Bishop Museum’s Fish
Man King of the Catch
Bishop
Museum Fish Collection Among Best in the World
Fish Research featured on Discovery Channel October 14, and 21
There’s hardly another person alive who enjoys studying fish as much as John E. (Jack) Randall, Ph.D. At Bishop Museum, he’s affectionately known as the “Fish Man.” The Senior Ichthyologist and extremely talented fish-catcher, Dr. Randall has photographed and named more valid species of coral reef fishes than anyone else in history. Both literally and figuratively, you could say he wrote the book on reef and shore fishes in Hawai‘i and the Indo-Pacific region.
His most recent publication, Reef and Shore Fishes of the Hawaiian Islands, published by the Sea Grant College Program of the University of Hawai‘i, is by far the most impressive and comprehensive report on Hawaiian fishes today, extensively illustrated with Dr. Randall’s own stunning photographs. It is a truly splendid culmination of his life’s work in the systematic study of Hawaiian fishes, and it is almost as much of a local treasure as Dr. Randall himself.
Dr. Randall has been engrossed in an exploration of diversity of coral reef fishes since the 1950s, and has shared his discoveries through over 700 scientific articles and 12 guidebooks on fishes from the Red Sea to the Caribbean. Dr. Randall has named 628 new species of fish not previously known to science, including more valid species of coral reef fishes than anyone else in history.
Growing up in California, the young Fish Man could often be found exploring the tide pools of Rancho Palos Verdes, or toting five-gallon jugs filled with seawater from the Santa Monica public beach for his marine aquarium at home. After graduating from UCLA with a BA in Zoology in 1950, Dr. Randall sailed his 11-meter ketch to Hawai‘i to pursue a PhD in Marine Zoology at the University of Hawai‘i.
Dr. Randall’s long-standing relationship with Bishop Museum began in 1955, when Museum Director Alex Spoehr notified him that he had been awarded a fellowship in Zoology for research on groupers in Tahiti. He, his wife Helen (now the managing editor of the Museum’s monographic series Indo-Pacific Fishes) and 3-year old daughter Lori (now working as a collections assistant in Ichthyology at the Museum) sailed their ketch to Tahiti.
Dr. Randall’s first academic position, assistant professor of the Marine Laboratory of the University of Miami, included three years directing a marine biological survey of the Virgin Islands National Park on St. John. From there he was hired as a professor of biology and director of the Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Puerto Rico. He returned to Hawai‘i in 1965 as director of the Oceanic Institute for one year, and then happily joined the Bishop Museum. Today, his extensive fish collections dominate the Museum’s Ichthyology Department, and because of his research and prolific writings he has been described as the “most productive ichthyologist in history.” Dr. Randall is presently half time at the Bishop Museum, supported by a grant from the Engelhard Foundation.
Dr. Randall’s first skin diving experience was in the cool seas off California. He may have developed the first wetsuit of sorts out of necessity--dipping his Army “long john” underwear in a dishpan of latex rubber to stay warm during countless hours spent exploring the world offshore. While a grad student at the University of Hawai‘i, he saw the need to develop a better method of photographing fresh specimens of fishes. Today his images are widely published, and his unique photographic method is utilized by many of his colleagues in ichthyology.
Dr. Randall regards as the greatest honor his selection as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in 1983, an award bestowed upon only a few of its members who have made significant contributions toward advancing their discipline and the goals of the Society. In May 2005, he was the first recipient of the prestigious Bleeker Award in Systematic Ichthyology at the 7 th Annual Indo-Pacific Fish Conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The award is named for Pieter Bleeker, who described more species of fish (1,004) than anyone, while serving as a surgeon for the Dutch government in Indonesia.
Today, many fish populations around the world are in a serious decline, with over-fishing, pollution, and invasive species all taking a toll. In light of such environmental threats, Dr. Randall stresses the need for scientists to continue to investigate the diversity of fishes and utilize the knowledge gained for resource management and sustainability.
As he looks to the future, Dr. Randall shares, “I would like to see a renewed interest in nature and an understanding of the need to describe the many plants and animals that remain unknown to science. Taxonomy is now more important than ever.” And for any budding young ichthyologists reading this, “There is a whole world of small fishes in the Indo-Pacific reefs living between 250-350 feet that need to be recorded,” says Dr Randall. “There are still more to be found.”
Answering this call is Dr. Randall’s former Ph.D. student, Richard L. Pyle, Associate Zoologist at Bishop Museum. Along with Bishop Museum Research Associate, John L. Earle, Dr. Pyle has pioneered the use of advanced diving equipment (including mixed-gas rebreathers) to explore these “Twilight Zone” depths, revealing an amazing diversity of undiscovered life. With over a hundred new species of fishes discovered already (as many as 12 new species per hour of exploration time!) Dr. Pyle has his work cut out for him, furthering Dr. Randall’s legacy of exploration and discovery. This exciting work will be showcased in a two-hour documentary program airing on the Discovery Channel in Hawai‘i at 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 14, 2007; and rebroadcast October 21 st.
The Bishop Museum holds more than 40,000 jars of preserved fish specimens, most caught by Dr. Randall, which are accessible to visiting scientists or available for loan. The impressive fish collection is the best identified collection of Indo-Pacific fish species in the world, according to Arnold Suzumoto, the manager of the collection, and in that regard may be thought of almost as a reference library, with specimens serving as books to be “read” and understood.
While Randall, Pyle, and Earle have focused on collecting, photographing, and publishing on fishes, enhancing the research value of the collection, Arnold Suzumoto has taken on the task of electronically capturing the catalog in an integrated data base management system created by Dr. Pyle. The cutting-edge data management system makes the collections infinitely searchable and accessible to other fish scientists around the world. Together, the Ichthyology team at Bishop Museum has created one of the world’s best fluid-preserved fish collections in existence with materials from numerous collecting sources and areas
“It’s an amazing resource known well to researchers around the world, but generally not well known to the general public or our local community,” says Suzumoto.
According to Suzumoto, “Jack’s careful and selective collecting protocol has allowed our collection to grow in species representation while not overly taxing the Museum’s curatorial burden by caring for duplicates of common species well represented in other collections.”
While normally closed to the public, Suzumoto opens the Ichthyology Collections for guided tours during Mad About Science Day. The next event is scheduled for April 5, 2008.
For more information about Dr. Jack Randall or Bishop Museum’s Ichthyology Collections, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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