Ross Robertson, who received his PhD from Queensland University in Australia, has been a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama since 1975. Since then he has undertaken research on tropical reef fishes worldwide. His current research interests include: The development of online information systems for the identification and research on the biology, zoogeography and conservation of the Shorefishes of the Neotropics (~1300 species in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and ~1550 species in the Greater Caribbean); Assessment of natural geographic variation in and effects of fishing on the demography of tropical reef fishes in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific; The biogeography of the shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific – relations to other regions, faunal structure within the region, geographic patterns of diversity within the region; and, The molecular historical biogeography of pantropical reef-fishes.