Author Archives: ehilton

About ehilton

Eric J. Hilton received his Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1996, and his Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, also from UMass Amherst, in 2002. Before coming to VIMS in 2007, he conducted post-doctoral research in the Geology Department at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, and the Division of Fishes of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C. He is a broadly trained vertebrate zoologist, with a primary research interest in the anatomy, evolution, and diversification of the ray-finned fishes, a group of animals that includes over half of all living vertebrates. He uses a multidisciplinary approach to study evolution, drawing on the data and techniques of paleontology, comparative anatomy, developmental biology, biogeography, and histology. Other ongoing research projects include the ecology of larval fishes in the Chesapeake Bay, the biology and management of Atlantic sturgeon, and monitoring the population of American shad in Virginian waters. He oversees the growth and use of the VIMS Ichthyological Collection, teaches the course in the diversity of fishes, and trains graduate students and post-doctoral researchers.