Over the years, I’ve written about several important names in the history of ichthyology. Some were enthusiastic amateur naturalists, like the early pioneers Albertus Seba and Samuel Fallours, and others were diligent researchers of the traditional taxonomist mold: Marcus Bloch, Pieter Bleeker, [...]
Bernard Germain de Lacépède is one of the true founding fathers of ichthyology, and his magnum opus, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (Natural History of Fishes), is arguably the first great work to discuss and illustrate coral reef fishes. In this five volume compendium published from 1798-1803, [...]
The 19th century was a golden age for marine exploration and ichthyological discovery, and a majority of the coral reef fishes familiar to us today were first described during these formative years. To fully convey to a curious public the vibrant colors and ornate patterning of these new species, [...]
Because of this judicious use of artistic license and the general unfamiliarity an early 18th-century Dutchman would have had regarding the reef fishes of Indonesia, an effort had to be made on the part of Renard to verify the legitimacy of the work he was about to publish. To this end, he acquired [...]
The illustrations featured in this article represent the earliest color images of Indo-Pacific coral reef fishes ever to be printed. They originate from a compendium on the marinelife of Indonesia published in Amsterdam in 1719 by a part-time pharmacist/British spy and illustrated by a [...]
The study of coral reef fishes is a relatively recent field within ichthyology. The earliest scientific works, by naturalists such as Artedi, Linnaeus and Forsskål, consisted of little more than a series of terse morphological descriptions, completely lacking any accompanying illustrations. For [...]