The Fishy Smiths

by Mike Bruton

  Initially the Institute had five members of staff – Margaret Smith (Director), Jean Pote (secretary), Rose Spannenberg (clerical assistant), Doris Cave (librarian) and Liz Tarr (artist). The next few years were joyous ones – arranging the fish collection in the enormous new collection room, establishing and expanding the library, making new staff appointments, and increasing collaboration with ichthyologists worldwide.

  David Papenfus, a scholar at Kingswood at that time, remembers helping to move the enormous fish collection in 1978 when he was 12 years old:

  ‘The whole fish collection had to be moved to the new building and it also made sense to replace the formalin … in most of the specimen bottles and tanks. With that in mind Mrs Smith asked a couple of school kids who were on holiday at the time if we wanted to help out and at the same time make a bit of pocket money. It sounded like fun and so a group of us spent three or four weeks helping out.

  ‘For those three or four weeks we fetched and carried thousands of these specimen bottles, jars and tanks: off the old shelves, onto the other side. … Many of the specimens were ancient and had been popped into their containers years ago and not touched since. What we then had to do was empty them of all their old, brown and stinking preservative and replace it with clean formalin.

  ‘For weeks we waded around in this stuff – sometimes ankle deep. I have no doubt that we were a little high half the time [the main preservative used at that time was ethyl alcohol, not formalin] and we smelled of the stuff for ages afterwards. … Occasionally an accident would happen and we would drop something. For some reason it always seemed to be a container full of little specimens (as opposed to just one unfortunate sea creature) and we would have to scramble around the floor … trying to retrieve hundreds of inch-long eels or minute little fish’ (Papenfus, 1998).

  The new Institute’s mandate was to continue research on fishes and, because it incorporated the old Department of Ichthyology, also develop the teaching of ichthyology at the university. During his ichthyology career JLB Smith had done virtually no teaching and had had no postgraduate students. Margaret knew that she could not match her late husband’s research output and realised that a commitment to teaching was the next best option to keeping ichthyology at Rhodes University (Gon, 1996). However, like JLB Smith, she had had no training in biology and was not qualified to teach ichthyology. She had learned from her husband about basic fish taxonomy but had little expertise, other than her own field observations, in fish ecology, population biology, behaviour and physiology, or in the more applied fields of fisheries management and aquaculture. She had also had no exposure to research on fish evolution, genetics and modern methods of classifying fishes, although she was always receptive to new ideas.

  Margaret was shrewd enough to surmount this problem: she needed to find a suitably qualified person to lecture in ichthyology. She chose Tom Fraser, a PhD candidate at the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Miami in Florida, USA; he was offered the post of Senior Lecturer in Ichthyology and arrived with his family in Grahamstown in March 1970. MSc and PhD courses in Ichthyology were now offered to students with an Honours degree in Zoology. Paul Skelton, who would later become the third Director of the Ichthyology Institute, was his first postgraduate student.

  Margaret, while developing the physical fabric of the Ichthyology Institute, also demonstrated that she was aware of her shortcomings in other fields in which she had less expertise, and willingly accepted advice on how the Institute, and ichthyology in general, could and should be developed in Grahamstown and South Africa. As the Institute’s staff complement developed, initially through temporary fellowships and then through staff appointments, she accepted advice from those who were better qualified, and implemented many of their recommendations. In so doing she expanded the scope of the Institute’s research work beyond taxonomy and zoogeography into other fields; and she facilitated development of the teaching of ichthyology and fisheries science, thereby securing the long-term future of the Institute.

  Prior to JLB Smith’s death, in 1965, the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa offered him the John S Schlesinger Fellowship for one to three years so that he could choose a promising young ichthyologist, preferably from abroad, who could benefit from his knowledge and experience by working with him. Smith chose Dr Peter Castle (1934–1999) from New Zealand, whose main research interest was the taxonomy of eels, especially larval forms. He arrived in July 1966 and left in May 1969 after a productive period of research.

  Peter Castle and JLB Smith with their new X-ray machine in 1967.

