Having studied marine biology at the University of Nebraska, he has been involved in research projects on sharks, rays, frogfishes, and the behavior of reef fishes. He has also served as a scientific consultant for National Geographic Explorer and the Discovery Channel.

His research and photographic endeavors have led him from Cocos Island in the Eastern Pacific to various points in the Indo-Pacific, including the Maldive Islands, Sulawesi, the Fiji Islands, Papua New Guinea, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, as well as the Red Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and many reefs in the Caribbean.

A marine aquarist since boyhood, he has kept aquarium sharks and rays for more than 25 years, with many years of extensive involvement, including a period of retail store ownership, in the aquarium trade. He lives with his wife, underwater photographer Janine Cairns-Michael, and their Golden Retriever, Ruby, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

ERIC H. BORNEMAN IS AN AQUARIST, researcher, and author who writes frequently on marine subjects for various periodicals, including Freshwater and Marine Aquarium, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Pactical Fishkeeping, and others. He is the author of Aquarium Corals, co-author of A Practical Guide to Corals (Crystal Graphics), and speaks nationally and internationally at aquarium-related and scientific conferences, events, and societies, and teaches classes on coral propagation and other reef issues.

Eric is co-founder of the Marine and Reef Society of Houston. His personal home aquariums include a multihabitat system of more than 500 gallons that links a seagrass habitat, an intertidal habitat, and a large coral reef that runs without mechanical filtration devices.

With 20 years' experience diving on and photographing coral reefs, he is an active member of ReefCheck and provides coral survey data to various institutions. He is actively involved with reef conservation efforts, aquarium trade sustainability issues, investigations of coral diseases in captivity, and is creating a large searchable database of coral-related literature. Eric has a degree from Rice University and resides in suburban Houston, Texas.

He has a degree in biology, psychology, and chemistry from Dickinson College and holds a master's degree in psycho-pharamacology from Yale University. He works in the field of biotechnology and lives with his family near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he has several marine systems, including a 550-gallon reef aquarium and a 300-gallon coral-propagation tank. Michael is the author of The New Marine Aquarium and Ultimate Marine Aquariums.

Robert is the author of The Conscientious Marine Aquarist and a regular contributor to a number of aquarium publications, including Freshwater and Marine Aquarium, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, SeaScope, Pet Dealer, and several foreign hobbyist and business periodicals. He has been a speaker and judge at many aquarium conferences and events, with subjects ranging from cyanide collection of reef fishes to koi, shell collecting, and environmental, aquarium trade, hobbyist, and scientific topics.

He has worked in all phases of the aquarium business -- as collector, wholesaler, jobber, retailer, hatchery worker, designer, manager, and owner. Robert lives in San Diego, California, and is both an active Hash House Harrier and an avid scuba diver, having completed thousands of dives throughout the Indo-Pacific region, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Baja California, the tropical eastern Pacific, and the shorelines of his home state.

He is the founder of Marinelife Dealers Association, an organization of aquarium-industry businesses that promotes environmentally sustainable practices and education for conservation awareness. He is a member of the steering committee of the MarineAquarium Fish Council. John also serves on the board of Conservation fisheries, Inc. a nonpofit institution that rears endangered and threatened species of native American aquatic life for habitat restoration and species-recovery projects.

In addition to his marine aquarium interests, John is an avid gardener, cook, and outdoorsman, with a particular fondness for exploring the Cumberland and Appalachian Mountains near his home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

JOYCE WILKERSON IS A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER AND LONG-TIME amateur aquarist who has written on the subject of captive marine propagation for various magazines and journals and authored Clownfishes. She speaks regularly to aquarium societies around North America and, at this writing, has succeeded in rearing nine species of clownfishes. She has also propagated the Peppermint Shrimp, Lysmata rathburnae, and is researching the captive-breeding requirements of the Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis.

Joyce serves in a volunteer capacity for C-Quest Hatchery and is active in promoting the benefits of captive breeding to marine hobbyists. She is director of operations for The Breeder's Registry and is on the board of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA). She lives with her family in Chester, Virginia.