Adrianus Franciscus Johannes Marinus Maria "Ad" Konings (born 11 January 1956 in

Roosendaal Roosendaal () is both a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Towns/villages of the municipality * Roosendaal (population: 66,760) * Wouw (4,920) * Heerle (1, ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) is an

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 ...

originally trained in

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. Konings is best known for his research on

African rift lake The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's ...

cichlids Cichlids are fish from the family (biology), family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses (Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have c ...

. After studies in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, he has spent most of his life in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Early life

Konings started keeping cichlids when he was 14 years old in 1970. Soon he was breeding rare African cichlids and working as an assistant to the largest tropical fish dealer in the Netherlands.

Academic studies and early career

From 1974-1980 he studied medical biology at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1980. He chose this field despite his love of ichthyology due to a fear that if he chose the latter field he would be unemployable. From 1980-1986. he did research on lysosomal enzymes at the

Erasmus University Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

in Rotterdam. Most of this was DNA-related work (

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

). In 1986, Konings moved to St. Leon-Rot,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(near

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

), where he started to write books and breed

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

cichlids. He also worked for 18 months at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

Parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it fo ...

Department.

As publisher and photographer

Konings and his future wife started their own publishing company, Cichlid Press, in 1991. Its first book was titled the ''Cichlids Yearbook'', vol. 1. The business grew and now publishes a number of cichlid guidebooks by Konings and other authors; its publications are often regarded as the standard reference works on various classes of African cichlids. Amazon booksellers list 36 different books or publications under his name. He is also a prolific

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, and a recent Google image search under his name yielded 6,900 images. Late in her career famed ichthyologist

Ethelwynn Trewavas Ethelwynn Trewavas (5 November 1900 – 16 August 1993) was an ichthyologist at the British Museum of Natural History. She was known for her work on the families Cichlidae and Sciaenidae. She worked with Charles Tate Regan, another ichthyo ...

mentored Konings, providing feedback and suggestions for his research. When her eyesight failed late in her life she asked him to accept her

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...

as a gift from the prominent African cichlid expert of the mid-20th century to the man who succeeded her in describing a multitude of new cichlid species. Konings also was mentored by prominent fish explorer and exporter Stuart Grant early in his career, and when Konings married his wife Gertrud (nḗe Dudin), also a biologist, in 1996 in

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

Grant and his wife Esther were best man and maid of honor. Konings moved to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, in 1996, relocating Cichlid Press along with his family. In interviews he has described a love of the area's climate and landscape as the reason for the move. The Konings have taken up the study of

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

since their move, photographing every species and variety of cactus native to Texas.Cactus and Succulent Society of America
He occasionally leads expeditions to

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

and lectures extensively around the world.

Publications

* ''Back To Nature Guide to Malawi Cichlids'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press; 2nd edition (November 20,2003); ; * ''Malawi Cichlids in Their Natural Habitat'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press; 3rd edition (July 31, 2001); ; * ''Enjoying Cichlids'' by Kjell Fohrman, Mary Bailey, Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press (November 30, 2002); ; * ''Celebrating Cichlids from Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press (August 31, 2005); ; * ''Tanganyika Cichlids in Their Natural Habitat'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press; ; * ''Guide to Malawi Cichlids'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Aqualog Verlag GmbH (January 1997); ; * ''Guide to Tanganyika Cichlids'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Aqualog Verlag GmbH (January 1996); ; * ''Konings' Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Malawi'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover;

TFH Publications TFH Publications is an American book publisher based in New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, sout ...

(July 1991); ; * ''Cichlids from Central America'' by Ad Konings; Hardcover; Tropical Fish Hobbyist (February 1989); ; * ''The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy'' by Jos Snoeks and Ad Konings; Hardcover; Cichlid Press (November, 2004); ; * ''Cacti of Texas: in their natural habitat'' by Gertrud & Ad Konings; Cichlid Press (2009);
Featherfins in their natural habitat

Tribute

Two Lake Malawi cichlids have been named after him, namely '' Aulonocara koningsi'' by Patrick Tawil in 2003, and ''

Placidochromis koningsi ''Placidochromis'' is a genus of cichlids endemic to Lake Malawi in Eastern Africa. They are part of the haplochromine lineage of Lake Malawi's cichlid taxa. Most ''Placidochromis'' species live in the open or sandy regions of the lake. Specie ...

'' by Hanssens in 2004.

References

Interview with Konings on his career and his relationship with Trewavas

Ad Konings Cichlid Work
in

the Cichlid Room Companion The Cichlid Room Companion (CRC), is a membership-based webpage dedicated to the fishes of the Cichlid family (''Cichlidae''). The site was launched in November 1997 and offers arguably the most comprehensive authoritative catalogue of cichlids in ...