Claire Beatrix Paris-Limouzy, also known as Claire Paris, is marine scientist known for her research on

fish larvae Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, , "fish"; and πλαγκτός, , "drifter") are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the epi ...

and tracking particles in the ocean. She also holds United States national records in

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath-h ...

Education and career

Paris grew up in

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Au ...

, France and had an early interests in snorkeling, surfing, and sailing. She has a masters' degree in biochemistry from the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a Lists of universities in France, public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Southern France, southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bor ...

. She earned her Ph.D. in 2001 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook where she worked on

damselfish Damselfish are those within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastenae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, with the largest species being about ...

. In 2008 she moved to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

where she was promoted to professor in 2017. From 2021 until 2022, Paris is leading the early life history section of the American Fisheries Society

Research

Paris is known for her research on larval migration and connections between populations of larval fish. She has tracked the movement of larval fish in currents around coral reefs, determined how coral reef fish larvae are able to retain their position on a reef, and quantified the export of larval fish from

marine reserve A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

s. Her research has determined the effects of sound on larval fish, discovered that fish larvae make sounds and that fish larvae are attracted by the chemical compound dimethyl sulfide. Her research uses

Lagrangian Lagrangian may refer to: Mathematics * Lagrangian function, used to solve constrained minimization problems in optimization theory; see Lagrange multiplier ** Lagrangian relaxation, the method of approximating a difficult constrained problem with ...

instruments to observe larvae in the water and she has developed a modelling system to track particles in the ocean. She takes advantage of her freediving to conduct experiments without disturbing fish and to place instruments deep in the water. The sounds recorded with these instruments can be used for science and in art installations. Following the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...

, Paris developed a model that predicted that the oil would form a plume and move southwest for the site where it was exiting the seafloor. She also examined organic aerosols downwind of the oil spill and the exposure of fish larvae to oil.

Selected publications

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Freediving

Paris is a record-holding competitive freediver, a hobby she began in 2013 after a research project in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. She placed fourth in her first competition and has improved to the point of holding United States' national records in freediving events. As of 2021, she is on the United States' national freediving team. In 2015, she set her first national record in the women's dynamic no-fins event (DNF) when she swam 128 meters on one breath. In 2018, she set the national record in dynamic apnea with fins (DYN) with a swim of 184 meters on a single breath, which she surpassed in 2019 with a distance of 197 meters. Paris developed a class at the University of Miami on Scientific Freediving which was the first of its kind at the university.

Awards and honors

In 2018, Paris was awarded the Rachel Carson lecture by the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

References

External links

* * , November 3, 2019 * , June 23, 2016 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Claire University of Bordeaux alumni Stony Brook University alumni University of Miami faculty Freedivers Living people French marine biologists Year of birth missing (living people)