Seth Eugene Meek (April 1, 1859, Hicksville, Ohio – July 6, 1914,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

) was an American

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 October ...

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 ...

in Chicago. He was the first compiler of a book on Mexican freshwater fishes. Together with his assistant, Samuel F. Hildebrand, he produced the first book on the freshwater fishes of

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 Co ...

. He often collaborated with

Charles H. Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States. He col ...

, and in 1884 on a collecting trip through the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant por ...

, they discovered a new species, ''

Etheostoma nianguae The Niangua darter (''Etheostoma nianguae'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is endemic to M ...

'', which only lives in the

Osage River The Osage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river i ...

basin. Also with them on that excursion was David Starr Jordan, considered the father of modern ichthyology. After the Ozarks trip, Meek accepted the post of professor of biology and geology at Arkansas Industrial University (now the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

Tribute

The

American halfbeak The American halfbeak (''Hyporhamphus meeki''), also known as Meek's halfbeak, is a halfbeak from the family Hemiramphidae. Its specific name is in honor of American ichthyologist Seth Eugene Meek Seth Eugene Meek (April 1, 1859, Hicksville, Oh ...

was named in his honor ''Hyporhamphus meeki''. As is the Mezquital pupfish (''Cyprinodon meeki'').

Tribute

See also

References

Further reading