Theodore W. Pietsch
Encyclopedia
Theodore Wells Pietsch III (March 6, 1945 – ) is an American systematist
and evolutionary biologist made famous by his studies of anglerfishes. Pietsch has described 65 species
and 12 genera
of fishes and published numerous scientific papers focusing on the relationships, evolutionary history
, and functional morphology
of teleosts
, particularly deep-sea
taxa
. For this outstanding body of work, Pietsch was awarded the Robert H. Gibbs Jr. Memorial Award in Systematic Ichthyology by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
in 2005. Pietsch has spent most of his career at the University of Washington
in Seattle as a professor mentoring graduate students, teaching ichthyology
to undergraduates, and curating the ichthyology collections of the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
.
and 12 genera
of fishes, most of them lophiiform
taxa, both living and extinct, including the recently described Psychedelic Frogfish, Histiophryne psychedelica. He is recognized as an expert on the evolution, ecology, and behavior of both shallow-water anglerfishes (e.g., frogfish
es) and deep-sea anglerfishes of the suborder Ceratioidei. Perhaps his most intriguing work has focused on the evolution
of sexual parasitism
in deep-sea anglerfishes, a reproductive strategy in which a tiny dwarf male attaches and fuses to a much larger female. With his studies of the evolutionary relationships of anglerfish species, Pietsch has determined that this reproductive mode
may have evolved as many as five times within deep-sea anglerfishes.
, especially the biosystematics
, zoogeography
, reproductive biology
, and behavior
of deep-sea fish
es. He has also published extensively on the history of science, especially the history of ichthyology. Among the latter are works on the French comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier
and his 22-volume Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (1828−1849); bookdealer, publisher, and secret agent Louis Renard and his Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs; the unpublished manuscripts of the French explorer-naturalist Charles Plumier
; and the unpublished paintings of Indo-west Pacific marine fishes and crustaceans of Isaac Johannes Lamotius. His first novel, The Curious Death of Peter Artedi
: A Mystery in the History of Science, was published by Scott & Nix, New York, in December 2010. Trees of Life: A Visual History of Evolution, Johns Hopkins University Press
; and an annotated, illustrated, English translation of the first of Cuvier’s
five-volume Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, depuis leur Origine jusqu’a nos Jours, are currently in press.
Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
and evolutionary biologist made famous by his studies of anglerfishes. Pietsch has described 65 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and 12 genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of fishes and published numerous scientific papers focusing on the relationships, evolutionary history
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, and functional morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
of teleosts
Teleostei
Teleostei is one of three infraclasses in class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes. This diverse group, which arose in the Triassic period, includes 20,000 extant species in about 40 orders; most living fishes are members of this group...
, particularly deep-sea
Deep sea
The deep sea, or deep layer, is the lowest layer in the ocean, existing below the thermocline and above the seabed, at a depth of 1000 fathoms or more. Little or no light penetrates this part of the ocean and most of the organisms that live there rely for subsistence on falling organic matter...
taxa
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
. For this outstanding body of work, Pietsch was awarded the Robert H. Gibbs Jr. Memorial Award in Systematic Ichthyology by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists is an international organization devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology and herpetology...
in 2005. Pietsch has spent most of his career at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle as a professor mentoring graduate students, teaching ichthyology
Ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...
to undergraduates, and curating the ichthyology collections of the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture has been a Washington state museum since 1899. It is located at the University of Washington campus at the intersection of N.E. 45th Street and 17th Avenue N.E. in Seattle, Washington, USA, in the University District. It is the only major natural...
.
Academic research
Pietsch has named 65 speciesSpecies
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and 12 genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of fishes, most of them lophiiform
Anglerfish
Anglerfishes are members of the teleost order Lophiiformes . They are bony fishes named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head acts as a lure; this is considered analogous to angling.Some anglerfishes are pelagic , while others are benthic...
taxa, both living and extinct, including the recently described Psychedelic Frogfish, Histiophryne psychedelica. He is recognized as an expert on the evolution, ecology, and behavior of both shallow-water anglerfishes (e.g., frogfish
Frogfish
Frogfishes, family Antennariidae, are a type of anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes. They are known as anglerfishes in Australia, where 'frogfish' refers to a different type of fish...
es) and deep-sea anglerfishes of the suborder Ceratioidei. Perhaps his most intriguing work has focused on the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of sexual parasitism
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
in deep-sea anglerfishes, a reproductive strategy in which a tiny dwarf male attaches and fuses to a much larger female. With his studies of the evolutionary relationships of anglerfish species, Pietsch has determined that this reproductive mode
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...
may have evolved as many as five times within deep-sea anglerfishes.
