The Fishy Smiths

by Mike Bruton

  Michael H Silk, one of his students, wrote after his death:

  ‘Doc was my tutor at Rhodes and led me along the first faltering steps of a scientific career. I shall always remember him as a great man who was strict in disciplining himself and others but who always showed a deep understanding of students and was generous in his praise if it was earned through hard work.’

  Dr AS Galloway, a staff member of the university, commented, ‘He helped me a great deal when I first began to lecture at Rhodes. He offered me genuine sympathy and encouragement when I was ill and disabled, and his own triumph over ill health was an inspiration to me’ (SAIAB archive). Professor CH Price commented after his death, ‘There don’t seem to be men cast in his mould any more’ (SAIAB archive); and a student, Pierre Faure, wrote, ‘He certainly demonstrated a fellowship between staff and student that would be difficult to surpass, if not impossible these days. It was a privilege and an honour to have known him and be guided by him.’

  In a further tribute in 1968 Evelyn Strickland said, ‘As I write I have before me the names of 15 Chief Chemists and Assistant Chief Chemists holding these positions from Phalaborwa, through Rhodesia, to Bancroft upon the Copper Belt. Everyone of these is a Rhodes Graduate and a pupil of Prof. J.L.B. Smith’ (SAIAB archives). Dinnie Nell remembers, ‘I see him now as I always knew him, lean, virile, fearless and absolutely honest in all his dealings both with men and with scientific facts and theories’ (SAIAB archives). LM Dugmore recalls, ‘If ever a man made good and effective use of his life “Doc” did. Doc had a tremendous capacity for friendship – a quality I appreciated when we were together at Rhodes and after my marriage’ (SAIAB archives).

  During his career as an ichthyologist JLB Smith developed from having a ‘modest reputation as a descriptive ichthyologist’ (Hubbs, 1968) into an internationally respected taxonomist who grappled with complex taxonomic problems at the level of species, genus and family. He was sometimes criticised for being too hasty in describing new fish species, and there is some merit in this argument. He described 392 species of fishes as new to science, 387 as the sole author and five with his wife, Margaret. Of this total, 121 species (31%) have retained the name given to them by Smith, 94 (24%) have been placed in another genus as a result of subsequent taxonomic revisions, and 177 (45%) were subsequently found to have previously been described as new species by other scientists. The proportion of species that JLB Smith described as ‘new’ that turned out to be junior synonyms of previously described species (45%) is high by any standard. In particular, he was too hasty in assigning the second coelacanth to a new genus and species (Malania anjouanae, Smith 1953), even though he pointed out that the fish was damaged during capture and preservation, and was already deformed; it was later synonymised with Latimeria chalumnae (MM Smith, 1986).

  Several reasons have been advanced for this trend: firstly, that he did not have ready access to the taxonomic literature published in the northern hemisphere; and, secondly, that he was relatively isolated from most active taxonomists. After Keppel Barnard had completed his marine fish work in 1927, JLB was the only marine fish taxonomist active in South Africa until the 1950s. A third reason is that Smith always seemed to be in a race against time due to his failing health. Although he was a meticulous worker, as attested by the 212 species that he described as new and which have remained valid, and his detailed descriptions of many species, both new and known, and especially the first coelacanth, he may have erred on the side of haste in some of his new species descriptions. Because he was one of the first taxonomists to study the fishes of the Western Indian Ocean, he may also have assumed that most of these species were not known to northern hemisphere – or Atlantic or Pacific Ocean – scientists at the time, as there was little appreciation then of the wide distributional ranges of many of these fishes.

  Furthermore, much of his research was conducted under adverse conditions with relatively poor library and laboratory facilities, although he did have excellent fish specimen reference collections, which he had largely made himself. Also, he did tend to publish, after 1946, mainly in the in-house journals of his Ichthyology Department, which were not subject to strict peer review. Despite these shortcomings, there is no doubt that he made very significant contributions to African fish taxonomy and zoogeography.

  Two of the new fish species that JLB Smith described were freshwater or river/estuarine species, both during his early, ‘amateur’ days as an ichthyologist. They were the Eastern Cape redfin, Pseudobarbus senticeps (Smith, 1936), which Skelton (1988) has since synonymised with P. afer, and the river goby5, Glossogobius callidus (Smith, 1937), which is still a valid species.

