New member from the Corpus area

[Luiz Rocha]

Hey there! I just heard about this organization from my friend James Wiseman, who will be talking during the next meeting in Port Aransas, so I decided to join.

I am an avid aquarist (had tanks since I was a kid), and currently have a nano (30g) reef tank stocked with a few things that I got from Brad Gemmel (GC Reef). I am also a marine biology professor at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (Port Aransas). My main areas of research are the evolution, ecology and taxonomy of coral reef fishes. I've recently described a couple of new species of reef fish that are relatively common in the aquarium trade:

Halichoeres claudia
http://www.luizrocha.com/Wetpixel/H_claudia.jpghttp://www.luizrocha.com/wetpixel/H_claudia.jpg

Chaetodontoplus poliourus
http://www.luizrocha.com/wetpixel/C_poliourus.jpg

Underwater photography is also something I love doing, and since I travel a lot, I accumulated a huge library. I posted some of my most interesting reef fish photos here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1726576

For more details on my academic work, and PDF copies of my papers (including the two species descriptions above), you can access my website:

http://www.luizrocha.com/academic/

I will stop by to say hi and get a membership during James' talk next weekend.

Cheers,

Luiz

[Europhyllia]

Cool stuff Luiz! Looking forward to seeing more of your underwater photography too.
Welcome to the board!

[alton]

Welcome Luiz

[Mr Cob]

Welcome Luiz. Glad to have you. I look forward to seeing what you bring to the club.

[roscozman]

Great Pics... Look forward to meeting you this weekend in Port A.

[Mike]

Welcome to MAAST... looking forward to meeting you this weekend. We have a great bunch of people on here... welcome to the group. :)

[Luiz Rocha]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. You are all invited to come check UT's marine science institute too. We have a small visitor center area with a few aquaria containing some local fish (nothing fancy, my reef exhibit isn't ready yet) and a nice wetlands education center. Located in Port Aransas, 750 Channel View Dr.

[Kristy]

Looking forward to meeting you Luiz! -Kristy

[ErikH]

I LOVE THAT THREAD ON RC! I have been following it since you first started posting. It's a small tank we all live in! :) Very glad to have you here, maybe we can do some trading sometime soon!

[Mrs. z28pwr]

Hi Luiz!!!!! Welcome