Huge congratulations to Ian Areford on successfully defending his MS thesis this semester! His research project, titled "Do Mesopelagic Fish Biomass Patterns Change in Response To Major Oceanographic Features In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico?" quantified the length-weight relationships for several common stomiiform fishes (a group that includes dragonfishes, bristlemouths, and hatchetfishes), and then used those biomass data to examine quantify their distribution patterns in the northern Gulf of Mexico using hurdle models. He did an amazing job in both the written thesis and the oral defense and has passed with no major corrections.
His thesis committee included myself (Dr. Rosanna Milligan), Dr. Tracey Sutton, and Dr. Matthew Johnson.