Phillip Clarence Heemstra (9 December 1941 – 29 August 2019) was an American-South African

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

. He was born in Melrose Park,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as the son of Clarence William Heemstra and his wife, Lydia (born Epcke). He attended school in Ottawa, Illinois, and completed a B.Sc.

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

in 1963 at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

at Urbana, Illinois, as well as his MSc degree (1968) and doctorate (1974) in

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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. He moved to live in South Africa in 1978. At the time of his death, Heemstra was a curator emeritus of the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB, formerly the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology). He specialized in ichthyology and marine fish taxonomy.

Career

Heemstra was, among other things, a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

at the marine laboratory of the U.S. Department of Natural Resources in Florida, and from 1978 to 2001 a curator of fish at J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology in

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

(now the SAIAB). His work included research on systematics, biology (especially reproduction), zoo-geography and marine fish conservation, a survey of the fish diversity of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

and the western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, and the identification of marine fish for institutions in South Africa and overseas. He has also been a consultant to numerous publications and the author or co-author of several books, including ''Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa''''Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa''. Phil & Elaine Heemstra. 2004. with Elaine Heemstra. He received many honours from various institutions.

Taxa described by Heemstra

* '' Argyrosomus inodorus'', Griffiths & Heemstra, 1995, silver kob * ''Apristurus canutus'', S. Springer & Heemstra, 1979,

hoary catshark The hoary catshark (''Apristurus canutus'') is a shark of the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This species is found in the western central Atlantic in the Caribbean, at depths between . Its length is up to . The reproduction of th ...

* '' Parapercis albiventer'', H.C. Ho, Heemstr & Imamura, 2014, whitebelly sandperch, * '' Plectranthias elaine'' Heemstra & J.E. Randall, 2009. * '' Plectranthias exsul'' Heemstra & W.D. Anderson, 1983 * ''Apristurus parvipinnis'', S. Springer & Heemstra, 1979, smallfin catshark * '' Pseudanthias connelli'' (Heemstra & J.E. Randall, 1986) (Harlequin goldie) * '' Pseudanthias conspicuus'' (Heemstra, 1973) * '' Pseudanthias pillai'' Heemstra & Akhilesh, 2012 * '' Pseudanthias pulcherrimus'' (Heemstra & J. E. Randall, 1986) (Resplendent goldie)

Memberships

He was a member of, among others, the Zoological Society of Southern Africa, the Ichthyological Society of Japan, the

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of th ...

, and the

Society of Systematic Biologists The Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) started as the Society of Systematic Zoology in 1947. A temporary constitution was adopted at the first meeting on 28 December 1947. The updated "biologists" organization (from "zoology") became incorpor ...

Taxa named in his honor

*'' Pseudanthias heemstrai'', the orange-headed anthias. * '' Upeneus heemstra'' Ublien &

Gouws Gouws is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Johannes Gouws (1919–1944), South African Air Force officer * Liezel Gouws (born 1999), South African Paralympic athlete * Pierre Gouws (born 1960), Zimbabwean cyclist * Rowan Gouws ( ...

, 2014 (Heemstra goatfish) *''

Cociella heemstrai ''Cociella heemstrai'' is a species of demersal fish, demersal, marine ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Platycephalidae, the flatheads. It is found in the western Indian Ocean off eastern Africa and Madagascar. Its biology ...

'' Knapp 1996 *'' Pteropsaron heemstrai'' Nelson 1982 *''

Acropoma heemstrai ''Acropoma heemstrai'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Acropoma''. A small sample was found in South Africa and Mozambique. Description They measure between . Its set apart from others due to its luminous gland being shaped like ...

Okamoto is the 48th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese fashion model and actress *, professional Nippon Professional Baseball player *, Japanese actress and voice actress *, Japanese professional golfer *, ...

& Golani, 2017 *'' Aseraggodes heemstrai'' Randall & Gon 2006 *''

Neocaristius heemstrai ''Neocaristius heemstrai'' is a species of fish in the family Caristiidae, the manefishes. It is native to the oceans of the southern hemisphere where it is known to occur at depths of from . This species grows to a length of SL. This fish wa ...

'' (I. A. Trunov, E. I. Kukuev & Parin 2006) *'' Mascarenichthys heemstrai'' Schwarzhans & Møller 2007 *'' Kenyaconger heemstrai'' D. G. Smith & Karmovskaya, 2003

Personal life

Heemstra married Elaine Margaret Grant on 15 March 1991; Elaine has a son, Andrew Grant. Phil and his first wife, Valerie, have two daughters, Lydia and Julia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heemstra, Phil South African ichthyologists 1941 births 2019 deaths People from Melrose Park, Illinois University of Illinois alumni Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science alumni