Sven Oscar Kullander (born 30 November 1952 in

Sollefteå Sollefteå () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. History The earliest written account on Sollefteå is found in a script dating back to 1270. During this time the name ...

) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 ...

specialised in

ichthyology 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 primarily researches

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

s – notably the genus ''

Apistogramma ''Apistogramma'' is a large genus of freshwater fish in the family (biology), family Cichlidae native to South America, but also commonly kept in Freshwater aquarium, aquariums. They are dwarf cichlids that mostly feed on tiny animals and have b ...

'' and the ''

Cichlasoma ''Cichlasoma'' is a genus of freshwater fish in the cichlid family. The genus was previously very large (a wastebasket taxon), including cichlids from North America, including Central America, and South America. Reclassification and subsequent ...

''-complex – and other tropical fresh water fishes. He also has been working with

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

fish species in Sweden. He studied at the universities of

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, and took his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Stockholm in 1984. He is currently senior

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the

Swedish Museum of Natural History The Swedish Museum of Natural History (), in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg. The museum was founded in 1819 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but goes bac ...

in Stockholm, with the responsibility for the ichthyologic and herpetologic collections. Kullander also coordinates the museum's contributions to

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

. Kullander has produced more than 100 scientific and popular publications on fishes, and described many groups and new species of cichlids. The Swedish aquarists' magazine ''Tidskriften Akvariet'' gave him "Akvariets Oscar" ("the Aquarium Academy Award") in 1996, for his great contribution to the

aquarium hobby Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. It is a practice that encompasses the art of maintaining one's own aquatic ecosystem, featuring a lot of variety with various w ...

. His wife

Fang Fang Kullander Fang Fang Kullander, ''née'' Fang Fang, (14 November 1962 – 19 May 2010) was a Swedish-Chinese ichthyologist. Early life Fang Fang was born on 14 November 1962 in Beijing, her parents were Fang Zongxian and Hang Mingxhien, both geologists. Fa ...

(1962–2010) was also an ichthyologist at the Swedish Museum.

Taxon named in his honor

*The fish, a Pike Cichlid, '' Crenicichla sveni'' Ploeg, 1991 was named in his honor. *'' Geophagus sveni'' is a

Geophagini Geophagini is a Tribe (biology), tribe of cichlids from the subfamily Cichlinae, the American cichlids. It is the sister taxon to the clade which includes the Cichlasomatini and Heroini. Fishes in the Geophagini are distributed from Panama south ...

native to the

Tocantins River The Tocantins River ( , Parkatêjê dialect, Parkatêjê: ''Pyti'' ɨˈti is a river in Brazil, the central fluvial artery of the country. In the Tupi language, its name means "toucan's beak" (''Tukã'' for "toucan" and ''Ti'' for "beak"). It ...

drainage in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Selected publications

*Kullander, S.O. 1983. ''A revision of the South American Cichlid genus Cichlasoma (Teleostei: Cichlidae)''. Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. *Kullander, S.O. 1986. ''Cichlid fishes of the Amazon River drainage of Peru''. Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. *Kullander, S.O. & H. Nijssen. 1989. ''The cichlids of Surinam: Teleostei, Labroidei.'' E.J. Brill, Leiden. *Kullander, S.O., T. Stach, H.G. Hansson, B. Delling & H. Blom. 2011. '' Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och fauna. Ryggsträngsdjur: lansettfiskar – broskfiskar, Chordata: Branchiostomatidae – Chondrichthyes.'' ArtDatabanken, Uppsala

Taxon described by him

*See :Taxa named by Sven O. Kullander

Sources

Sven O. Kullander
Swedish Museum of Natural History

(personal page)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kullander, Sven O. 21st-century Swedish zoologists 1952 births Living people Swedish ichthyologists Umeå University alumni Stockholm University alumni People from Sollefteå Fishkeeping