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DEEPEND Researchers and Students Attend GoMCON

DEEPEND Researchers and Students Attend GoMCON

Recently, members of the DEEPEND|RESTORE Consortium traveled to the Gulf of Mexico Conference, GoMCON, in Tampa, Florida and had a great experience. GoMCON is a bi-annual conference that brings together scientists, students, stakeholders, industry leaders, and so much more to network and present on research being conducted in the Gulf of Mexico.

Nova Southeastern Graduate students from Dr. Sutton’s Oceanic Ecology Laboratory, Hannah Johnson, Katie Lim, and Travis Kirk, students from Dr. Rosanna Milligan’s DEEPSCAPE Laboratory, Sidney Trimble and Ian Areford, as well as Florida International University Postdoc Dr. Pedo Peres were able to be in attendance for this year’s conference. Liberty Juno, a student in Dr. Jon Moore’s Deep Sea Ichthyology lab, attended the conference alongside the NSU students.

 Both Dr. Tracey Sutton and Dr. Rosanna Milligan gave oral presentations on their research during the conference. Students Sidney Trimble and Ian Areford presented their poster on Length Weight Relationships of Mesopelagic fish in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Student Liberty Juno presented a poster on the “Occurrence, Neuroanatomy, and Morphometrics of Slickhead Leptochilichthys in the Gulf of Mexico.” Students Travis Kirk, Katie Lim, Ian Areford, and Dr. Pedro Peres gave presentations during the pelagic portion of the conference. Katie’s presentation entitled “The Trophic Ecology and Vertical Distribution of the Deep-Pelagic Fish Scombrolabrax heterolepis (Scombriformes: Scombrolabracidae), an ‘Advanced’ Fish in a World of ‘Primitive’ Fishes” looked at the diet of an evolutionarily advanced fish species compared to other deep-sea predators; Travis’ presentation entitled, “Trophic Ecology of Black Swallowers,” examined the diet of a previously understudied genus of fishes finding this fish to be a super predator of the deep sea; and Ian’s presentation entitled Mesopelagic Fish Biomass Patterns in Comparison to Major Oceanographic Features looked at the spatial distribution patterns of various stomiids fishes in relation to different features of the Gulf of Mexico such as, the Mississippi river plume and the loop current. Finally, Dr. Pedro Peres presented on the changes in genomic diversity of three abundant deep-pelagic fish species in the Gulf of Mexico over 10 years. All our members did a fantastic job with their presentations, and we are so proud of all their hard work!

 The graduate students were able to spend three days immersing themselves in new and exciting research presentations, innovations in the field, and more. The conference was a wonderful opportunity for our students to also investigate various fields of employment within the Gulf of Mexico and allowed the opportunity to network with companies and non-profits, both in the private and public sector, and with industry leaders. Students were able to learn different tools in order to look at environmental science as it integrates with policy and management to better plan for restoration and ecosystem resilience. Tools such as, changes to mapping the coastal and offshore systems to data management, broadened our graduate students’ minds to how all the various scientists, stakeholders, and policy makers work together to make informed changes. Overall, this year’s Gulf of Mexico Conference was a wonderful experience! Our graduate students and principal investigators had a great time exploring the wonderful city of Tampa, even visiting the aquarium there, while enjoying all the conference had to offer. We look forward to the next GoMCON in 2026!