Image Gallery: Fish Fieldwork - Solomon Islands, 1998

In September / October 1998, Dianne Bray and Mark McGrouther of the Australian Museum, joined Jeff Williams, Jerry Finan and Cheryl Thacker from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Mark Westneat and Brad Wright of the Field Museum in Chicago, Randy Mooi of the Milwaukee Public Museum, and Maxson Tokopia and Leslie Palenga of Solomon Island Fisheries, on a five week trip to survey the fishes of the Santa Cruz Islands, Temotu Province, Solomon Islands.

We lived aboard the MV Butai, a local vessel which usually carries passengers and cargo between Honiara, the capital, and Lata, the main town in the Temotu Province. During our stay in the Santa Cruz Islands, we worked at the Reef Islands, Duff Islands, Ndendo Island and Santa Cruz Island.

We aimed to collect as many species of fishes from the region as possible, and to submit a list of small reef fishes of the region to Solomon Islands Fisheries.

Prior to this trip, the fish fauna of this region had not been surveyed. The majority of specimens were collected by scuba diving in water depths ranging from 0.2 m to 30 m. Part of this unique collection is now held in the Australian Museum's Fish Collection.