daniel Pauly, UBC Fisheries Centre

This presentation will explain and demonstrate what kind of, and how, information on fish is encoded into FishBase the online encyclopedia of fishes (see www.fishbase.org), and how to access it.  The presentation will also document how lay persons can contribute to FishBase, thus making it even more useful for British Columbians.

Biographical Profile

Daniel Pauly is a Professor at the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, of which he was the Director for 5 years (Nov. ’03-Oct. ’08). Since 1999, he is also Principal Investigator of the Sea Around Us Project (see www.seaaroundus.org), funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia, and devoted to studying, documenting and promoting policies to mitigate the impact of fisheries on the world’s marine ecosystems.

The concepts, methods and software which Dr. Pauly (co-)developed, which are documented in over 500 scientific and general-interest publications, and in over 30 books and reports, are used throughout the world.  In the late 1980, Dr. Pauly initiated the development of FishBase, a computerized encyclopedia on currently 32,000 species of fish, which is now online (see www.fishbase.org) and receives over 30 million ‘hits’ per month from half a million unique users.