Dr. Greg Prang, Wayne State lecturer in anthropology, will present a free, public talk and slide show, Friday, April 26, at 3 pm., in the Greek Room (171), Manoogian Hall. "Nature and Peasant Society in Northwest Amazonia: 'Deep Hanging out' with Aquarium Fish Collectors" will examine the global market for ornamental aquarium fish.

Prang, who lives in Detroit, spent five years in the Amazon, as a visiting lecturer at the University of Amazonas, in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilianstate of Amazonas. He was there to research a small, neon red and blue fish called the cardinal tetra (paracheirodon axelrod) and trace its progress to its final retail destinations.

He studied the peasant fishermen called "Piabeiros, which literally means ornamental fish collectors, who make their living gathering aquarium fish for the $15 billion, global market, in decorative fish and accessories (according to the Ornamental Fish Int'l Trade Assoc. based in Malaga, Spain).

Prang will comment on social, global, economic and political trends at each phase in the commercial process that takes the fish from the Amazon "where the ornamental fishermen are paid approximately .005 cents per fish" to U.S. retailers where the fish are sold on average for $2.00 a pop.

Prang will debunk myths that surround the tropical fish industry and question the concept of sustainable development in places such as the Amazonas.