Alec Frederick Fraser-Brunner (born 6 April 1906—died 17 Sept 1986) was a British

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

. His career included work with the Colonial Office, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and as the curator of the

Van Kleef Aquarium Van Kleef Aquarium was an oceanarium located along River Valley Road, at the foot of Fort Canning Hill, in Singapore. Fully air-conditioned, the aquarium had 6,500 animals at the time of opening, which were housed in freshwater, seawater, and swa ...

in Singapore and the aquarium at

Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo, formerly the Scottish National Zoological Park, is an non-profit zoological park in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The land lies on the south facing slopes of Corstorphine Hill, from which it provides extensive v ...

. Amongst his written works is ''Cussons Book of Tropical Fishes'', published as result of Manchester industrialist

Alexander Tom Cussons __NOTOC__ Alexander Tom Cussons (14 July 1875 – 20 August 1951). Born in Holbeck, Leeds, England to Thomas Tomlinson Cussons (1838–1927) and his wife Elizabeth Cussons (née Ashton, 1843–1905). Alexander was the Chairman of Cussons Sons ...

' interest in tropical fish. Cussons had a keen interest in orchids. The hot-houses in which he grew them proved to be well-suited to tropical fish

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

s.
Alec Frederick Fraser-Brunner is the designer of Singapore's iconic national symbol, the

Merlion The Merlion () is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to repre ...

. The Merlion was originally designed for the Singapore Tourism Board as their logo in 1964. It went on to be sculpted by Mr Lim Nang Seng and completed in 1972. It now sits at Merlion Park in Marina Bay.

References

1906 births 1986 deaths British ichthyologists Taxon authorities 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-zoologist-stub