Name: Kelleen Flaherty

Country of Residence: USA

Areas of Science: Anatomy, Evolution, General Biology, Zoology

Joined: 1995

Web Pages: Understanding Biology The Living World How Scientists Think

Biography: I got a Bachelor's Degree in Zoology in 1983 at George Washington University, in Washington DC. I was very interested in marine biology and marine animals. Most people think of exotic fish or whales or sea turtles when they hear the word "marine animals," but I, and all the other zoology students at the time at GW, worked on INVERTEBRATES: animals without backbones. Most of us did our research at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I studied two big groups in particular: crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, lobsters), and giant tube worms (the ones that live in the very deep sea thermal vents).