Prof John Montgomery
Position: Professor, Principal Investigator Centre for Brain Research, The University of Auckland. Field: Marine science.
Professor John Montgomery is the former Director of the of Leigh Marine Laboratory and the Institute of Marine Science. Currently is a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Brain Research at University of Auckland.
Prof John Montgomery
Professor John Montgomery liaises with PhD student Kaz Yanase in the wet lab at the Leigh Marine Laboratory.
Professor John Montgomery has had many roles, including Chair of Marine Science at the University of Auckland, Director of the Leigh Marine Laboratory and on the Board of Antarctica New Zealand. His scientific work sits at the interface of marine science and neuroscience, and he has published extensively on sensory behaviour and physiology of fish, including hearing, hydrodynamic senses and the quite extraordinary electrosensory system of sharks and rays.
His work on passive acoustic orientation by the larvae of reef fish and crustaceans attracted international attention as it has potential applications in coastal management and restocking depleted reef populations. John's work on tagging pelagic and coastal fishes also has implications for population connectivity, conservation and fisheries.
Prof John Montgomery in Antarctica
Professor John Montgomery visits Antarctica as part of his research work. John was active in the NZ Antarctic Programme through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. His research included work on how Antarctic fish use sound for feeding in winter darkness.
His work has been recognised by his election to the Royal Society of New Zealand, an International Brain Research Organisation Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. In 2013 he was awarded the James Cook Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand.
He also plays an active role in promoting marine science and communicating science to the public and gave the opening address at an international conference on globalisation of the oceans.
Useful link
Listen to this RNZ programme in which Professor John Montgomery draws the link between the brains of sharks and the human mind.
This article is based on information current in 2011 and 2018.
