Abstract
This volume is the proceedings for the 12th International Symposium on Aquatic Oligochaeta (ISAO), held in
Fremantle Western Australia from the 10th to the 13th of September 2012. This was the latest in a series of
triennial symposia that began in May 1979 when 31 researchers met for four days in Sidney, British
Columbia, Canada, hosted by Ralph Brinkhurst, then of the Institute of Ocean Sciences who has played a
pivotal role in the field of oligochaete research for many decades. That first meeting set the scene for regular
collegiate gatherings of oligochaetologists that have spawned many collaborations and scientific advances
over the past 35 years. Continuity in the oligochaete research community is shown by the fact that four of the
researchers that attended the 1979 symposium joined us in Fremantle.