RWU’s Rhyne earns lifetime achievement award

RWU's Andrew Rhyne, pictured with his wife Libby, received a lifetime achievement award from the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America./ PHOTO COURTESY OF ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY

BRISTOL – Associate professor of marine biology at Roger Williams University, Andrew Rhyne, was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America, the RWU announced Friday.

The annual award has been presented to scientists who are “positively shaping and influencing the marine aquarium trade” since 1995.

In their presentation of the award, MASNA said Rhyne devoted his career to “the biology of aquarium fishes and invertebrates, as well as the industry driven by human fascination for these creatures. The trade in aquarium species can be considered a data-limited industry and the lack of available trade data hinders sustainability movements within the trade. Rhyne has worked to develop solutions to these data gaps. He has worked to advance the field of marine ornamental aquaculture, developing methods for breeding and rearing popular species in aquaria.”

During his tenure at RWU, Rhyne has aquaculture systems which breed and raise exotic fish species such as Queen Triggerfish and Clownfish for aquarium hobbyists and institutions including the New England Aquarium and Mystic aquariums.

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According to his research, breeding these types of fish in aquaculture systems reduces demand on wild species collected from reef habitats.

After the release of “Finding Dory” in June 2016, Rhyne spoke out about the sudden interest in Pacific blue tangs as house pets. Because of scientists inability to breed them in captivation, more than 100,000 of the species are caught in the wild each year for sale to hobbyists and collectors.

His research is also focused on tracking the aquarium hobby trade to better determine what types of fish are taken from the ocean without permission illegally.

Rhyne holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and a master’s degree and doctorate from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla.

Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.

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