Pooventhran Muruga

PhD Candidate

Pooventhran (Pooven) was born and raised in the garden city of Singapore. Being a hub for the ornamental fish trade, exploring aquarium shops proved to be a popular pastime for him. This fascination with fishes eventually grew and he embarked on a Bachelor of Environmental Studies at the National University of Singapore, while also minoring in aquatic ecology. For his honours project, he worked with the Freshwater and Invasion Biology lab, where he explored the autecology of the marbled gudgeon. Soon after, he moved to Australia to begin his master's degree in marine biology at James Cook University. As part of his masters, his minor project focused on incorporating both morphological and behavioural traits in piscivorous fishes to determine how these predators capture and process their prey. Currently, he has commenced his PhD, exploring the associations between reef fishes and corals, with the aim of gaining a better insight into the interdependency between these highly prolific groups.

Pooven’s recent publications