- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
In the midst of the pre-swap, frag ogling frenzy, it often gets over-looked that the Swap is an opportunity to do much more than trade and buy corals. We make every effort to make your experience an educational one by presenting demos or workshops throughout the day. We also bring in world class speakers to help you hone your reef keeping skills. This time around we offer two outstanding presentations that should prove of interest to everyone:
Todd C. LaJeunesse
Converting light to coral growth: the critical role provided by millions of microscopic solar panels.
Those who maintain reef-corals in artificial systems know all too well that most aquarium corals depend on a particular quantity and quality of light in order to survive and grow. These corals and the reef ecosystems they construct depend on the photosynthesis and nutrients delivered by millions of tiny brown endosymbiotic algae, or zooxanthellae. The intimate association with these light adsorbing algae and underlying skeletal structure makes corals one of the most efficient light capturing organisms on the planet. These ancient mutualistic symbioses therefore provide the geological and biological foundation for all coral reef ecosystems on our planet. For this talk I will present on the recent advances in our understanding on the basic biology and ecology of ?zooxanthellate? corals, which should significantly influence how you care for and ultimately appreciate your beautiful pets.
Todd is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State University. He holds a Ph.D in biology from UC Santa Barbara and is author of numerous scientific articles. Todd is widely regarded as a leading authority on coral -zooxanthallae symbiosis.
Richard Ross
"Kwajalein Atoll - endemic fish, the ups and downs of trying to get stuff done on a small pacific island, terrible and fantastic culinary experiences, and fantastic underwater life."
Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands was really just a vague place on a map for me until I had the rare opportunity to visit earlier this year. This is what I knew about the trip as I got on the plane - we were going to the island in the atoll where the local lived not the military base, we were going to be meeting a local fish collector, we were going to sail to, and camp on, one of the outer islands. That is pretty much it. *I had no idea where we would be staying, how diving was to be accomplished, or anything much at all about the realities of the trip. Either it would be great, or it would be a great story. This talk will cover, via photos and video, some nuts and bolts about the reality of a first world countries Military base and a third world country separated the high tide, unique fish for the aquarium trade, and how this adventure turned out to be a great trip and a great story.
AND as an added bonus-- " a little bit about Rich's groundbreaking work with the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus"
For the past year, I have been keeping and breeding an undescribed species of octopus not seen since 1991 in my 'Secret Home Lab" and keeping these animals secret was making me crazy. Now that the octo is out of the bag, and some of them are now on public display at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences, I can talk about why this is the most beautiful octopus I have ever worked with, why it is so special, and why all the secrecy in the first place. Plenty of eye candy photos and video.
Rich has been keeping saltwater animals for over 20 years, and has worked in aquarium maintenance, retail aquarium stores, and marine wholesalers and is currently an Aquatic Biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences. He is a writer/photographer for Reefs Magazine, Advanced Aquarist, Reef Hobbyist Magazine and C the Journal of Aquatic Science, Travel and Adventure. He has been a crew member at wet web media and is currently a Site Administrator at Reefs.org. When not working or squeezing his family, or shooting video underwater, he maintains a 300 gallon reef system and a 250 cephalopod culture system in his home.
Todd C. LaJeunesse
Converting light to coral growth: the critical role provided by millions of microscopic solar panels.
Those who maintain reef-corals in artificial systems know all too well that most aquarium corals depend on a particular quantity and quality of light in order to survive and grow. These corals and the reef ecosystems they construct depend on the photosynthesis and nutrients delivered by millions of tiny brown endosymbiotic algae, or zooxanthellae. The intimate association with these light adsorbing algae and underlying skeletal structure makes corals one of the most efficient light capturing organisms on the planet. These ancient mutualistic symbioses therefore provide the geological and biological foundation for all coral reef ecosystems on our planet. For this talk I will present on the recent advances in our understanding on the basic biology and ecology of ?zooxanthellate? corals, which should significantly influence how you care for and ultimately appreciate your beautiful pets.
Todd is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State University. He holds a Ph.D in biology from UC Santa Barbara and is author of numerous scientific articles. Todd is widely regarded as a leading authority on coral -zooxanthallae symbiosis.
Richard Ross
"Kwajalein Atoll - endemic fish, the ups and downs of trying to get stuff done on a small pacific island, terrible and fantastic culinary experiences, and fantastic underwater life."
Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands was really just a vague place on a map for me until I had the rare opportunity to visit earlier this year. This is what I knew about the trip as I got on the plane - we were going to the island in the atoll where the local lived not the military base, we were going to be meeting a local fish collector, we were going to sail to, and camp on, one of the outer islands. That is pretty much it. *I had no idea where we would be staying, how diving was to be accomplished, or anything much at all about the realities of the trip. Either it would be great, or it would be a great story. This talk will cover, via photos and video, some nuts and bolts about the reality of a first world countries Military base and a third world country separated the high tide, unique fish for the aquarium trade, and how this adventure turned out to be a great trip and a great story.
AND as an added bonus-- " a little bit about Rich's groundbreaking work with the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus"
For the past year, I have been keeping and breeding an undescribed species of octopus not seen since 1991 in my 'Secret Home Lab" and keeping these animals secret was making me crazy. Now that the octo is out of the bag, and some of them are now on public display at the Steinhart Aquarium in the California Academy of Sciences, I can talk about why this is the most beautiful octopus I have ever worked with, why it is so special, and why all the secrecy in the first place. Plenty of eye candy photos and video.
Rich has been keeping saltwater animals for over 20 years, and has worked in aquarium maintenance, retail aquarium stores, and marine wholesalers and is currently an Aquatic Biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences. He is a writer/photographer for Reefs Magazine, Advanced Aquarist, Reef Hobbyist Magazine and C the Journal of Aquatic Science, Travel and Adventure. He has been a crew member at wet web media and is currently a Site Administrator at Reefs.org. When not working or squeezing his family, or shooting video underwater, he maintains a 300 gallon reef system and a 250 cephalopod culture system in his home.
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