The Fish Department - Fieldwork
Vanuatu - southern half, 1996
In May, 1996, Dianne Bray and Mark McGrouther of the Australian Museum, joined Jeff Williams and David Smith from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and Mark Westneat of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, on a five week trip to survey the fishes of the southern part of Vanuatu. We lived aboard the Vanuatu Fisheries vessel, MV "Lewia", ably captained by Hendry Taiford, and were accompanied by Vanuatu Fisheries Biologist, Robert Jimmy.
Prior to this trip, the fish fauna of Vanuatu's coral reefs had been poorly surveyed and our aim was to collect as many species, from as many different habitats as weather and time would allow. The majority of specimens were collected by scuba diving in water depths ranging from 1 to 30 metres. Part of this unique collection is now held in the Australian Museum's extensive Fish Collection.