  In an article published in the Grocott’s Daily Mail on 19th June 1956, JLB wrote, ‘It is one of the privileges enjoyed by the research biologist to be able to commemorate in this way [naming new species after people] valuable support of scientific work’. He named a new species of goby, Trimia naudei, after the then President of the CSIR, Dr SM Naudé, other new species after Dr Cecil von Bonde (Director of Sea Fisheries), and the Governor-General of Mozambique, and the magenta splitfin, Nauria addisi (now Luzonichthys addisi), after Sir William Addis, Governor of the Seychelles. He also initially named the second coelacanth after the then Prime Minister, Dr DF Malan.

  He was sometimes quite flippant about naming new species. On Vamizi Island in Mozambique in August 1951 he reported, ‘Besides many rarities, I found two fishes new to science that morning. One was a beautiful, small creature with a red snout that reminded us of a man who imbibed too freely, so we christened it ‘Nosey’ – rather irreverently – getting three or four specimens. Later in studying this fish, I found it to be of a new genus as well and christened the fish Wamizichthys bibulus, part in reference to Vamizi, where we first found it, and partly from its bibulous appearance’ (Smith, 1968b).

  JLB Smith named four new fish species after Margaret – Canthigaster smithae and Chlidichthys smithae from Mauritius, Trachurus margaretae from Durban and Pseudocheilinus margaretae from Aldabra island. In his description of P. margaretae he wrote, ‘This exceptionally beautiful creature is named as a small tribute to my wife, whose contribution to all phases of our work is probably greater than my own.’ He also named a new species, the kaalpens goby, Bathygobius william (now Monishia william) from Xora River mouth (where they often spent their winter holidays), after their son, William.

  Doug Hoese named the smoothscale goby, Hetereleotris margaretae from Sodwana Bay after Margaret, and William Smith-Vaniz named the halfscaled jawfish, Opisthognathus margaretae, after her too, as did George Coulter, when he named a new species of cichlid fish from Lake Tanganyika Simochromis margaretae.

  Pseudocheilinus margaretae, a new species of wrasse named by JLB Smith after his wife, Margaret, in 1955.

  Several new species of marine fishes have been named after JLB Smith, including the conger eel, Bathymyrus smithi from Mozambique, the shortfin pipefish, Choeroichthys smithi, from Mozambique, the flounder, Engyprosopon smithi, from Durban, the cuskeel, Ophidion smithi, from KwaZulu-Natal, and the mini-clingfish, Pherallodus smithi, from Durban.

  Margaret Smith described 14 new species of fishes, five as the sole author, six with Jack Randall and three with Phil Heemstra; all 14 species are still valid. One of the very significant new fishes that she described with Heemstra was the sixgill stingray, Hexatrygon bickelli, a new species, genus, family and suborder of fishes (see above). That would be the equivalent, in the mammal world, of finding the first primate. Phil Heemstra, who assumed JLB Smith’s mantle as the leading marine fish taxonomist in South Africa, has described 21 new species both as sole author and with various co-authors, all of which remain valid.

  The conger eel, Bathymyrus smithi, named after JLB Smith by Peter Castle.

  The Smiths dominated ichthyology in South Africa and the Western Indian Ocean for over 50 years. While some expressed dismay at JLB Smith’s early death, others were surprised that he had survived for so long. When he marr
ied Margaret in 1938, his doctors predicted that he had only five years to live, yet he led a very active life for another 29 years. What is remarkable about him is not that he achieved so much but that he achieved anything at all considering the ill-health that he suffered during the last 53 years of his life. Yet he acquired world fame through his description of the coelacanth, his explorations of remote parts of the oceans of South and East Africa, his single-handed authoring of the first edition of The Sea Fishes of the Southern Africa, widely acclaimed at the time as the best book of its kind in the world, and his willingness to share his knowledge with laypeople. He also wrote a scientific bestseller (Old Fourlegs), which was translated into nine languages, and played a major role in laying the foundation for the study and teaching of ichthyology in South Africa, which is now permanently entrenched in Grahamstown.

