Fang Fang Kullander, ''née'' Fang Fang, (14 November 1962 – 19 May 2010) was a Swedish-Chinese
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 ...
.
Early life
Fang Fang was born on 14 November 1962 in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, her parents were Fang Zongxian and Hang Mingxhien, both geologists. Fang Fang attended primary school in Beijing from 1969 but the family was forced to move to
Sanmenxia
Sanmenxia (; postal: Sanmenhsia) is a prefecture-level city in the west of Henan Province, China. The westernmost prefecture-level city in Henan, Sanmenxia borders Luoyang to the east, Nanyang to the southeast, Shaanxi Province to the west and Sh ...
in
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
and then to
Fenghua
Fenghua (; ) is a district of the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. The district and its administrative hinterlands has a population of over 480,000.
Fenghua is most famous for being the hometown of former Presidents Chiang Kai-shek ...
in
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
, her father's home town, during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
when her parents' institute was compelled to move out of the capital. She excelled at languages and at writing, her talent for the latter emerging at middle school in Sanmexia.
Education
Fang Fang entered the
Zhanjiang Fisheries College in
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
in 1980 where she majored in the study of freshwater fish, graduating in 1984 with her Bachelor's thesis being about the anatomy of the catfish ''
Clarias lazera''. This thesis was awarded the second prize of the Scientific and Technological Advancement by the Chinese Agriculture ministry in 1986.
She studied for her postgraduate degree, a
M.Sc.
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
at the Department of Biology
Hebei University
Hebei University () is a public comprehensive university in Baoding, Hebei Province, China. The university has an estimated student population of 33,000, including 6,100 full-time postgraduates and 26,900 full-time undergraduates.
History
The un ...
and she obtained her M.Sc. in 1987 her thesis was about the early development of the
salmonid
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
''
Brachymystax lenok
''Brachymystax lenok'', the sharp-snouted lenok,Kartavtseva, I.V.; Ginatulina, L.K.; Nemkova, G.A.; and Shedko, S.V. (2013). ''Chromosomal study of the lenoks, Brachymystax (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae) from the South of the Russian Far East.'' Jou ...
''. While at Hebei University she worked as a graduate assistant and associate lecturer.
[
]
Career
After obtaining her M.Sc. Fang Fang worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...
as a research associate in the Division of Ichthyology in Beijing. While there she undertook extensive field work, studying fish in a number of Chinese rivers. She also assisted Professor Li Sizhong in conducting a review of the distribution of the important Chinese carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...
species. It was during her time at the Chinese Academy of Sciences that she first travelled to Sweden, working for three months from October 1992 as a visiting scientist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History
The Swedish Museum of Natural History ( sv, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, literally, the National 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 ...
under a scholarship supported by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promo ...
and the Chinese Academy of Science. During this stay she mainly worked on the sorting and identification of the collection of freshwater fish from Sri Lanka, most of which actually came from the Museum of Zoology at Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion [Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...]
revising the cyprinid
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''Danio
''Danio'' is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae found in South and Southeast Asia, commonly kept in aquaria. They are generally characterised by a pattern of horizontal stripes, rows of spots or vertical bars. Some species ...
'' at the Department of Zoology at Stockholm University
Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...
, which was accepted in 1993. She was granted laboratory space at the Swedish Museum of Natural History and in 1996 she obtained a full Ph.D. position. While studying for her PH.D> she travelled widely to South America and south Asia, and even returned to China to collect specimens in Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
. She completed her Ph.D., ''Phylogeny and species diversity of the South and Southeast Asian cyprinid genus ''Danio'' Hamilton (Teleostei, Cyprinidae)'' in 2000.[
After completing her Ph.D. she worked for the ]European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
funded ECOCARP project searching for new species which could be used for aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
in China, this lasted from 2001 to 2003. Following this she worked for the Swedish 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. team and she was secretary of the European Ichthyological Association from 2004 up to 2009. She was also a member of the Japanese Ichthyological Society, 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 the ...
, the Sveriges Fiskforskares Förening (the "Swedish Fisheries Association"), the Chinese Society of Ichthyologists, and the Chinese Society of Zoologists.[
]
Personal life
Fang Fang had one son by her first marriage, Tiantian Kullander
Tiantian Kullander (1992-2022), also known as TT, was a Swedish-Chinese entrepreneur and investor. He was the co-founder oAmber Group a unicorn digital asset services company. He served on many boards of successful companies and was well known as ...
, whom later became the co-founder of Amber Group, a digital asset services company. She married the Swedish ichthyologist Sven O. Kullander
Sven Oscar Kullander (born 30 November 1952 in Sollefteå) is a Swedish biologist specialised in ichthyology.
He primarily researches cichlids – notably the genus ''Apistogramma'' and the ''Cichlasoma''-complex – and other tropical fresh ...
in 1993, taking his surname as her married name but retaining her own surname as her middle name, and they had a son Johan Bernard Didi in 1999. In 2009 she was diagnosed with gall duct cancer and she died on 19 May 2010 in Sweden.[
Although she worked as an ichthyologist she had many interests and trained as a singer both in China and in Sweden, she participated in the Chinese choir in Stockholm and was an active member of Stockholm's Chinese community. She continued to write stories in Chinese and many of them were published online.][In Memory of Fang Fang]
/ref>
Taxon named in her honor
Fang Fang Kullander is commemorated and honoured for her contribution to the knowledge of the freshwater fish fauna of Myanmar in the specific name of the danionin
The danionins are a group of small, minnow-type fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. Members of this group are mostly in the genera '' Danio'', '' Devario'', and ''Rasbora''._They_are_primarily_native_to_the_ s_...''._They_are_primarily_nati ...
'' Devario fangae'', the first specimens of which were collected by her in Myanmar and she suggested they may be a new species, although it was not formally described as such until 2017. '' Alburnoides fangfangae'', a cyprinid
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...
endemic to Albania, was also named in her honour in 2010 as was the monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
danionin genus from Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
, '' Fangfangia'' in 2011.
Taxon described by her
*See :Taxa named by Fang Fang Kullander
In addition, the following species are among those she described:
*'' Devario maetaengensis'' (Fang, 1997)
*'' Danio kyathit'' Fang, 1998
*''Devario apopyris
''Devario apopyris'' is a freshwater fish endemic to northern Laos. It is currently only known from its type locality in the Nam Youan watershed (Mekong basin); its true range is likely to extend into Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked p ...
'' (Fang & Kottelat, 1999)
*'' Devario leptos'' (Fang & Kottelat, 1999)
*''Devario acrostomus
''Devario acrostomus'' is a freshwater fish native to the Mekong River. It is currently only known from Laos.
It can reach in total length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data a ...
'' (Fang & Kottelat, 1999)
*'' Danio roseus'' Fang & Kottelat, 2000
*''Danio aesculapii
The panther danio (''Danio aesculapii'') is a species of danio endemic to Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only som ...
'' Kullander & Fang, 2009
*'' Danio quagga'' Kullander, Liao & Fang, 2009
*'' Danio tinwini'' Kullander & Fang, 2009
*'' Devario xyrops'' Fang & Kullander, 2009
References
External links
List of publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fang Kullander, Fang
1962 births
2010 deaths
Chinese ichthyologists
Women ichthyologists
Chinese women biologists
Deaths from cancer in Sweden
20th-century Chinese women scientists
20th-century Chinese zoologists
21st-century Chinese zoologists
21st-century Chinese women scientists
Biologists from Beijing
Hebei University alumni