Martin Gomon.jpg

Martin Gomon

Life Member 2009

Senior Curator of Ichthyology at Museum Victoria

Dr Martin Gomon is highly regarded an international authority on the identification and distribution of fishes based on more than 60 publications. His research interests focus on the diversity and evolution of fishes in southern Australia and throughout the world. He has been a long standing member of the Australian Society for Fish Biology and Royal Society of Victoria, holding the position of the ASFB Secretary, Council Member, Public Officer and Chair of the 2010 Conference Organising Committee.

Career History
Originally from Detroit, USA, Dr Gomon studied at Florida State University and the University of Miami where he completed his PhD on Labrid fishes of the Genus Bodianus at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in 1979. In the USA, he received recognition and awards for his research from the International Oceanographic Foundation (Fisherman's Fellowship 1967 – 1971), Richard Bader Memorial Fund Award (University of Miami 1977), Edward C. Raney Fund Award (American    Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 1977), and the National Science Foundation Grant for Doctoral Research. Martin travelled to Australia in 1979 to take up the newly created position of Curator of Fishes at the then National Museum of Victoria. He immediately set about reorganising the museum’s historically significant fish collection and building it to where it today ranks as the third largest in Australia. During his career, Martin has collaborated widely with scientists from Museums, CSIRO and Universities. For many students, he provided an introduction to fish biodiversity at annual field courses at the Victorian Marine Science Consortium at Queenscliff.

International Collaboration
Martin has actively collaborated with colleagues throughout Australia and internationally on a wide variety of studies, from taxonomic revisions to environmental modelling, using fish distributions to act as surrogates for habitats. Although scientific in the main, his publications also range into the realms of semi-popular and utilitarian.

Student mentoring
Since 1985, Martin has assisted at least seven students with Honours and MSC and PhD thesis including: Penelope Ajani, Cathy Rich, Georgia Cunningham, Anthony Ellis, Kristen Batten, Matthew Lockett, and Tarmo Raadik.

Major achievements
In the two editions of his books that describe the Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast, Martin and his co- authors have made an outstanding scientific contribution. This epic work was based on extensive research over a long period in collaboration with leading scientists. At a time of dwindling staff numbers and declining resources, Martin has promoted the efforts of the ichthyological taxonomists in Australia.

He was a founding member of the OzFishNet consortium of Australia’s fish taxonomists which continues to attract funding for projects such as the website “Fishes of Australian Online”. Other significant achievements include :

  • The analysis of marine fauna of Bass Strait and the taxonomy and distribution of marine fishes in Bass Strait in 1980 - 1985.

  • Survey of fauna and flora of Anderson and Shallow Inlets, and coastal waters of Cape Patterson - Inverloch and Wilsons Promontory, Victoria in 1981 - 82.

  • The    benthic,    demersal    and mesopelagic communities of South- Eastern Australian Continental Slopes in 1987 - 1990.

  • Contributed to the establishment of a National System of Marine Protected Areas by describing the marine bioregions for Australia, in 1995 - 1996.

  • Regional mapping of the South-East Marine Region at province and biome levels based on fish distribution data in 2001.

  • Validation of national demersal fish datasets for the regionalisation of the Australian continental slope and outer shelf for the National Oceans Office in 2002-2004.

  • Development of the “Fishes on Australia ONLINE” Website for the National Oceans Office with members of OzFishNet consortium since 2006.

  • Deputy chair of the Australian Fishes Barcode of Life (International Barcode of Life Project, University of Guelph) in 2007-2008

Publications
Journals
Gomon, Martin F. 1970. Florida undersea parks. Annual Report of the American Malacological Union 170: 3-5.
Colin, Patrick L. and Martin F. Gomon. 1973. Notes on the behaviour ecology and distribution of Lucayablennius zingaro (Pisces: Clinidae). Caribbean Journal of Science 13 (1-2): 59-61, 2 figs.

Gomon, Martin F. 1974. A new Eastern Pacific labrid (Pisces), Decodon melasma, a geminate species of the Western Atlantic D. puellaris. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 87 (19): 205-216, 3 figs.
Springer, Victoria G., Burhanuddin & Martin F. Gomon. 1974. List of fishes collected during Rumphius Expedition. I. Oseanologi di Indonesia 1: 39-45.