  They say that, when a wise person dies, it’s as though a library has burnt down. Fortunately, in the Smiths’ cases, the library still stands. JLB Smith was a huge intellect with a superb memory and a work ethic to match. He was a brilliant and much-feared, though respected, lecturer in chemistry and a prodigious researcher in ichthyology. He was a man of incredible drive and enthusiasm who took the opportunities that came to him and achieved more than most. Although he was intolerant of inefficiency and laziness, and sometimes abrupt, even rude, he was considerate, kind and generous to close friends and colleagues. The serendipitous discovery of the first coelacanth, handed to him on a plate, gave him the opportunity to achieve world fame, and he grabbed the good fortune with both hands. Never has the Latin aphorism, ‘carpe diem’ – ‘seize the day’ – been more apt.

  But JLB Smith was a loner who did not publish a single scientific paper, chapter in a book or popular article with anyone other than his wife (and only very rarely with her). In contrast, after his death, the Ichthyology Institute published several multi-author, multi-national books on marine fishes on a collaborative basis with expert ichthyologists from around the world: Smiths’ Sea Fishes, Fishes of the Southern Ocean, Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa and Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean.

  Notwithstanding his ‘lone wolf’ attitude, and his outstanding personal characteristics and accomplishments, JLB Smith’s ultimate success as an ichthyologist was largely due to his partnership with Margaret. Together, they formed one of the great husband-and-wife teams in the history of South African science. Mrs Helen Hyslop, a family friend and wife of the Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor, James Hyslop, wrote after JLB’s death:

  ‘Your partnership in scientific research and the fine quality of your relationship each to the other was something which all admired, and in the tribute now paid to Professor Smith you may perhaps find some small degree of comfort, for such a man could not have borne the grief of losing grounds, or becoming a helpless invalid. One has seen this happen to other great men, and has dimly realised their suffering. That suffering is no less for the loved ones who stand by, and I believe that your husband thought deeply of those things.’

  Until the end of her days, Margaret was fiercely defensive of JLB Smith’s legacy, character and behaviour and tolerated no criticism of him. William Smith summed up their partnership:

  ‘She filled in the gaps. She developed a great love of people and the people loved her. Although totally without artistic training she developed the ability to draw the fish that JLB was working on. He was physically weak (after his experiences in the first world war) so she developed herself physically to fill the gap. He used explosives to get his fish specimens, she used poison. He worked on the surface of the sea, she learned to dive. They both learned the languages of the local population wherever their fish expeditions took them, and they were both in their own way exceptional Ichthyologists’ (W Smith, 1996).

  William added, revealingly, ‘Each had what the other needed, and they were happy together as far as Dad could be happy. I am not sure that people like him can be happy; perhaps that is what makes them great.’

  William deserves the final word on Margaret:

  ‘It was Margaret, on the other hand, who supplied the warmth and love and kept everything together. It was her ability, not just as a scientist and artist, but also with people, that made my parents a formidable team. She was dearly loved by everyone: once, when her car was stolen, it was taken to the informal settlement near Grahamstown where it was recognised as belonging to Margaret Smith by the community, who forced the thief to return it. She found it parked the next day in the exact spot that it had been taken from, washed and cleaned!’ (W Smith, pers. comm., 2017).

  JLB Smith pioneered new fields of research, explored remote areas of Africa that had not been researched before, established new multi-national scientific collaborations, and put South Africa on the world scientific map. He was one of South Africa’s greatest scientific sons. He was a flawed genius, and his racism and unconditional patriotic fervour detracted from his brilliance. However, one could argue that some of his flaws – his irascible attitude to those outside his inner circle, his lack of social graces, his excessive haste due to his fear of disability, and his sometimes irrational diets and exercise regimes – probably contributed to his focus and his greatness.

  In many ways JLB and Margaret Smith were the archetypal yin-yang couple, a balance between two opposites that were both interdependent and complementary. He had a two-sided personality that swung according to whether or not you were close to him, and a fanatical focus, bordering on terribilità. He was a loner, antisocial, dour and laconic, with just a small group of close friends. Margaret, by contrast, had a range of diverse goals in life. She was the peace-maker, the rational, common-sensical mind in the eye of the storm, unconditionally supportive of JLB no matter how idiosyncratic he was. She was sociable, effervescent and witty, and the centre of a vast interacting network of friends and colleagues. The chemistry between them was unique, and together they formed a formidable and inspiring partnership that changed the course of ichthyology in South Africa, Africa and beyond. We shall never see their like again.

