Hemdal, Jay

Jay Hemdal has kept aquariums for over 40 years.  He worked in various retail and wholesaoe aquarium firms from grade school through college.  After graduating from collete, he managed the aquarium department ofa large retail pet store for five years until 1985, when he was hired as an aqurist (and later fishes departent manager) for the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. In 1989, Jay accepted the position of Curator of Fishes and Inverterates for the Toledo Zoo where hs still works today.  This aquairum exhibits over 3.200 aimals comprising over 315 different species incuding flashlight fish, giant spider crabs, giant octopus, moon jellies, coral exhibits, exotic insects, as well as many other, more commonly-seen species. He has been the AZA’s (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) studbook keeper for the highly at risk in the wild Lake Victoria cichlids since 1993.  Jay is a member of the executive steering committees for the AZA’s freshwater fishes, marine fishes and aquatic inertebrates taxon advisoyr groups. Jay has written over 140 articles for a dozen different aquarium magazines and scientific publications since is first article about sharks was published in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine in 1981.  He has written five books: Aquarium Careers, Aquarium Fish Breeding, Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques, Bugs as Pets, and Miniature Aquariums. Programs: Breeding Marine Fish Mini Aquariums