  An American ichthyologist, Tom Fraser, joined the staff as Senior Lecturer in 1970, and the first postgraduate student (Paul Skelton) was enrolled in 1973. A Freshwater Research Fellow, PBN Jackson, was appointed in 1973 and, when Fraser returned to the USA in 1973, he was replaced by Rick Winterbottom, son of the famous ornithologist Richard Winterbottom, from the University of Cape Town. He attracted many enthusiastic students to ichthyology and was among the first to use rotenone (a chemical compound extracted from the roots of various African and Asian plants that is toxic to fish) and scuba diving for collecting fishes in South Africa. He and his students carried out a great deal of field research in South Africa as well as in Madagascar. Winterbottom moved to the Royal Ontario Museum at the end of 1976 and was replaced by this author (Mike Bruton) in 1978, who had just completed his postdoctoral study year at the British Museum (Natural History) in London. Bruton subsequently became the founding Head of the Department of Ichthyology & Fisheries Science (DIFS) at Rhodes University in 1981 and then the second Director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology (1982–1994). The subsequent Heads of DIFS were Tom Hecht (1997–1999), Peter Britz (2000–2009) and Warwick Sauer (2010–present).

  In 1980 the JLB Smith Institute became a Declared Cultural Institution under the Department of National Education and, in 2001, its future was further secured when it became a National Facility of the National Research Foundation within the Department of Science & Technology. It was renamed the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) with a broadened long-term mandate: to make collections and study all aquatic organisms in and around South Africa – a challenging but important task. The change of name of the Institute was controversial. It was not an easy decision, and not everyone agreed with it. But the National Research Foundation had a broader vision for the Institute – to include research, and the making and curation of collections, on all aquatic animals, not just fishes, which necessitated the change. Notwithstanding this decision, the Institute is very proud of the Smiths’ legacy and continues to honour it through the ‘JLB Smith Collections Facility’, ‘Margaret Smith Library’, annual ‘Smith Memorial Lecture’, ‘Smiths’ Sea Fishes’ book, and other means. Their legacy is therefore still very much part of the Institute’s DNA.

  Notwithstanding the magnificent achievements of the Smiths and their staff members in building up the fabric of SAIAB, a dark shadow now looms over the future of fish taxonomy in South Africa. Few young South Africans choose taxonomy as a career trajectory (Gon, 2004), which has created a crisis in the museum world. JLB Smith highlighted this threat over 50 years ago when he wrote to the Rhodes University Registrar, W Askew, in a letter dated 6th August 1964: ‘… despite all one reads today about the importance of marine biology … there is no guarantee of a position, let alone a well paid one’ (Gon, 2004).

  Furthermore, the few fish taxonomy posts that do exist have a very slow turnover, and new posts are not being created. Funds for taxonomy are also hard to come by, and promotion opportunities typically take taxonomists out of research and into administration. In 2018 all the active fish taxonomists at SAIAB were retirees who simply continued conducting research. There is not a single traditional taxonomist on the staff, although the sole molecular geneticist is doing excellent work. In contrast, other subdisciplines within ichthyology are thriving, but all of them depend in some way on taxonomy.

  None of this, h
owever, detracts from Margaret’s achievement in founding the Institute. She faithfully followed the pattern set by JLB Smith, and carried out his plans for the running of the Institute during her tenure as Director. This included succession planning that would ensure the Institute’s continued survival and growth. In her single-minded endeavour to continue the good work, she really showed her mettle as well as her wide range of skills, not only in working with fishes and people, but also in fundraising and big-picture strategic planning. She laid much of the groundwork for what was to become the modern JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology (and later the SAIAB) in Grahamstown, which is testimony to her tremendous success.

  1In fact, Margaret underestimated the size that the collection room needed to be and today the SAIAB has a new two-storey Collection Room building, with a floor area about the same size as the entire original building, and a large preparation room in the main building. The library now occupies most of the space of the original collection room. One of the key success factors of the SAIAB has been the meticulous and professional way in which the fish collection has been developed, preserved, labelled and made available for study.

