John Paxton (ichthyologist)

John Richard Paxton (born 1938) is a United States-born Australian ichthyologist, who spent most of his career at the Australian Museum. He has a particular research interest in lanternfishes (family Myctophidae) and other deep-sea fishes.[4] Paxton is a founding member of the Australian Society for Fish Biology and received the society's K. Radway Allen Award in 1997.[1]

John Richard Paxton
Born1938
Alma materUniversity of Southern California[1]
Known forCurator of the Australian Museum's fish collection; President of Australian Society for Fish Biology
Spouse(s)Hannelore Paxton[2]
AwardsK. Radway Allen Award[3]
Scientific career
ThesisEvolution In The Oceanic Midwaters: Comparative Osteology And Relationships Of The Lanternfishes (Family Myctophidae) (1968)
Doctoral advisorJay Savage[1]

Early life

John Richard Paxton was born in 1938[5] and grew up in Los Angeles, California.[1] He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Southern California, beginning with a BA in Zoology (1960) and an MSc in Biology (1965).[1] His master's research investigated the ecology and vertical distribution of lanternfishes (family Myctophidae) in a deep-sea basin off southern California.[2] Paxton completed his PhD under supervisor Jay Savage, on the osteology and evolutionary history of lanternfishes, and graduated in 1968.[1][2][6]

Career

Paxton spent most of his career at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia.[7] He arrived in February 1968 as the museum's Curator of Fishes.[5][2] Over the next 30 years, Paxton increased the size of the Australian Museum's fish collection from 80,000 specimens to more than 1 million.[1][8] This created the third-largest marine fish collection in the world, and the largest in Australia.[8] Paxton attributes the growth of the fish collection to a number of factors, including increases in personnel, new collecting techniques, increased exploratory fishing by fisheries vessels, and a more efficient collections registration system.[7] In 1997, the Australian Museum fish collection included more than 450,000 registered juvenile or adult specimens and more than 500,000 larval specimens.[5]

In 1981, Paxton and colleague Doug Hoese founded the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, which has since run every four years.[9] Paxton retired in 1998,[1][4] but remained active at the museum as a Research Fellow (1998–2006), Senior Research Fellow (2006–07) and Senior Fellow (2007–present).[7]

Australian Society for Fish Biology

Paxton is a founding member of the Australian Society for Fish Biology, and a frequent attendee of the society's annual conferences.[1] He served as the society's second President from 1976–77,[10] and was made an honorary life member in 1991.[1] In 1997, Paxton was awarded the K. Radway Allen Award for his contributions to Australian fish research.[1]

Legacy

Paxton taught an ichthyology course at Macquarie University in the 1970s, and supervised one honours, three MSc and four PhD students.[1] He has published more than 100 scientific papers, as well as two editions of the major reference text, Encyclopaedia of Fishes.[1] As of 2013, he had described 16 new species and nine new genera.[1] Eighteen species and one genus have been named in his honour.[1]

References
  1. Leis, Jeff. "John Richard Paxton". Australian Society for Fish Biology. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  2. Australian Marine Sciences Association (March 30, 1968). "Curator of Fishes, Australian Museum" (PDF). Australian Marine Sciences Newsletter. 22: 17.
  3. "K. Radway Allen Award", Australian Society for Fish Biology, official website. Accessed 25 July 2019.
  4. McGrouther, Mark A. (2006). Tomida, Y. (ed.). "Ichthyology at the Australian Museum: Collections, Databases and the Web". National Science Museum Monographs. 34 (Proceedings of the 7th and 8th Symposia on Collection Building and Natural History Studies in Asia and the Pacific Rim): 103–116.
  5. Paxton, John R.; McGrouther, Mark A. (1997). "A history of the fish collection at the Australian Museum (1860-1968), with a summary of current Australian fish collections". In Pietsch, T.W.; Anderson, W. (eds.). Collection building in ichthyology and herpetology. American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology. pp. 183–205.
  6. Paxton, John R. (1968) "Evolution In The Oceanic Midwaters: Comparative Osteology And Relationships Of The Lanternfishes (Family Myctophidae)" PhD thesis, University of Southern California. Accessed July 21, 2020.
  7. Australian Museum. "Staff Profile: 'Dr John Paxton'". The Australian Museum. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  8. Norwood, Catherine (2014). "Improved science and greater collaboration in research and management can emerge from opportunities for scientists and managers from different fields to share their work". FISH. 22(1). Archived from the original on July 21, 2020.
  9. "Preface by Doug Hoese & John Paxton, Co-founders of the IPFC". IPFC 10 Indo-Pacific Fish Conference: 36 Years of International Cohesion in Ichthyological Scientific Research, 1981 - 2017 (PDF). Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE). 2017.
  10. "Past ASFB Presidents" ASFB official website, archived 28 February 2014. Accessed 3 March 2017.
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