ARC DECRA Research Fellow
There are so many wonders under the sea and still so much to discover with only 5% of our ocean explored to date. Yet, we know more about space than the environment covering 71% of our own planet…
Fanny is originally from France where she completed her Bachelor and Master of Science. In 2009 she moved to Australia to start her PhD at the University of Western Australia under the supervision of Prof. Shaun Collin and Professor Justin Marshall, establishing her expertise in the visual system of deep-sea fishes. Since the completion of her PhD, Fanny worked as a postdoctoral researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) and here in the Marshall Lab. At the end of 2017, she was awarded an ARC DECRA Fellowship to continue her research on fish vision in dim conditions, working with both deep-sea and coral reef fishes. My main research interests lay in visual ecology, sensory systems, marine biology and deep-sea ecology/biology/diversity. I am particularly fascinated by the deep-sea environment and how its inhabitants have adapted to see in dim light conditions and for viewing bioluminescence. Contrarily to what most people think, the deep-sea is not a completely dark environment and deep-sea fish do have functional eyes! Their eyes are in fact much more powerful than ours in term of sensitivity, allowing them to detect daylight at depths up to 1000m and see bioluminescent signals emitted by conspecifics. By using a multidisciplinary approach involving neurobiology, phylogeny and ecology, I aim to better understand fish visual adaptations in relation to their environment and evolutionary history. During my PhD, I studied in detail the visual system of one of the most abundant deep-sea fish family in the world ocean, the lanternfishes (Myctophidae). This work led to the discovery of novel visual specialisations for vision in dim conditions and for viewing bioluminescence, and shed some lights on lanternfish behaviour. In addition to continuing my investigation of the visual system of deep-sea fishes, my current work in the Marshall’s lab, also takes me to the reef to study colour vision. I am particularly interested in the visual system of holocentrids (squirrelfish and soldierfish), a family of nocturnal reef fishes that have a strong ecological and evolutionary connection to deep-water habitats. In January 2018, I started an ARC DECRA Fellowship investigating the capabilities of teleost fish to see colour in dim conditions.
2006 MSc University of La Rochelle, FRANCE, including a one-year European exchange (Erasmus) at the University of Southampton, UK.
2007 MSc University of Brest, FRANCE
2014 PhD The University of Western Australia, AUSTRALIA
2014-2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, SAUDI ARABIA
2015-2017 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA
2018-present ARC DECRA Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA
CURRENT SUPERVISION
______________
Lily Fogg
PhD candidate (UQ)
PUBLICATIONS
______________
Papers
2020
2019
2017
2015
2014
2013
2012
2009