Title of project: Brief description of project: Diving into the deep-end: Investigating Queensland’s tropical mesophotic fishes

Originally hailing from California, Tiffany completed a B.S. In Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California in 2006. She worked as a fishery observer in the Alaskan groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea, a marine naturalist in Maui, Hawaii, underwater research diver and PADI SCUBA Instructor and earned her U.S. Coast Guard’s 100-ton captain’s license before returning to academic studies. Tiffany finished a MAppSci at James Cook University in 2012, which included a research project using laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry of newly-settled reef fish otoliths; this work was published in Coral Reefs. Tiffany began her PhD in 2013 researching tropical deepwater fishes.

Tiffany’s research blends traditional fishery science techniques with complementary advances in technology to gain greater insight into the biology and ecology of deepwater fishes, and overcome the challenges of working at great depths. Tiffany employs AIMS’ deepwater Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations to get in situ information. She will be collaborating researchers in 2014 using multibeam sonar technology and autonomous underwater vehicles to look at fish-habitat associations. Detailed otolith chemistry will be used to look for region-wide stock discrimination, useful for management decisions.

Tiffany has now completed her PhD and is now an Adjunct member of staff of JCU.  She currently has multiple research projects in Western Australia.