Dr. Gavin Hanke

Gavin Hanke joined the Royal BC Museum in 2004 after working at the Manitoba Museum and teaching in universities. Much of Gavin’s published work is based on his PhD which focused on fossil fishes (acanthodians and early shark-like fishes) from the Lower Devonian of northwestern Canada. He has described and named 10 new fossil fish species, and has another six new species descriptions still to publish.

Gavin has 28 publications, including two chapters in the Naturalist’s Guide to the Victoria Region, and 28 species entries in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World’s Wildlife (2001), both aimed at a general audience. Currently, he’s working on a Museum Handbook on freshwater fishes of BC and additional papers on fossil fishes in Canada.

Gavin also works with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to document marine fish distributions, and is working on a series of papers detailing many new species records and species range extensions along our coast. Gavin also works with the BC Ministry of Environment to collect and monitor exotic vertebrates, with a special interest in the role of the pet trade, angling industry, and importation of live food fishes as a source of exotic/invasive animals.

Specialty:

Biogeography and biology of fishes; palaeoichthyology

Areas of Expertise

• Fishes, extant and extinct
• Exotic/invasive animals and the role of the pet trade in species introductions
• Amphibian and reptile biology and biogeography