  CHAPTER 27

  Gone fishing

  Ichthyology thrives in Grahamstown

  DESPITE HER huge administrative load after the establishment of the new Ichthyology Institute, Margaret initiated her own research, publishing and editing programme, with her publication rate increasing substantially after JLB Smith’s death in 1968 (Pote, 1997). Between 1969 and 1977 she published JLB Smith’s unpublished work on the kingfishes (Carangidae) under her own name (MM Smith, 1970), collated his previous publications in four bound volumes (MM Smith, 1969b, c; 1973a), published further research on kingfishes (MM Smith, 1972, 1973b), described a new species of kob from KwaZulu-Natal (MM Smith, 1977), and collaborated with Tom Fraser on the description of a bizarre flatfish larva that had washed up near East London (Fraser & MM Smith, 1974).

  In 1975 she published a handbook, Sea and Shore Dangers: their Recognition, Avoidance and Treatment, illustrated by Liz Tarr and Jean Pote, which proved popular among anglers, divers and holidaymakers. Curtis (2015) wrote of this book:

  Margaret Smith in 1970 with a model of the coelacanth.

  ‘Read this booklet and you will want to stay as far away from the sea as possible. Although fairly short at 65 pages, each page is dedicated to the endless ways the sea can kill you. By biting, crushing, poisoning, stabbing, spearing, drowning, electrocuting and eating you alive. There is death by rip tides, whirlpools, rogue waves, white sharks, red tides, stone fish, puffer fish, sea snakes, food poisoning, poisoned spines, boat accidents, propeller wounds … The sea is a world of teeth – big teeth, little teeth, snapping teeth, cutting and slashing teeth, ripping and tearing teeth. Human flesh provides little armour especially to sharks that consider man a bonus delicacy to their usual fish or seal menu.’

  Also in 1975, she produced, jointly with Peter Jackson, a catalogue of the Common and Scientific Names of the Fishes of Southern Africa. This publication took three years to complete and highlighted the need to produce a new edition of the Sea Fishes book. The ‘politics’ of naming fishes had its humorous side. Some fishes with ‘politically incorrect’ names had to be redubbed, and others had to have new common names coined. Our marine fishes now include a measles flounder, warthog flounder, giraffe seahorse, lookdown fish, prodigal son, old woman, jumpingbean, gorgeous gussy (which could have been named after Margaret’s sister Flora!), harry hotlips, sergeant major, chocolate dip, evil-eyed blaasop and even a puzzled toadfish. We also have an englishman, roman, scotsman, dane, fransmadam, zulu damsel and arab blenny! Our freshwater fishes include the cornish jack, churchill, ghost sandbasher, thinfaced largemouth, fiery redfin, slimjannie, bulldog, nkupe and nembwe.

  Margaret did not neglect field work and organised a series of fish-collecting expeditions to Mozambique and Zululand. During these trips she insisted on sharing even the most arduous tasks and it was not unusual to see her helping to launch the boat or work late into the night on specimen identifications. The aim of the September/October 1973 expedition she led to the Quirimbas islands in northern Mozambique was to help the Portuguese authorities establish a marine reserve1 there, based on her prior experience in the Tsitsikamma National Park in South Africa. Margaret became increasingly involved in marine reserves thereafter, as shown by her voluminous correspondence on this topic in later years (Rhodes University Archive) and her authoritative article, ‘The importance of establishing marine parks in the Western Indian Ocean’, published in 1976.

  In October 1973 she joined the famous diver/scientist John (‘Jack’) Randall from Hawai’i, in Réunion and Mauritius, where they made further fish collections. In June 1977 she led another fish-collecting expedition to northern Zululand with Randall, Wouter Holleman, Mikkel Christensen, Robin Stobbs and Liz Tarr. In April 1979, at the age of 63 years, she led a final expedition to Sodwana Bay in northern Zululand with Gerry Allen from Australia, Jack Randall, Malcolm Smale from the Port Elizabeth Museum, Robin Stobbs and this author. The Ichthyology Institute’s new ski boat, Marlin (named after JLB’s dog), was used for the first time on this expedition but was damaged on the rough roads of northern Zululand and had to be repaired, and the Land Rover hired from Rhodes University broke down so many times that it was eventually returned with a carrot dangling from its bonnet (Gon, 1996).

