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 Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

, the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

, 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 swam ...

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 Son ...

' interest in

tropical fish Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...

. 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 The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry. History The board was first established on 1 January 1964 and w ...

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