Well!
Today the second day of the CIAC (Cephalopod International Advisory Committee) 2003 symposium drew to a close. One more day left and I am sad that it will be the last for another 3 years. It was announced today that the CIAC 2006 meeting will be in Austrailia - and I urge everyone to try to make it to that one! I know that I will make the effort to do so. I have been having a wonderful time here in thailand for the symposium. Although the island of phuket and the country of thailand are quite beautiful, the CIAC 2003 has definitely stolen the show and been the highlight of my trip. It has been extremely interesting and informative. Yesterday the symposium began with a touching tribute to Kir N. Nesis, russian teuthologist and author of Cephalopods Of The World who passed away in january. Several teuthologists made tributes to this man whom it seems that everyone in the field respected very deeply. I have to say that I was moved by this display of cameraderie.
In related titular news, it was announced that the second edition of Cephalopods Of The World (The FAO guide, not Kir Nesis' book, the first edition of which coincidentally was published in the same year in the '80's) will be published in 2004 in 3 volumes! The first volume should be early in 2004, with the second two to follow later in the year, the contents being the Key and Sepiids in the first volume, and Teuthids and Octopods in the following two volumes. I'm sure that many of you will be as excited as me to see these published! On another publishing note, Paul Rodhouse mentioned in a talk that they had been having trouble getting the CIAC 2000 manuscripts published in book form due to the publisher, and mentioned Peter Boyle. I did not get the chance to speak to Paul Rodhouse myself, but this makes me think that it may be the same volume that amazon.com cancelled orders for? I will update if I have any news.
The presentations have been wonderful! I have had the opportunity to hear talks and presentations from teuthologists such as Clyde Roper, Paul Rodhouse, Erica Vidal, Jennifer Mather (with a very interesting talk about Moynihan's language question in Sepioteuthis!), James Wood, Graham Pierce, John Bower, George Jackson, C.C. Lu, and too many others to list (apologies to all the splendid presenters and speakers whom I did not list!) and we still have a day to go. We've heard about squid paralarvae, mate guarding in an indonesian octopus(!), age pigments, diets of cephalopods, animal who make their diets of cephalopods, species of Architeuthis, Loligo, Sepioteuthis and Gonatus, genetic differences in populations of squid, and many more fascinating subjects.
I have to say that all of the teuthologists that I have had the pleasure to meet so far have been absolutely wonderful, and went out of their way to make me feel quite at home at the welcome dinner. This has been greatly appreciated, as I am quite intimidated by the vast cephalopod knowledge contained in the room, being surrounded by some of the most respected and intelligent people in the field of cephalopods in the world, who have been happy to answer questions for a non-biologist who came all the way out to thailand for the symposium.
Lastly I think I have to say thanks to James Wood, who has been quite as friendly as his online presence would suggest, whose excellent contributions to the online knowledge base of cephalopods helped to rekindle my interest in these fascinating creatures, and I am sure has done the same for many non-scientists on the web. When I get back to the states I'll post a scan of the group photograph that was taken yesterday, and while I'm sure you guys will be a lot more excited to see the teuthologists, you'll see me in the back row dwarfed by Mark Norman's tall stature!
Wish everybody could be here!
Saul
Today the second day of the CIAC (Cephalopod International Advisory Committee) 2003 symposium drew to a close. One more day left and I am sad that it will be the last for another 3 years. It was announced today that the CIAC 2006 meeting will be in Austrailia - and I urge everyone to try to make it to that one! I know that I will make the effort to do so. I have been having a wonderful time here in thailand for the symposium. Although the island of phuket and the country of thailand are quite beautiful, the CIAC 2003 has definitely stolen the show and been the highlight of my trip. It has been extremely interesting and informative. Yesterday the symposium began with a touching tribute to Kir N. Nesis, russian teuthologist and author of Cephalopods Of The World who passed away in january. Several teuthologists made tributes to this man whom it seems that everyone in the field respected very deeply. I have to say that I was moved by this display of cameraderie.
In related titular news, it was announced that the second edition of Cephalopods Of The World (The FAO guide, not Kir Nesis' book, the first edition of which coincidentally was published in the same year in the '80's) will be published in 2004 in 3 volumes! The first volume should be early in 2004, with the second two to follow later in the year, the contents being the Key and Sepiids in the first volume, and Teuthids and Octopods in the following two volumes. I'm sure that many of you will be as excited as me to see these published! On another publishing note, Paul Rodhouse mentioned in a talk that they had been having trouble getting the CIAC 2000 manuscripts published in book form due to the publisher, and mentioned Peter Boyle. I did not get the chance to speak to Paul Rodhouse myself, but this makes me think that it may be the same volume that amazon.com cancelled orders for? I will update if I have any news.
The presentations have been wonderful! I have had the opportunity to hear talks and presentations from teuthologists such as Clyde Roper, Paul Rodhouse, Erica Vidal, Jennifer Mather (with a very interesting talk about Moynihan's language question in Sepioteuthis!), James Wood, Graham Pierce, John Bower, George Jackson, C.C. Lu, and too many others to list (apologies to all the splendid presenters and speakers whom I did not list!) and we still have a day to go. We've heard about squid paralarvae, mate guarding in an indonesian octopus(!), age pigments, diets of cephalopods, animal who make their diets of cephalopods, species of Architeuthis, Loligo, Sepioteuthis and Gonatus, genetic differences in populations of squid, and many more fascinating subjects.
I have to say that all of the teuthologists that I have had the pleasure to meet so far have been absolutely wonderful, and went out of their way to make me feel quite at home at the welcome dinner. This has been greatly appreciated, as I am quite intimidated by the vast cephalopod knowledge contained in the room, being surrounded by some of the most respected and intelligent people in the field of cephalopods in the world, who have been happy to answer questions for a non-biologist who came all the way out to thailand for the symposium.
Lastly I think I have to say thanks to James Wood, who has been quite as friendly as his online presence would suggest, whose excellent contributions to the online knowledge base of cephalopods helped to rekindle my interest in these fascinating creatures, and I am sure has done the same for many non-scientists on the web. When I get back to the states I'll post a scan of the group photograph that was taken yesterday, and while I'm sure you guys will be a lot more excited to see the teuthologists, you'll see me in the back row dwarfed by Mark Norman's tall stature!
Wish everybody could be here!
Saul
