Bony fishes are the most diverse group of vertebrates on the planet, with coral reef fishes making up a significant proportion of that diversity. In my research, I study the biodiversity, bio/phylogeography, and taxonomy of coral reef fishes. In particular, I am interested in the high endemism found on Hawaiian reefs and the Indo-Pacific origins of those endemic species.
Relevant Publications
Hoban, M.L., Walsh, C.A.J., Kosaki, R.K., Bowen, B.W. (2026). Origins and relationships of endemic Hawaiian saber-toothed blennies in the genus Plagiotremus (Blennioidei: Blenniidae). Journal of Fish Biology. In review
Coleman, R. R., Kraft, D. W., Hoban, M. L., Toonen, R. J., & Bowen, B. W. (2023). Genomic assessment of larval odyssey: Self-recruitment and biased settlement in the Hawaiian surgeonfish Acanthurus triostegus sandvicensis. Journal of Fish Biology, 102(3), 581–595. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15294
Copus, J. M., Walsh, C. A. J., Hoban, M. L., Lee, A. M., Pyle, R. L., Kosaki, R. K., Toonen, R. J., & Bowen, B. W. (2022). Phylogeography of Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: Squirrelfish and Soldierfish (Holocentriformes: Holocentridae). Diversity, 14(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/d14080691
Hoban, M. L., Whitney, J., Collins, A. G., Meyer, C., Murphy, K. R., Reft, A. J., & Bemis, K. E. (2022). Skimming for barcodes: Rapid production of mitochondrial genome and nuclear ribosomal repeat reference markers through shallow shotgun sequencing. PeerJ. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13790
Hoban, M. L., & Williams, J. T. (2020). Cirripectes matatakaro, a new species of combtooth blenny from the Central Pacific, illuminates the origins of the Hawaiian fish fauna. PeerJ, 8, e8852. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8852