A moment that changed me: seeing my first moth fish | Fiona Gell

I was 22 and fascinated by fish behaviour. But when scientist Amanda Vincent showed me this strange creature I became convinced that my future lay in conservation - not in the lab

Like many of the most important occasions in my life, the moment that changed me involved fish. Holding the desiccated carcass of a sea moth while talking to my heroine, the fish biologist and conservationist Dr Amanda Vincent, altered the course of my life.

I was 22, and had just finished my biology degree. For my dissertation research I had spent a couple of months following butterflyfish in the Ras Mohammed national park in the Egyptian Red Sea. I had grown to recognise them by their individual markings and, by snorkelling at a discreet distance, I had mapped their territories and recorded their daily routine.

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