Dr Jennifer Cobcroft and Assoc Prof Stephen Battaglene were invited to visit the aquaculture research laboratories of the University of Patras, Greece and collaborating research and commercial marine fish hatcheries in Greece (1-4 Sept 09). The visit enabled the development of an existing relationship with Assoc Prof Giorgos Koumoundouros, international expert in malformations in marine fish and helped to build research linkages between Australia, Greece and the broader European hatchery research community.

The laboratory and hatchery visits in Greece coincided with Larvi 09, 5th Fish and Shellfish Larviculture Symposium, the premier international event specialising in larval rearing research, the FineFish Final Workshop and a LARVANET workshop. In Greece, Assoc Prof Koumoundouros hosted a visit to the Laboratory of Zoology, University of Patras, where he demonstrated methods used by his team for assessment of fish samples for skeletal malformations and body shape. The methods used have direct applicability in the rapid processing and thorough classification of fish samples for quality assessment in Australian hatcheries.