Springer, Victor G. & Martin F. Gomon. 1975. Revision of the blenniid fish genus Omobranchus with descriptions of three new species and notes on other species of the tribe Omobranchini. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 177: i-iv, 1-135, 52 figs., 17 tables.

Springer, Victor G. & Martin F. Gomon. 1975. Variation in the Western Atlantic clinid fish Malacoctenus triangulatus with a revised key to the Atlantic species of Malacoctenus. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 200: 1-11, 3 figs., 3 tables.

Gomon, Martin F. & John E. Randall. 1975,. A new deep-water fish of the labrid genus Bodianus from Hawaii and the Ryukyu Islands. Bulletin of Marine Science 25(3): 443-444.

Gomon, Martin F. 1977. A new genus and Eastern Pacific species of bodianine labrid fish. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 89(54): 621-630, 3 figs., 2 tables.

Gomon, Martin F. & John E. Randall. 1978. Review of the Hawaiian fishes of the labrid tribe Bodianini. Bulletin of Marine Science 28(1): 32-48, 6 figs., 1 table.

Gomon, Martin F. & Roger Lubbock. 1980. A new hogfish of the genus Bodianus (Teleostei: Labridae) from islands of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Northeast Gulf Science 3(2): 104-111, 3 figs., 1 table.

Gomon, Martin F. & William D. Madden. 1981. Comments on the labrid fish subgenus Bodianus (Trochocopus) with a description of a new species from the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Revue française d’Aquariologie 7(4): 121-126, 3 figs., 1 table.

Gomon, Martin F. & John Paxton. 1986. A revision of the Odacidae, a temperate Australian-New Zealand labroid fish family. Indo-Pacific Fishes 8: 57 pp., 21 text-figs., 6 colour pls.

Gomon, Martin F. & Peter R. Last. 1987. New Australian Fishes. Part I. Introduction. Memoirs Museum of Victoria 48(1): 1-2.

Gomon, Martin F. 1987. New Australian Fishes. Part 6. New species of Lepidotrigla (Triglidae), Choerodon (Labridae) and Zebrias (Soleidae). Memoirs Museum of Victoria, 48(1): 17-24, 1 fig.

Gomon, Martin F. & Gerald R. Allen. 1987. New Australian Fishes. Part 7. A new species of Choerodon (Labridae). Memoirs Museum of Victoria 48(1): 26-26, 1 fig.

Gomon, Martin F. & Rudie H. Kuiter. 1987. New Australian fishes. Part 8. A new species of Aulotrachichthys (Trachichthyidae). Memoirs Museum of Victoria 48(11): 27-30, 1 fig.

Gomon, Martin F. & Peter R. Last. 1987. New Australian Fishes. Part 9. A new species of Kathetostoma (Uranoscopidae). Memoirs Museum of Victoria 48(1): 31-34, 1 fig.

Last, Peter R. & Martin F. Gomon. 1987. New Australian Fishes. Part 15. New species of Trygonoptera and Urolophus (Family Urolophidae). Memoirs Museum of Victoria 48(1): 63-72, 6 figs.

Kishimoto, Hirokazu, Peter R. Last, Eiichi Fujii & Martin F. Gomon. 1988. Revision of a deepsea stargazer genus Pleuroscopus. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 35(2): 150-158, 5 figs.

Wilson, Robin S., Gary C. B. Poore & Martin F. Gomon. 1990. Marine habitats at Wilsons Promontory and the Bunurong Coast, Victoria: Report on a survey, 1982. Marine Science Laboratories Technical Report No. 73: 37 pp., 2 figs.

Williams, Alan, Last, Peter R., Gomon, Martin F. & John R. Paxton. 1997. Species composition and checklist of the demersal ichthyofauna of the slope off Western Australia (20-35° S). Records of the Western Australian Museum 18: 135-155.

Gomon, Martin F. 1997. A remarkable new pygmy seahorse (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) from southeastern Australia, with a redescription of H. bargibanti Whitley from New Caledonia. Memoirs Museum of Victoria 56(1): 245-253, figs. 1-6.

