Franzis Althaus

Franzis came to Australia from Switzerland, 15 years ago, to study marine biology at the University of Tasmania. Then after finishing uni, she joined CSIRO, on a project studying the ecomorphology of fishes.

Since then her work has progressed from ecomorphology and dietary analyses of fishes, to statistical analyses of community structure, and finally to analyses of photographic and video imagery, first of the North West Shelf of Australia and currently of Giant Crab habitat off Tasmania's coast.

"My work has given me the opportunity to go on two previous Southern Surveyor voyages, where after the initial bout of seasickness, I had a great time learning more about the amazing diversity of creatures in the sea. You also have a chance to get to know your colleagues much better, over invertebrate sorting trays and fish measuring boards," Franzis said. "Being involved on these surveys also gave me the chance to observe the change of sampling design and the increasing development of remote sensing tools.

"On the present survey I will be scoring video and analysing still images of the seafloor for habitat types and epibenthic fauna. I am looking forward to comparing the seafloor habitats that I have observed in videos off the Tasmanian coast with the videos we will be capturing along the West Australian coast. It's exciting to be one of the first people to actually see what is down there, and to observe sponges, seasquirts crustaceans, corals and fishes in their natural environment and state. "

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Updated: 29/03/07