  Jack Randall, who had spent so much time underwater that he had become careless with diving protocols, nearly drowned on this expedition to Sodwana Bay when he forgot to turn on his aqualung’s air supply before he plunged into the water; this author had to respond to his wide-eyed gestures and turn it on.2

  Despite the mishaps, many additional fish specimens and photographs were collected on the Sodwana expedition for the Sea Fishes revision, and valuable information was obtained on the fishes of the St Lucia Marine Reserve, which would undergo radical changes over the next few years. The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park would be proclaimed a World Heritage Site in 1999 and renamed the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in November 2007. A colony of living coelacanths was waiting to be discovered there in 2000.

  The JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology thrived under Margaret’s directorship. During her tenure the research staff produced 70 scientific papers, 25 books or book chapters and attended 55 conferences. Six major expeditions were organised, including four to foreign countries, and 11 exhibitions were held on the life and work of JLB Smith. The staff also wrote 57 popular articles and gave 176 public lectures and 95 TV and radio interviews (annual reports of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology).

  Margaret’s ambition for building on the legacy of JLB Smith knew no bounds. In 1978 she initiated a complete revision of The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, which had previously been written by JLB Smith alone and illustrated by her and other artists. Initially she believed that she could handle the revision herself with a research assistant, but she soon changed her mind. On 12th March 1978, on the recommendation of Jack Randall, Phil Heemstra from the University of Florida was appointed Curator of Marine Fishes to assist Margaret with the Sea Fishes revision. Phil proved to be a massive asset to the Ichthyology Institute and ‘Smith & Heemstra’ became a very productive partnership, co-editing the Sea Fishes revision, together publishing scientific papers and chapters in books, and jointly describing three new species of fishes over the next nine years. Although Heemstra carried out the bulk of the new research for the book, Margaret played a vital role by co-ordinating the whole project and inspiring all the collaborators to complete their work on schedule.

  Beryl Richards interviewed Phil about his work with Margaret and reported:

  Jack Randall of Hawaii in diving gear in 1963.

  ‘Speaking of Margaret Smith as a co-worker and colleague, Phil Heemstra said she was an easy person to get along with, a lovely person, full of life and enthusiasm for the work. However they did sometimes have “big arguments”, because she was a strong-willed person and i
f she thought she was right about something she would stick to it. In these good natured arguments a favourite threat of hers was to wring his neck … upon reflection Dr. Heemstra said … “If she’d carried this out she’d probably have wrung my neck once a week while we were working together!”’ (Richards, 1987).

  In view of the specialisation that had taken place in ichthyology (and in science in general), Margaret and Phil realised that they could not produce the book alone and instead enlisted the services of the leading authorities from around the world on each fish family that occurs in the southern African region to write the account of that family. The project eventually involved 77 collaborators from 15 countries and produced an authoritative and comprehensive book that is still widely regarded as the best of its kind in the world. Margaret reviewed the South African fingerfins (MM Smith, 1980), revised the Halichoeres wrasses with Jack Randall (Randall & MM Smith, 1982) and described three new fish species with Heemstra (Heemstra & MM Smith, 1980, 1981, 1983). She also wrote or co-authored 41 family accounts in the new book, which was called Smiths’ Sea Fishes, to recognise the work of both JLB and Margaret.

  The new book (MM Smith & Heemstra, 1986) included over 2,200 species, a 57% increase over the 1,400 species covered in the previous edition. It also included substantial taxonomic revisions; for instance, the number of rockcod species increased from 40 to 77, and the deep-sea lantern fishes from 17 to 125 species. The book was beautifully illustrated with paintings by Margaret Smith, Liz Tarr, Dave Voorvelt and other artists, as well as with brilliant photographs taken by Jack Randall.