I’d like to introduce my friend and colleague Michael Reuscher, he’s a first year PhD student in the Biodiversity and Conservation Laboratory of Dr. Tom Shirley here at Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi. Michael is a freshly minted Deep Worker submersible pilot, as is Tom. Michael’s specialty is deep-sea polychaetes from vents and seeps. Tom’s most fond of crustaceans and echinoderms but he’s a wordly guy, a great advisor, and a good friend to all of us here in his lab.
It’s with no small amount of envy that I introduce Michael, as he and Dr. Shirley will both be participating in the forthcoming Finding Coral Expedition, launching World Ocean Day, June 8, while I plug away on the final throes of my dissertation, stuck here in Texas, dreaming of the deep.
You can look forward to occaissional posts from Michael while aboard the cruise. He’ll be giving you the inside scoop on the beautiful coral communities that thrive in these cold temperate productive waters, and the troubling impacts they suffer from bottom trawlers. Please say hello, and welcome yourself aboard on June 8.
