Excerpts from Baird and Girard Railroad Survey
S. C. Rafinesque (1783-1840) • French Zoologist, botanist, geologist • Erratic genius • Moved to US (Kentucky) • Described thousands of species (mostly plants) • Proposed new classification systems • Described a number of prominent genera: – Notropis – Pomoxis – Noturus – Hypentelium – Aplodinotus – Lepomis
Notropis rafinesque
1 Louis Agassiz • Swiss born, American zoologist. • First to propose ice ages • Last prominent creationist zoologist • Ironically, published volumes on fossil fishes thus paving the way for evolutionary studies of fishes. • Moved to the US in 1850’s after publishing Nomenclator Zoologicus, a list of all known genera. • Harvard professor of Zoology and Geology • Founded Ponikese Marine Lab (precursor to Woods Hole) • Founded Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard) • Student of Cuvier, Adviser to David Star Jordan
Apistogramma agassizi
David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) • Would describe himself as North Americas greatest ichthyologist • President of U of Indiana, Stanford • 1372 publications, 645 ichthyological • Published “Guide to the study of fishes”, “Days of a man” and “Fishes of North and Middle America” 4 volume set
Etheostoma jordani
2 American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
• Founded in 1916, named in honor of Edward Drinker Cope, colleague of Jordan • Publisher of journal Copeia since 1913
Nichols, J. T. "Notes on Fishes near New York." Copeia 1 (1913): 4
Carl Hubs • Last collaborator of Jordan • Refined Jordan’s North America work • 707 publications – Fishes of the Great Lakes Region • Developed standard for morphological measurements of fishes • Faculty at Scripts Institute of Oceanography • Arguably the greatest ichthyologist of the century. • Father of Clark Hubbs – current faculty member at U. Texas
Pteronotropis hubbsi Gambusia clarkhubbsi
3 Benjamin Leonard Covington Wailes (1797-1862) • Educated at Jefferson College • First serious studies of Mississippi fishes • Large collection of fossil mollusks (now at LSU) • Sent most of his collections to Agassiz at Harvard
Report on the Agriculture & Geology of Mississippi 1854 • Checklist included 51 marine and freshwater fish species, plus 12 listed by genus (24 taxa of freshwater fishes) • List in diary indicates he recognized more species than were listed • Work done by Wailes, report published by Agassiz
4 Revealing A Fauna Mississippi in 1860
300
250
200
150 Wailes 100
Cumulative Fish Species 50
0
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Collection Year Freshwater/diadromous All fishes
Oliver Perry Hay (1846 – 1930) • Replaced Jordan at Butler University • Collecting expeditions to MS - in 1880 & 1881 • First to describe new species from Mississippi since Wailes - 11 still recognized • Many years before any other surveys of MS took place
Hybognathus hayi
5 Revealing A Fauna Mississippi in 1880’s
300
250
200
150 Hay 100
Cumulative Fish Species 50
0
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Collection Year Freshwater/diadromous All fishes
Frances Adine Cook (1889-1964) • 1927 – left graduate studies in ornithology & position at Smithsonian to return to Mississippi • Established Mississippi Association for the Conservation of Wildlife, Served as Executive Secretary • 1933-1958 – Director and Curator of State Museum • 1933- invited Samuel F. Hildebrand to work on Mississippi fishes
6 Revealing A Fauna Mississippi in 1930’s
300
250 Hildebrand
200
150
100
Cumulative Fish Species 50
0
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Collection Year Freshwater/diadromous All fishes
Cook & WPA • 1935: State Works Project funded statewide biological survey. • Resulted in 1959 publication of the first state-wide treatise on Mississippi Fishes – 154 freshwater fish species
7 Revealing A Fauna Mississippi in 1950’s
300
250 Cook & WPA 200
150
100
Cumulative Fish Species 50
0
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Collection Year Freshwater/diadromous All fishes
Stephen T. Ross • Descendant of Agassiz and Jordan • Trained at U. South Florida • Compiled second work documenting fishes of Mississippi (Inland Fishes of Mississippi) • Initiated cataloging his own collections into the USM Museum of Ichthyology
8 USM Museum of Ichthyology Growth
1400000 Species Lots 50000 Specimens 1200000
40000 1000000
800000 30000
600000 Specimens Species Lots Species 20000 400000
10000 200000
0 0 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 3 4 5 6 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
9 Revealing A Fauna Mississippi in 1970-2004
300 Ross
250
200
150 Inland Fishes of
100 Mississippi 2000
Cumulative Fish Species 50
0
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Collection Year Freshwater/diadromous All fishes
Ichthyological Collections
• Large collections in the Southeastern US – Tulane, Northeastern Louisiana U, U of Tennessee, USM, U of Florida • Why keep ichthyological collections? • Specialist resource: – archival storage – revision studies (library) – genetic analysis? – distribution analysis • Ecologist & fisheries scientist resource: – life histories – ageing – vouchering specimens • Teaching resource
10