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Congratulations to Ryan Howard, who graduated from the Crook Lab in May 2019, on his admission to the PhD program in Biology at the Aukland University of Technology in New Zealand!!
Ryan will be working with well-known cephalopod biologist, Dr. Kat Bolstad, who runs the ALCES lab at AUT. He will be conducting research on the retinal anatomy of deep-sea oegopsid squid. His surveys of retinal structure across a range of species from diverse habitats will provide novel comparative information on the visual capabilities of cephalopods inhabiting disparate light conditions. The survey will include (1) species that remain in coastal and/or shallow (brightly lit) waters throughout their lives, whose eyes should therefore be able to accommodate the high light
intensities of day-time as well as night-time conditions; (2) species that spend their entire lives at great depth and are therefore presumably never exposed to daylight; (3) species that are able to migrate vertically between photic and aphotic waters over a short period of time, e.g., on a daily basis; and (4) species that inhabit shallow waters during early life stages and descend into the deep sea with maturity.
We wish Ryan all the best with his new adventures in New Zealand!!