Mountain Culture

Zeb Hogan

Thursday, November 6
Max Bell Auditorium

Zeb Hogan is an aquatic ecologist with a big goal: find the world’s largest freshwater fish before they disappear forever. Hogan is spearheading National Geographic’s Megafishes Project, designed to raise awareness of the animals’ plight and to highlight the increasingly dire situation of the world’s water sources.

The three-year project will span six continents, and will send Hogan on expeditions to study 14 of the world’s most diverse freshwater ecosystems — ecosystems that support tens of thousands of unique species and hundreds of millions of people.

Along the way, Hogan and his team of international scientists will try to document the world’s largest freshwater fish — from giant catfish to half-ton stingrays — often the first ones to suffer from overfishing and habitat loss. Through science, education, and outreach, Hogan hopes to save the critically endangered fish, and the livelihood of the people who share their habitats.

Hogan is a native of Tempe, Arizona, and received his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. In 2004, he was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer.