regarded as the father of South African ichthyology. Professor of Zoology at Cape Town, he was the first to realise the
unique position of the Cape, the fishing potential and the
numerous species, especially deep-sea forms, that awaited
discovery. He started the government's Department of Sea
Fisheries, was the first director, and organised ships to collect the wealth of fishes at his doorstep. In addition to publishing many papers with numerous descriptions of new
species, Gilchrist also did pioneering work on the eggs and
larval development of fishes. Gilchrist also published six
papers with W. W. Thompson from 1908 to 1917, and two
with C. von Bonde (1923-1924). The next colossus on the
scene was K. H. Barnard. To Barnard fell the task of correlating all the information that had been published about
South African fishes, and the two volumes of his monumental work, The Marine Fishes of South Africa, appeared in
1925 and 1927. H. W. Fowler visited South Africa and persuaded H. W. Bell-Marley, a fisheries officer in Natal with a
genius for collecting, to send specimens to him in Philadelphia. From 1925 to 1935, Fowler published seven papers on
South African fishes. C. T. Regan and J. R. Norman of the
British Museum, who were contemporaries of Gilchrist and
Barnard, also did some work on our fishes. C. von Bonde,
who succeeded Gilchrist as Director of the Department of
Sea Fisheries, produced a few ichthyological papers. A
knowledgeable angler, C. L. Biden, wrote Sea Angling
Fishes of the Cape for the layman.
In 1931, J. L. B. Smith, a trained chemist with a fanatical
interest in angling and the fishes he caught, timidly published his first ichthyological paper in the Annals of the Albany Museum. He soon discovered that the eastern Cape
Province coast had hardly been collected, and his publications increased in numbers and stature until all the
museums of the eastern Province were sending him, as their
Honorary Curator of fishes, their problem fishes.
Thus he came to identify the first living coelacanth,
caught by an Irvin & Johnson trawler captained by Captain
Goosen and saved for science and for her East London
Museum by its curator, Miss Courtenay-Latimer, in December 1938. This took the name of the East London
Museum round the world and focused the aUention of
ichthyologists on this area. Throughout the war he collected
spasmodically along the southern and eastern Cape coasts,
and along the Transkei with particular attention to the
Xora-Bashee area.
In 1945 he was asked to write The Sea Fishes of Southern
Africa, and it appeared in June 1949. Its effect on the world
of ichthyology was considerable and from then on Smith
and his wife (he had married Margaret Mary Macdonald in
1938), who was his scientific assistant and artist, made a
series of expeditions up the east African coast, to Mozambique, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, the Seychelles and
neighbouring islands. These expeditions resulted in numerous scientific papers produced until his death in 1968.
ICHTHYOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRI( A
In 1968 Rhodes University and the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research joined forces and established the
J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology to honour the founder
of the University's Department of Ichthyology and to continue his work. The first Director was Professor Margaret
M. Smith, J. L. B. Smith's widow, who undertook a world
tour in 1969 to gather information on the design of
laboratories, libraries, collection rooms and specialised
facilities. The Institute was opened in 1977 and is regarded
today as one of the best equipped and most modern buildings of its kind in the world.
During Margaret Smith's tenure as Director, from 1968
to 1982, the Institute retained the original Department's
emphasis on taxonomic research on fishes, but also became
involved in national and international research programmes
on the distribution, anatomy, ecology, management and
culture of marine and freshwater fishes. The remarkable
expansion of the Institute, as well as the quality of its fish
collections, library and research publications, led in April
1980 to its proclamation by the South African Government
as a National Museum.
The second Director of the Institute, Professor Mike
Bruton, continued to build on the foundation laid by the
Smiths. New research programmes were developed on Antarctic fishes, sharks, evolutionary biology, fish ecology,
conservation and aquaculture. The institute staff expanded
rapidly, while international collaboration was extended and
active research programmes were established in several
African countries.
The Institute has world-famous collections of marine
fishes from the Atlantic, Indo-Pacific and Antarctic oceans,
as well as freshwater fishes from Africa and adjacent islands.
Besides the spirit-preserved material, the collection includes
a large number of fish skeletons, fossils, photographs,
drawings, paintings and radiographs. Ichthyologists from all
parts of the world visit the Institute to study these collections.
Besides its essential functions of curation and research,
the Institute has an active educational programme. Three
serial publications are produced: the Bulletin, Special Publications and Investigational Reports of the 1. L. B. Smith
Institute of Ichthyology. A Society of Friends of the Institute,
ICHTHOS, was formed in 1984 and now distributes information on fishes to over 650 members throughout the world.
The publication of this revision of Sea Fishes represents
another milestone in southern African marine ichthyology.
Seventy-five scientists from fifteen countries have combined over a period of seven years to produce a treatise that
is the most authoritative book of its kind in the world. Approximately 75 000 specimens of 1 500 species were collected, studied and added to the collection of the Institute,
while its staff travelled throughout the world to examine
material held in other countries. During the revisionary
work over 50 new species, eight new genera and two new
families of fishes were described from southern Africa.
29
unique position of the Cape, the fishing potential and the
numerous species, especially deep-sea forms, that awaited
discovery. He started the government's Department of Sea
Fisheries, was the first director, and organised ships to collect the wealth of fishes at his doorstep. In addition to publishing many papers with numerous descriptions of new
species, Gilchrist also did pioneering work on the eggs and
larval development of fishes. Gilchrist also published six
papers with W. W. Thompson from 1908 to 1917, and two
with C. von Bonde (1923-1924). The next colossus on the
scene was K. H. Barnard. To Barnard fell the task of correlating all the information that had been published about
South African fishes, and the two volumes of his monumental work, The Marine Fishes of South Africa, appeared in
1925 and 1927. H. W. Fowler visited South Africa and persuaded H. W. Bell-Marley, a fisheries officer in Natal with a
genius for collecting, to send specimens to him in Philadelphia. From 1925 to 1935, Fowler published seven papers on
South African fishes. C. T. Regan and J. R. Norman of the
British Museum, who were contemporaries of Gilchrist and
Barnard, also did some work on our fishes. C. von Bonde,
who succeeded Gilchrist as Director of the Department of
Sea Fisheries, produced a few ichthyological papers. A
knowledgeable angler, C. L. Biden, wrote Sea Angling
Fishes of the Cape for the layman.
In 1931, J. L. B. Smith, a trained chemist with a fanatical
interest in angling and the fishes he caught, timidly published his first ichthyological paper in the Annals of the Albany Museum. He soon discovered that the eastern Cape
Province coast had hardly been collected, and his publications increased in numbers and stature until all the
museums of the eastern Province were sending him, as their
Honorary Curator of fishes, their problem fishes.
Thus he came to identify the first living coelacanth,
caught by an Irvin & Johnson trawler captained by Captain
Goosen and saved for science and for her East London
Museum by its curator, Miss Courtenay-Latimer, in December 1938. This took the name of the East London
Museum round the world and focused the aUention of
ichthyologists on this area. Throughout the war he collected
spasmodically along the southern and eastern Cape coasts,
and along the Transkei with particular attention to the
Xora-Bashee area.
In 1945 he was asked to write The Sea Fishes of Southern
Africa, and it appeared in June 1949. Its effect on the world
of ichthyology was considerable and from then on Smith
and his wife (he had married Margaret Mary Macdonald in
1938), who was his scientific assistant and artist, made a
series of expeditions up the east African coast, to Mozambique, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, the Seychelles and
neighbouring islands. These expeditions resulted in numerous scientific papers produced until his death in 1968.
ICHTHYOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRI( A
In 1968 Rhodes University and the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research joined forces and established the
J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology to honour the founder
of the University's Department of Ichthyology and to continue his work. The first Director was Professor Margaret
M. Smith, J. L. B. Smith's widow, who undertook a world
tour in 1969 to gather information on the design of
laboratories, libraries, collection rooms and specialised
facilities. The Institute was opened in 1977 and is regarded
today as one of the best equipped and most modern buildings of its kind in the world.
During Margaret Smith's tenure as Director, from 1968
to 1982, the Institute retained the original Department's
emphasis on taxonomic research on fishes, but also became
involved in national and international research programmes
on the distribution, anatomy, ecology, management and
culture of marine and freshwater fishes. The remarkable
expansion of the Institute, as well as the quality of its fish
collections, library and research publications, led in April
1980 to its proclamation by the South African Government
as a National Museum.
The second Director of the Institute, Professor Mike
Bruton, continued to build on the foundation laid by the
Smiths. New research programmes were developed on Antarctic fishes, sharks, evolutionary biology, fish ecology,
conservation and aquaculture. The institute staff expanded
rapidly, while international collaboration was extended and
active research programmes were established in several
African countries.
The Institute has world-famous collections of marine
fishes from the Atlantic, Indo-Pacific and Antarctic oceans,
as well as freshwater fishes from Africa and adjacent islands.
Besides the spirit-preserved material, the collection includes
a large number of fish skeletons, fossils, photographs,
drawings, paintings and radiographs. Ichthyologists from all
parts of the world visit the Institute to study these collections.
Besides its essential functions of curation and research,
the Institute has an active educational programme. Three
serial publications are produced: the Bulletin, Special Publications and Investigational Reports of the 1. L. B. Smith
Institute of Ichthyology. A Society of Friends of the Institute,
ICHTHOS, was formed in 1984 and now distributes information on fishes to over 650 members throughout the world.
The publication of this revision of Sea Fishes represents
another milestone in southern African marine ichthyology.
Seventy-five scientists from fifteen countries have combined over a period of seven years to produce a treatise that
is the most authoritative book of its kind in the world. Approximately 75 000 specimens of 1 500 species were collected, studied and added to the collection of the Institute,
while its staff travelled throughout the world to examine
material held in other countries. During the revisionary
work over 50 new species, eight new genera and two new
families of fishes were described from southern Africa.
29