  ‘Wherever anglers gather his presence will be felt. His name will be spoken by someone in any discussion on fish or fishing. His memorial lies among the solitary fishermen on tidal reefs and his influence will endure amongst those who love the sea.’

  Obituary, 1968, to JLB Smith by Reg Griffiths, friend, photographer and angler

  1This is precisely what Lynnath Beckley went on to do, becoming a Professor in Marine Science at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia.

  2The other ‘Smith Memorial’ lecturers have included Colin D Buxton (1994), Dave Hensly (1995), Mike Bruton (1996), William Smith (1997), Phil Heemstra (1998), Rudy van der Elst (1999), Alfredo Massinga (2000), Malcolm Smale (2001), Tom Hecht (2002), Tor Naesje (2004), Charles Griffiths (2005), Steven Chown (2006), William Froneman (2007), Brian Marshall (2008), Gene Helfman (2010), Mark Penning (2011), Kevern Cochrane (2012), Kerry Sink (2013), Deena Pillay (2014), Michelle Hamer (2015), Renzo Perissinotto (2016), Judy Mann-Lang (2017) and Mike Bruton (2018). No memorial lectures were held in 2003 and 2009.

  3Len later followed this up with a scientific paper of extraordinary virtuosity on ‘Alternative life-history styles of cartilaginous fishes in time and space’ (Compagno, 1990).

  4Completely revised editions were published in 1986, 1995 and 2003. The 1977 edition, published by Valiant Publishers, was titled Smith’s Sea Fishes, with JLB as the sole author. The completely revised Smiths’ Sea Fishes, co-edited by Margaret Smith and Phil Heemstra, with 76 authors of the 270 fish family accounts, was published by Macmillan in 1986, long after his death.

  5The river goby is widespread in rivers and estuaries from the Swartvlei region of the Western Cape to southern Mozambique but the Eastern Cape redfin, which is confined to coastal rivers from Algoa Bay to Mossel Bay, is threatened by alien predators such as bass. Recent research has revealed that G. callidus is probably a species complex (Skelton, pers. comm., 2017).

  Postscript


  NINE YEARS after Margaret’s death, in 1996, a 50th anniversary volume was published to celebrate the establishment of ‘Ichthyology’ in Grahamstown. This volume, edited by Paul Skelton and Johann Lutjeharms, featured 27 drawings of fishes on its front and back covers, including three freshwater fishes, representing the range of work produced by Ichthyology Institute artists over the years. Curiously, none of these drawings features the coelacanth, the ‘founding fish’, which is also illustrated only twice inside the book (in historic photographs), and no account of the coelacanth’s discovery is included – a deliberate omission on the part of the editors, given the substantial coverage already enjoyed by this fish.

  This could have been taken to suggest that the coelacanth was part of the Institute’s past, not its future, but fate had other ideas. In November 2000, some 13 years after Margaret’s death, three mixed-gas divers, Pieter Venter, Peter Timm and Etienne le Roux, photographed three live coelacanths at a depth of 104–118 metres in Jesser Canyon off Sodwana Bay in northern Zululand (Venter et al., 2000). In May 2001 they filmed a further three coelacanths there at 108 metres, and another in 2003 at 54 metres, revealing the shallowest colony of coelacanths known. It was a sensation – the best news in South African ichthyology since 1938: coelacanths living off the South African coast, in a protected marine reserve, and at a depth accessible to mixed-gas divers! JLB and Margaret Smith would have been delighted. Today, if you have the right mixed-gas diving qualifications, under certain special conditions, you can dive and see live coelacanths courtesy of Triton Dive Lodge at Sodwana Bay.

  In response to the Sodwana Bay discovery, the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) was launched in 2002 by the South African Department of Science & Technology in collaboration with the SAIAB and other partners, with the goal of launching a new phase of research on the coelacanth and its environment. Coelacanth fever had gripped South Africa again, and ‘old fourlegs’ was back in harness! ACEP continues today in its third phase (ACEP 3) under the supervision of SAIAB’s Director, Dr Angus Paterson.