Gomon, Martin F. 1997. Relationships of fishes of the labrid tribe Hypsigenyini. Bulletin of Marine Science 60(3): 789-871, figs 1-39, tbls 1-4.

Amaoka, Kunio, Masahito Arai & Martin F. Gomon. 1997. A new species of Arnoglossus (Pleuronectiformes: Bothidae) from the southwestern coast of Australia. Ichthyological Research 44(2): 131-136, 3 figs, 3 tbls.

Lockett, Matthew M. & Martin F. Gomon. 1999. Occurrence and distribution of exotic fishes in Port Phillip Bay. Pp. 178-192, figs 12.1-12.2, tbl. 12.1. In: Hewitt, Chad L., Campbell, Marnie L., Thresher, Ronald E. & Richard B. Martin (Eds). Marine biological invasions of Pot Phillip Bay, Victoria. CRIMP Technical Report 20: 344 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. & Jeff W. Johnson. 1999. A new fringed stargazer (Uranoscopidae: Ichthyscopus) with descriptions of the other Australian species. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43 (2): 597-619, figs 1-10, 2 tbls.

Last, Peter R., Gomon F. Martin & Daniel C. Gledhill. 1999. Australian spotted catsharks of the genus Asymbolus (Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae). Part 2: Descriptions of three new, dark-spotted species, p 19-35. In: Last (Ed.) Australian catsharks of the genus Asymbolus (Carcharhiniformes: Scyliorhinidae). CSIRO Marine Laboratories Report 239 (Dec. 1999): 1-35.

Gomon, Martin F. 2001. Descriptions of two new species of Bodianus (Perciformes: Labridae) from Australasian waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 28: 407-416, 4 figs, 1 tbl.

Lockett, Matthew M. & Martin F. Gomon. 2001. Ship mediated fish invasions in Australia: two new introductions and a consideration of two previous invasions. Biological Invasions 3: 187-192.

Yen, Alan L., Sue Boyd, A. John C. Coventry, Joan Dixon, Martin Gomon, Mark O'Loughlin, Gary Poore & Ken Walker. 2002. McCoy's Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria - an unfinished task. The Victorian Naturalist 118(6): 242-255.

Randall, John E., Mark W. Westneat & Martin F. Gomon. 2003. Two new labrid fishes of the genus Oxycheilinus from the South Pacific. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 54(20): 361-370.

Hewitt, Chad L., Marnie L. Campbell, Ronald E. Thresher, Richard B. Martin, Sue Boyd, Brian F. Cohen, David R. Currie, Martin F. Gomon, Michael J. Keough, John A. Lewis, Matthew M. Lockett, Nicole Mays, Matthew A. McArthur, Tim D. O’Hara, Gary C. B. Poore, D. Jeff Ross, Melissa J. Storey, Jeanette E. Watson & Robin S. Wilson. 2004. Introduced and cryptogenic species in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia. Marine Biology 144: 183-202.

Gomon, M. F. 2004. Two new species of roughy (Trachichthyidae: Optivus) from coastal waters of southern Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 56(2): 173-78. http://www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1419_complete.pdf

Gomon, M. F., & T. Sato. 2004. A new cucumberfish (Paraulopidae) of the Paraulopus nigripinnis complex from central eastern Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 56(2): 195-99.http://www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1417_complete.pdf

Gomon, Martin F. 2006. A revision of the labrid fish genus Bodianus with descriptions of eight new species. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 30: 1-133. pp. 1-133 www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1460_complete.pdf pp. 1-60www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1460_part_a.pdf
pp. 61-119 www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1460_part_b.pdf
pp. 120-133 [plates] www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1460_part_c.pdf

Gomon, Martin F. 2007. A new genus and miniature species of pipehorse (Syngnathidae) from
Indonesia. Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology, 13 (1): 25-30.

Yearsley, G.K., Last, P.R. & Gomon, M.F. 2008. Trygonoptera imitata sp. nov., a new Stingaree (Myliobatoidei: Urolophidae) from southeastern Australia, pp. 261–267. In: P.R. Last, W.T. White & J.J. Pogonoski (eds). Descriptions of New Australian Chondrichthyans. CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research Paper 022, 358 pp.

