Samuel Frederick Hildebrand (August 15, 1883 – March 16, 1949) was an American ichthyologist.

Life and work

Hildebrand was the son of German-born parents who immigrated to the United States in 1864. From 1908 to 1910 he worked as an assistant to

Seth Eugene Meek Seth Eugene Meek (April 1, 1859, Hicksville, Ohio – July 6, 1914, Chicago) was an American ichthyologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He was the first compiler of a book on Mexican freshwater fishes. Together with his assi ...

at the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1910 he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from Indiana State Normal School and became a research associate at the

United States Bureau of Fisheries United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he remained until 1914. From 1910 to 1912 he undertook, with Meek, two collecting expeditions to

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

from which he published ''The Fishes of the Fresh Waters of Panama'' (1916) and ''The Marine Fishes of Panama'' (1923). From 1914 to 1918 he was head of the U.S. Fisheries Biological Station at

Beaufort, North Carolina Beaufort ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Carteret County, North Carolina, Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1713 and incorporated in 1723, Beaufort is the fourth oldest town in North Carolina (after Bath, Nor ...

. In 1918 he studied

mosquito control Mosquito control manages the population of mosquitoes to reduce their damage to human health, economies, and enjoyment. Mosquito control is a vital public-health practice throughout the world and especially in the tropics because mosquitoes spr ...

by small fish in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. From 1918 to 1919 he was director of the U.S. Fisheries Biological Station in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

. From 1919 to 1925 he worked as an ichthyologist at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in Washington, D.C. From 1920 to 1924 he was a consultant and investigator with the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant S ...

. In 1924 he went with the fish farmer Fred J. Foster on an expedition to Central America. From 1925 to 1931 he was again director of the U.S. Fisheries Biological Station, Beaufort, North Carolina. From 1931 to 1949 he worked as a senior ichthyologist at the Bureau of Fisheries. In 1935 and 1937 he made two further collecting expeditions to Panama. In 1949 the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

posthumously honored him with its Distinguished Service Award. Hildebrand's research focused on the life of turtles, mosquito control and the life of

fish larvae Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, , "fish"; and πλαγκτός, , "drifter") are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the epi ...

, the early development of North American fish, studies on the Central American ichthyofauna, marine fishes in eastern North America, Panama and Peru, and revisions within the herring family. Furthermore, Hildebrand was involved in the standard work ''Fishes of the Western North Atlantic''.

Works (selection)

*''The Fishes of the Fresh Waters of Panama'', 1916 (with Seth Eugene Meek) *''The Marine Fishes of Panama'', 1923 (with Seth Eugene Meek) *''Fishes of Chesapeake Bay'', 1928 (with

William Charles Schroeder William Charles Schroeder (1895–1977) was an American ichthyologist. He was born on Staten Island, New York. He, along with his lifelong colleague Henry Bryant Bigelow, made substantial contributions to the knowledge of the fish fauna of the west ...

) *''Cold-blooded Vertebrates: Part I. Fishes'', 1930 (with

Charles Whitney Gilmore Charles Whitney Gilmore (March 11, 1874 – September 27, 1945) was an American paleontologist who gained renown in the early 20th century for his work on vertebrate fossils during his career at the United States National Museum (now the N ...

Doris Mable Cochran Doris Mable Cochran (May 18, 1898 – May 22, 1968) was an American herpetologist and custodian of the American Natural Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for many years. Life Born in North Girard, Pennsylvania, she g ...

) * Document no. 1093. (with Louella E. Cable) * *''A Descriptive Catalog of the Shore Fishes of Peru'', 1946

References

*Elmer Higgins
''Samuel Frederick Hildebrand as a Government Scientist''
in ''

Copeia ''Ichthyology & Herpetology'' (formerly ''Copeia'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in ichthyology and herpetology that was originally named after Edward Drinker Cope, a prominent American researcher in these fiel ...

'' Vol 1950, No. 1 (Mar. 30, 1950), pp. 8–11 *Leonard P. Schultz
''Samuel Frederick Hildebrand''
in ''Copeia'' Vol 1950, No. 1 (Mar. 30, 1950), pp. 2–7

External links

* Charles H. Smith

Department of Library Public Services, Western Kentucky University {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Samuel Frederick 1883 births 1949 deaths People from Pike County, Indiana Indiana State University alumni American ichthyologists United States Fish and Wildlife Service personnel 20th-century American zoologists

Life and work

Works (selection)

See also

References

External links