*** In-Person Speaker ***

Robert F. Myers spent much of his childhood in southeast Asia where he developed an intense interest in natural history. His diving and passion for marine life took hold during his early high school years in Hong Kong and continued at the University of Hawaii where he earned a BA in zoology, assisted Bishop Museum ichthyologist John E. Randall on field trips to Enewetak Atoll and took up underwater photography. A year after graduating he moved to Guam to pursue graduate studies and underwater photography. There he earned an MS in Biology from the University of Guam Marine Laboratory (UGM), worked as a fisheries biologist for the Government of Guam and founded Coral Graphics as a vehicle to publish his photographs in books that he co-authored with UGM faculty.

Rob “retired” in 1995 to devote more time to photography, writing, research and consulting. Rob has written or co-authored numerous scientific papers and magazine articles on Indo-Pacific fishes and several books including Micronesian Reef Fishes (3 editions: 1989-1999), Coral Reef Fishes (with E. Lieske, 1993: Harper Collins/Princeton), Coral Reef Guide Red Sea (with E. Lieske, 2004: Harper Collins/Princeton) and Dangerous Marine Animals (with M. Bergbauer and M. Kirschner, 2009: Kosmos, A&C Black).

Rob now resides in south Florida with his partner and wife, Patrice Marker, who has been indispensable in assisting him with her technical expertise as well as photography. Since 2006, Rob has served on the coral reef fishes Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and has collaborated with researchers from around the world on publications ranging from biogeography to conservation, ecology and genetics of Indo-Pacific fishes. Rob also partnered with geologist and malacologist Ed Petuch to produce three books on Marine mollusks: Molluscan Communities of the Florida Keys and Adjacent Areas (2014; CRC Press), The Living and Fossil Busycon Whelks: Iconic Mollusks of Eastern North America (2015) and Jewels of the Everglades: the Fossil Cowries of Southern Florida (2018; the latter two also with David Berschauer) as well as several publications in The Festivus, the journal of the San Diego Shell Club.  

Rob is currently preparing a completely new and updated edition of Micronesian Reef Fishes as well as updated versions of some of his other books and a nearly completed field guide to Florida and Caribbean marine life.