Ret Talbot continues his cutting edge presentations, and tomorrow at Reefstock (Denver) he’ll be giving the scoop on the latest for the aquarium trade.  With new developments in Fiji and Papua New Guinea for collection stations the presentation has never been hotter.  Oh wait, what’s that, oh yah the Hawaii talk.  For the latest on the developments in Hawaii be sure to check out Ret’s presentations during the next few months.  If you don’t have the chance to see them be sure to follow us here at MASNA and at http://hawaiibanfactcheck.org/ read more

  If you are in the Washington DC area (or can get there this weekend) then be sure to catch the next can’t miss presentation.  Dr Luiz Rocha will be talking about reef fish diversity.  Dr. Rocha is another member of the fantastic group calling the Cal Academy of Sciences home.  His travels, studies, research, and overall experience learning about coral reef fishes and their evolution is second to none.  Truly a great opportunity if you can attend.  We’re hoping to check back in with an update following this presentation.  You can read all about his presentation and the DC area event here… read more

 Scott Fellman is still living it up with his Reef Aesthetics talk.  This is a tricky talk for someone like Scott, which is one reason why we love it.  Scott has years of experience as a hobbyist trying to create amazing aquascapes and even specialized biotopes.  He currently and recently oversees the production of custom made mega systems for private clients.  While Scott has been a vocal opponent to kinetic art, and the process of simply wanting a fish tank because it’s pretty, he is also very much tuned-in with aesthetics.  Scott’s presentation focuses a lot on design principles and using them in conjuction with husbandry techniques to create unique, beautiful, and of course functional reef aquariums.  read more

  The winter session of the Ocean Sciences Meeting just concluded and it was phenominal.  We here at MASNA oversee the well known MACNA conference but even we’d have to admit that the Ocean Sciences Meeting is a top notch educational experience.  This year’s show was in Salt Lake City and it was a who’s who of field experts.  Anyone and everyone from all major academic schools and research facilities were on hand for this show.  There were litterally hundreds of amazing people, completly packed presentations, and the best scientific on display.  Just looking at the dozens of poster presentations would fill up a day’s worth of time. read more

 We’re always pleased to see new presentations, new ideas, and new speakers.  Reefapalooza featured a great new presentation a few months ago that we were fortunate enough to attend titled How Bacteria Affect Corals and Overall Reef Health. Katie Barott is a doctoral student working in the esteemed lab of Dr. Forest Rohwer.  If you aren’t familiar with Dr. Rohwer, he’s quite possibly the top marine biologist in the world and has one of the most cutting edge and progressive labs around.  Katie fits the mold for the lab as a researcher interested in bacteria, viruses, corals, and disease.  The presentation features some of the commonly quoted massive numbers of millions of bacteria per teaspoon of seawater, and the even bigger and mind boggling numbers of viruses.  But what really makes the presentation cool is the up close and personal accounts Katie presents.  Her photos of healthy vs unhealty reef systems and those reefs with very little human impact are worth of discussion and a great way to get hobbyists thinking about reef ecology.  She’s a delight to chat with, very knowledgeable, is quite cheerful and smiley, and is a crowd pleaser with her ability to present.   read more