Luke Tornabene is an ichthyologist studying the evolutionary relationships and biodiversity of fishes. His research focuses on identifying the factors that drive phenotypic, ecological and taxonomic diversification in fishes. Many of his current research projects involve the “Twilight Zone” — a diverse yet poorly studied region of the ocean that lies below the depths reachable by SCUBA divers and above the depths typically studied by deep-sea biologists. A large body of his work utilizes gobies, the most taxonomically and ecologically diverse family of marine fishes in the world, as a model to study patterns of speciation and adaptation in the marine environment. His systematic research uses a multi-disciplinary approach that relies on morphological data from specimens from natural history collections, molecular phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses, and ecological data. He is currently the Curator of Fishes at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, one of the largest collections of its kind in the world.

  Please note that only publications relevant to mesophotic reefs are indexed.

	Molecular phylogeny, analysis of character evolution, and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleost... | article Tornabene L, Van Tassell JL, Gilmore RG, Robertson DR, Young F, Baldwin CC (2016) Zool J Linn Soc 177:764–812
	Repeated invasions into the twilight zone: evolutionary origins of a novel assemblage of fishes from deep Caribbean reefs | article Tornabene L, van Tassell JL, Robertson DR, Baldwin CC (2016) Mol Ecol 25:3662-3682
	Varicus lacerta, a new species of goby (Teleostei, Gobiidae, Gobiosomatini, Nes subgroup) from a mesophotic reef in the southern Caribbean | article Tornabene L, Robertson DR, Baldwin CC (2016) Zookeys 596:143-156
	A new mesophotic goby, Palatogobius incendius (Teleostei: Gobiidae), and the first record of invasive lionfish preying on undescribed biodiversity | article Tornabene L, Baldwin CC (2017) PLoS ONE 12:e0177179
	Two new deep-reef basslets (Teleostei, Grammatidae, Lipogramma), with comments on the eco-evolutionary relationships of the genus | article Baldwin CC, Robertson DR, Nonaka A, Tornabene L (2016) Zookeys
	More new deep-reef basslets (Teleostei, Grammatidae, Lipogramma), with updates on the eco-evolutionary relationships within the genus | article Baldwin CC, Tornabene L, Robertson DR, Nonaka A, Gilmore G (2018) Zookeys 729:129-161
	Below the Mesophotic | article Baldwin CC, Tornabene L, Robertson DR (2018) Scientific Reports 8:1-13
	Psilotris vantasselli, a new species of goby from the tropical western Atlantic (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Gobiosomatini: Nes subgroup) | article Tornabene L, Baldwin CC (2019) Zootaxa 4624:191–204
	A new species of Chromis damselfish from the tropical western Atlantic (Teleostei, Pomacentridae) | article McFarland EP, Baldwin CC, Robertson DR, Rocha LA, Tornabene L (2020) Zookeys 1008:107-138
	3D ocean assessments reveal that fisheries reach deep but marine protection remains shallow | article Jacquemont J, Loiseau C, Tornabene L, Claudet J. (2024) Nature communications 15:4027

  SCUBA (open-circuit or unspecified)
  Manned Submersible
  Fishing