Published works
T. W. Pietsch is the author of over 190 scientific and popular articles, including a dozen books, that focus primarily on marine ichthyologyIchthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...
, especially the biosystematics
Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
, zoogeography
Zoogeography
Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of animal species.-External links:*: A course outline and collection of Web resources by Dr. Taylor, UBC...
, reproductive biology
Reproductive biology
Reproductive biology is a study mainly involving the reproductive system and sex organs. It is closely related to reproductive endocrinology and infertility. also is miotosis and miosis...
, and behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
of deep-sea fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es. He has also published extensively on the history of science, especially the history of ichthyology. Among the latter are works on the French comparative anatomist Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
and his 22-volume Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (1828−1849); bookdealer, publisher, and secret agent Louis Renard and his Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs; the unpublished manuscripts of the French explorer-naturalist Charles Plumier
Charles Plumier
Charles Plumier was a French botanist, after whom the Frangipani genus Plumeria is named. Plumier is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time...
; and the unpublished paintings of Indo-west Pacific marine fishes and crustaceans of Isaac Johannes Lamotius. His first novel, The Curious Death of Peter Artedi
Peter Artedi
Peter Artedi or Petrus Arctaedius was a Swedish naturalist and is known as the "father of Ichthyology."...
: A Mystery in the History of Science, was published by Scott & Nix, New York, in December 2010. Trees of Life: A Visual History of Evolution, Johns Hopkins University Press
Johns Hopkins University Press
The Johns Hopkins University Press is the publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The Press publishes books, journals, and electronic databases...
; and an annotated, illustrated, English translation of the first of Cuvier’s
Georges Cuvier
Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
five-volume Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, depuis leur Origine jusqu’a nos Jours, are currently in press.
Selected bibliography
- 1985. The manuscript materials for the Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, 1828−1849: Sources for understanding the fishes described by Cuvier and Valenciennes. Arch. Nat. Hist., 12(1): 59−108.
- with D. B. Grobecker. 1987. Frogfishes of the World: Systematics, Zoogeography, and Behavioral Ecology. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, xxii + 420 pp.
- (as editor) 1995. Historical Portrait of the Progress of Ichthyology, from Its Origins to Our Own Time. Edited and annotated by T. W. Pietsch, translated from the French by A. J. Simpson. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, xxiv + 366 pp., 67 figures.
- 1995. Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs: Louis Renard and His Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Vol. 1, Commentary, xxii + 214 pp., 95 figures; Vol. 2, Facsimile, 224 pp., 100 color pls.
- (with W. D. Anderson, Jr. as editors) 1997. Collection Building in Ichthyology and Herpetology. Amer. Soc. Ichthy. Herp., Spec. Publ., 3, xiii + 593 pp.
- with L. B. Holthuis. 2006. Les Planches inédites de Poissons et autres Animaux marins de l’Indo-Ouest Pacifique d’Isaac Johannes Lamotius [Isaac Johannes Lamotius (1646−c. 1718) and His Paintings of Indo-Pacific Fishes and Other Marine Animals]. Christian Érard (editor), Publications Scientifiques du Muséum and Bibliothèque Centrale, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 292 pp., 93 color pls.
- 2008. A Mermaid in the Tub: A Specimen of MvB Sirenne, a New Family of Type-Faces by Alan Greene, Inspired by Engraved Letterforms in a Rare Book. Mark van Bronkhorst and E. M. Ginger, editors, MvB Fonts, Albany, California, 36 pp.
- 2009. Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep-sea. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, xii + 557 pp.
- 2010. The Curious Death of Peter Artedi: A Mystery in the History of Science. Scott & Nix, New York, x + 224 pp.
- In Press. Trees of Life: A Visual History of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
- (as editor) In Press. Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, depuis leur Origine jusqu’a nos Jours. Edited and annotated by T. W. Pietsch, translated from the French by A. J. Simpson. Publications Scientifiques du Muséum and Bibliothèque Centrale, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris.