Dr Merrick Ekins is the Collection Manager of Sessile Marine Invertebrates at the Queensland Museum. His work includes the curation of many groups including: Porifera (sponges), Cnidaria (soft and hard corals, jellyfish), Zoanthids and Ascidians.
Merrick conducts research whilst SCUBA diving and specialises in describing new species of carnivorous sponges and soft corals including the jewel of Caloundra.
For the past 20 years, he has volunteered with the dugong health and population monitoring assessments. This involves catching (wrestling), tagging, measuring, in and out of water sampling, satellite tagging of dugongs, as well as airborne population monitoring.