Books/Book Chapters or Sections
Gomon, Martin F. 1978. Labridae, Central Western Atlantic Fishing Area 31. FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fisheries Purposes, pp. 615-628.

Gomon, Martin F. 1981. Labridae, Central Eastern Atlantic Fishing Area 34. FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fisheries Purposes, 14 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. 1983. Labridae, Western Indian Ocean Fishing Area 51. FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fisheries Purposes.

Gomon, Martin F. 1988. Fish taxonomy. In: Fish Diseases, Refresher Course for Veterinarians. Proc. 106, Post Graduate Comm. Veterinary Science, University of Sydney: 19-24.

Gomon, Martin F. & Peter Forsythe. 1991. Labridae. In: Quero, et al. (Eds) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). UNESCO.

Gomon, Martin F., C. John M. Glover & Rudie H. Kuiter (editors). 1994. Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia. State Print, South Australia. 997 pp. (numerous accounts)

Gomon, Martin F. 1996. Labridae, viejas, doncellasas, senioritas. Pp. 1201-1225. In: Carpenter, K. et al (Eds). Species Identification Sheets for Fisheries Purposes, Central Eastern Pacific. FAO, Rome.

Gomon, Martin F. 1997. Roughies. Page 429. Gurnards. Pp. 437-438. Long-finned pike. Page 447. Tailor. Page 448. Old wife. Page 460. Knifejaw. Page 461. Weed whitings. Pp. 468-469. Stargazers and sand stargazers. Pp. 472-473. In: Aldhamland, Maggi, Gillian Hewitt, Emma Johnson & Judith Simpson (Eds). Encyclopedia of Australian Wildlife. Readers Digest, Sydney. 625 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. & Francisco.J. Neira. 1998. Syngnathidae: Pipefishes and seahorses. Pp. 122- 132. In: Neira, F.J., A.G. Miskiewicz & T. Trnski. (Eds). Larvae of Temperate Australian Fishes: Laboratory Guide for Larval Fish Identification. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands. 474 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. 2001. Buried treasures. Pg. 52. Documenting change. Pg. 251. In: Rasmussen, Carolyn. A Museum for the People: a History of Museum Victoria and its Predecessors, 1854-2000. Scribe Publications, Melbourne, 423 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. & others. 2004. William Blandowski. Pp. 147-149. Frederick McCoy and his Prodromus. Pp. 150-153. Deep-sea collections. Pp. 188-189. Exotic species. Pp. 190- 191. In: Cosgrove, Bryony (Ed.). Treasures of the Museum, Victoria, Australia. Museum Victoria, Melbourne. 206 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. 2006. Marine fishes. Pp. 305-324. In: Birch, B. & others. Melbourne’s Wildlife. A field Guide to the Fauna of Greater Melbourne. Museum Victoria & CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. 348 pp.

Gomon, Martin F., Dianne J. Bray & Rudie H. Kuiter (eds). 2008. Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast. New Holland Press, Sydney & Museum Victoria. 928 pp.

Reports
Poore, Gary C.B., RobinS. Wilson, Martin F. Gomon & Chin-Chau Lu. 1985. Museum of Victoria Bass Strait Survey, 1979-1984. (A final report to MRAAC on Marine Sciences and Technologies Grant Number 80/141.) Mus. Vic.: 1-32.

Lockett, MatthewM. & Martin F. Gomon. 1996. Distribution of exotic fishes in Port Phillip Bay. (A report to the CSIRO Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests.) Mus. Vic.: 1-42.

Last, Peter, Vincent Lyne, Gordon Yearsley, Daniel Gledhill, Martin Gomon, Tony Rees & William White. 2005. Validation of national demersal fish datasets for the regionalisation of the Australian continental slope and outer shelf (>40 m depth). National Oceans Office Report, 2005, 1-98.

Theses
Gomon, Martin F. 1971. Comparative Osteology of the Western Atlantic Species of Halichoeres (Pisces, Labridae). Masters of Science Thesis, University of Miami. 193 pp.

Gomon, Martin F. 1979. A Revision of the Labrid Fish Genus Bodianus, aith an Analysis of the Relationhips of other Membrs of the Tribe Hypsigenyini. PhD Thesis, University of Miami. 653