Discovery of Australia’s Fishes: A History of Australian Ichthyology to 1930

This book traces the discovery of Australia s fishes from the earliest days of taxonomy to the first part of the 20th century. It provides a unique insight into the diverse pathways by which Australia s fish were discovered and outlines the history of early maritime explorations in Australia that collected natural history specimens. The book covers the life and work of each of the most important discoverers, and assesses their accomplishments and the limitations of their work.

Discovery of Australia s Fishes is distinctive in that a biographic approach is integrated with chronological descriptions of the discovery of the nature of the Australian fish fauna. Many of northern Australia s fishes are found in parts of the Indian and western Pacific oceans. The book covers the work of collectors who travelled outside Australia, together with that of the British and European zoologists who received and described their collections. The account ceases at 1930, the year of completion of publication of the first modern checklist of Australian fishes.

* Provides an historical overview of the discovery and taxonomy of Australia s fish
* Includes brief biographies of many Australian zoologists with more detailed accounts of those most important to the subject
* Gives an appreciation of the nature of the day-to-day work of zoologists in Australian institutions (particularly from 1885 to 1930)