The Fish Department - Visitors
Dr Tony Miskiewicz
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.
Research Interests
- Systematics of larvae from temperate Australia
- Distribution of fish larvae in estuarine and coastal waters and links to estuarine nursery habitats
Tony has been working on the identification and ecology of fish larvae in New South Wales waters since 1981. The main focus of his research has been the ecology of fish larvae in estuarine and coastal waters along the New South Wales coast, especially the importance of estuaries as spawning or nursery habitats for fishes. Associated with these ecological studies, he has been collaborating with a number of colleagues at the Australian Museum, University of NSW, CSIRO and the Australian Maritime College, on the identification and development of larval fish in temperate Australian waters.
Lake Macquarie Research
His initial research was based in Lake Macquarie, an estuarine lagoon on the central New South Wales coast. The aim of this research was to determine which species of fish were spawning in the estuary and which species spawned at sea and subsequently recruited to estuarine nursery habitats as larvae or juveniles. As there was only very limited reference literature available at the time, a considerable amount of work was required to identify and describe the developmental stages of the larvae of different species that were caught. Identification and descriptions of larval development is an ongoing task and a major result of this work was the publication of the Larvae of Temperate Australian Fishes: Laboratory Guide for Larval Fish Identification.
Research cruises
Tony has also participated in a number of research cruises investigating the distribution of fish larvae along the NSW coast. He participated in the extensive larval fish sampling program undertaken off Sydney as part of the Deepwater Outfalls Monitoring Program. Data on the distribution of a number of species of larvae in New South Wales waters based on these cruises have been documented in the report A synthesis of existing data on the early life history of southern Australian finfish (FRDC96/103).
Contact details
Environment and Health Division
Wollongong City Council
Locked Bag 8821
South Coast Mail Centre NSW 2521
Australia
Phone (+612) 4227 7574
Fax (+612) 4229 9197
Email : tmiskiewicz@wollongong.nsw.gov.au
