The monthly meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 16th, 2012, at 7:30, at the Dorsett Village Baptist Church, off McKelvey Rd., in Maryland Heights. MASI is open to all a”fish”ionados, whether experienced or beginner, fresh water or salt. This month’s speaker is one of the worlds’ best underwater fish photographers, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas. He comes to us all the way from San Luis Potosí, Mexico! Juan Miguel has loved fish since he can remember and has kept them steadily in home aquariums for over 30 years now. His main interest lies with the Central American Cichlids and Mexican fishes, but he is also very interested in all types of fish. He is the creator and editor of the premier website; Cichlid Room Companion. His love for computers and nature, together with the revolutionary development of Internet was too much for him to let the opportunity to create this page pass along. He has found that the maintenance of a real good home page is a life time enterprise, and he is ready to cope to that.

He enjoys traveling to the natural habitats of the fish he loves, where he obtains underwater pictures of them. He likes to observe them, trying to understand their natural history and relationships. He has managed to obtain a great knowledge on the biology and geographical distribution of the fishes in Mexico. This gives to his conferences an originality and special interest.

Juan Miguel has written many articles on Mexican and Central American Freshwater fish, mainly on cichlids, for several club and aquarium publications. He has been a lecturer in fish oriented conventions in several countries, including Mexico, United States, Belgium, Canada, England, Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy Sweden and Germany. Juan Miguel is part of the American Cichlid Association - Marineland speakers program and has been awarded the Guy Jordan Retrospective Award 2008 by the American Cichlid Association. The maximum honor this association gives to people who have done extensive contributions to the International Cichlid Hobby.

The bowl show this month is Sharks, Loaches, Eels, and Oddballs. There will also be a raffle, mini-auction and attendance prizes! Hope to see you there!!!

More info: www.missouriaquariumsociety.com/