John Richard Paxton (born 1938) is a United States-born Australian

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 ...

, who spent most of his career at the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

. He has a particular research interest in

lanternfish Lanternfishes (or myctophids, from the Greek μυκτήρ ''myktḗr'', "nose" and ''ophis'', "serpent") are small mesopelagic fish of the large family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, the Myctophidae are represente ...

es (family Myctophidae) and other deep-sea fishes. Paxton is a founding member of the

Australian Society for Fish Biology The Australian Society for Fish Biology (ASFB) is a professional organisation of fish and fisheries researchers. Founded in 1971, the society describes itself as a "professional, independent, non-profit, non-commercial and non-aligned organisatio ...

and received the society's K. Radway Allen Award in 1997.

Early life

John Richard Paxton was born in 1938 and grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, beginning with a BA in Zoology (1960) and an MSc in Biology (1965). His master's research investigated the ecology and vertical distribution of

es (family Myctophidae) in a deep-sea basin off southern California. Paxton completed his PhD under supervisor

Jay Savage Jay Mathers Savage (born August 1928 in Santa Monica, California) is an American herpetologist known for his research on reptiles and amphibians of Central America. He is a past president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists ...

, on the

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...

and evolutionary history of lanternfishes, and graduated in 1968.

Career

Paxton spent most of his career at the

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. He arrived in February 1968 as the museum's Curator of Fishes. Over the next 30 years, Paxton increased the size of the Australian Museum's fish collection from 80,000 specimens to more than 1 million. This created the third-largest marine fish collection in the world, and the largest in Australia. Paxton attributes the growth of the fish collection to a number of factors, including increases in personnel, new collecting techniques, increased exploratory fishing by fisheries vessels, and a more efficient collections registration system. In 1997, the Australian Museum fish collection included more than 450,000 registered juvenile or adult specimens and more than 500,000 larval specimens. In 1981, Paxton and colleague Doug Hoese founded the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, which has since run every four years. Paxton retired in 1998, but remained active at the museum as a research fellow (1998–2006), senior research fellow (2006–07) and senior fellow (2007–present).

Australian Society for Fish Biology

Paxton is a founding member of the

, and a frequent attendee of the society's annual conferences. He served as the society's second President from 1976–77,"Past ASFB Presidents"
ASFB official website, archived 28 February 2014. Accessed 3 March 2017. and was made an honorary life member in 1991. In 1997, Paxton was awarded the K. Radway Allen Award for his contributions to Australian fish research.

Legacy

Paxton taught an ichthyology course at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

in the 1970s, and supervised one

honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

, three MSc and four PhD students. He has published more than 100 scientific papers, as well as two editions of the major reference text, ''Encyclopaedia of Fishes''. As of 2013, he had described 16 new species and nine new genera.

Taxon described by him

As of 2013, he had described 16 new species and nine new genera. *See :Taxa named by John Richard Paxton

Taxon named in his honor

Eighteen species and one genus have been named in his honour. *Paxton's tilefish '' Branchiostegus paxtoni''

Dooley Dooley is an Irish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bill Dooley (born 1934), American football coach and brother of Vince Dooley * Billy Dooley, Irish hurling player * Brian Dooley (writer), British television writer * Brian J. ...

& Kailola, 1988. is one of them.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, John 1938 births Living people Australian ichthyologists 20th-century Australian zoologists American emigrants to Australia