Famous Atacologists
(I am still adding them ;)
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Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 – 1895) wrote The Crayfish, the seminal crayfish work in 1879. It served as an introductory guide to zoology through the specific study of the Noble crayfish. Huxleys was also a big fan of Darwin and was also known as "Darwin's Buldog".
Walter Faxon (1848 – 1920) was an American carcinologist. He received three degrees from Harvard University. He spent many years researching and classifying many American crayfish, including the genera Astacus, Orconectes, and Procambarus,]and contributed to at least 20 different scientific papers. Following a 2017 review, carried out by Oxford University, the former subgenus Faxonius (named in his honour) was raised to a full genus. The genus Faxonella is similarly named to honour Faxon.
Arnold Edward Ortmann (1863 – 1927) was a Prussian-born American taxonomist and zoogeographer who specialized in crayfish and mussels. In 1903, he became the curator of invertebrate zoology at the Carnegie Museum where he studied crayfish.
Ellen Clark, (1915–1988) the first "Crayfish Woman", was a renowned expert on Australian freshwater crayfish. She achieved significant scientific success without a university degree. She was based at the Royal Victorian Museum in Melbourne where she became the first woman to study crayfish in Australia (& the world!) and to publish her findings in scientific literature. In 1936, she recognized and named the Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi) as a distinct species, which is the largest non-marine invertebrate in the world and by 1939, she had identified more than half of the known species of Australian crayfish.
Horton Holcombe Hobbs Jr. (1914–1994) was a prominent American astacologist and crustacean taxonomist, widely regarded as the foremost authority on North American freshwater crayfish. He joined the United States National Museum in 1957 as Head Curator of the Department of Zoology and later served as Senior Scientist in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the National Museum of Natural History until 1984. Over his six-decade career, he authored or co-authored over 200 publications and described more than 40% of the recognized crayfish species in North America (168 species!) , earning him the nickname "Old Man Crawfish". I think of him more like the "Grandfather of crayfish", he was one of my great role models and I was lucky to have corresponded and chatted long distance with him from Tasmania. I sent him a specimen of Astacopsis gouldi (see colour photo he sent me) which he was extremely thrilled with as he had never seen one! (photos: Smithsonian Institute)
Dr. Denton Winslow Crocker Sr. (1919–2012) was a WW2 veteran and later an eminent American astacologist and professor based in NY state. He was a leading expert on North American crayfish. Over a multi-decade academic career, his field surveys, species identification keys, and extensive publications mapped out the geographical distribution and natural history of freshwater decapod crustaceans across the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. In 1968 he co-authored with D. W. Barr The Handbook of Crayfishes of Ontario. Published by the Royal Ontario Museum, this handbook served as a landmark guide for identifying species across Ontario (& Canada) until the publication of the new Guide to Canadian crayfishes in 2026!
James Payne (with HHH jr.) my two big role models.
Dr James F. Payne (1941- 2023) received his doctorate from Mississippi State University where he studied the life cycle of Procambarus hayi. Jim’s researcht in astacology was career long. He directed several crayfish (crawfish) life history studies and was one of the external examiners on my PhD thesis (he passed it without any corrections!). I finally got to meet him at IAA 11 in Thunder Bay, Canada. It was a thrill and an honour for me to chat with him and present my research and a (VCR!) video on A. gouldi at the conerence.
Dr. Francesca Gherardi (12 November 1955 – 14 February 2013) a prominent Italian zoologist and professor at the University of Florence, Italy. She was world-renowned for her extensive research on invasive crayfish. Her academic work significantly shaped the global scientific understanding of freshwater bioinvasions. Professor Gherardi focused heavily on the behavior, ecological impact, and management of the invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) across Europe.
Sture Abrahamsson ( 1936 -1973) was a foundational Swedish zoologist and ecologist whose pioneering research during the 1960s and 1970s radically shaped modern astacology. Alongside Austria's Reinhard Spitsy, he coordinated the very first International Symposium on Freshwater Crayfish in Hinterthal, Austria, in September 1972.
PRESENT
Dr. Alastair M. Richardson is an Honorary Research Associate in Biological Sciences (Zoology) at the University of Tasmania. He is a highly regarded zoologist and educator who taught and conducted research at the university for nearly 40 years before officially retiring in 2007. He still remains actively involved with the School of Natural Sciences. Alastair was my PhD supervisor and I learned a lot from him during my 5 years of studying the life histories of Tasmanian crayfishes (see the A. gouldi section).
Japo Jussila (Finland) and Lennart Edsman (Sweden) are the long-time dynamic Scandinavian astacologist duo. Working through their respective Universities, they have spent decades collaborating on the conservation of native crayfishes as well as the monitoring and harvest of the introduced Signal crayfish.
INHS Curator of Fishes and Crustaceans Dr Chris Taylor (red shirt) and University of Illinois Prof Eric Larson (blue shirt). Both have published numerous scientific papers and books dealing with the taxonomy and ecology of American crayfishes.
Dr. Pavel Kozak. Faculty member at the Faculty of Aquaculture and Protection of Aquatic Resources, current IAA president and rector of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice in Czech Republic. Pavel (is a good friend who) has published numerous scientific papers and books dealing with crayfish. One of his claims to fame is developing a method of using crayfish to monitor water quality for the Protivin Brewery in Southern Bohemia.
Dr David Lodge. an ecologist whose storied career has included protecting the Great Lakes and pioneering eDNA use in aquatic environments. Lodge has been tracking Rusty Crayfish populations in northern Wisconsin lakes since 1983, first as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later at the University of Notre Dame. (Cornell Atkinson)
Robert J Distefano is a prominent, retired American aquatic research scientist and crayfish ecologist who spent over 33 years leading freshwater conservation efforts. Working primarily as a resource scientist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, he became an internationally recognized leader in the study, identification, and preservation of freshwater crayfish.
Young "Crayfish Bob".
Dr Robert (Bob) DiStefano. Missouri ,USA.
Dr Julian Reynolds is a renowned freshwater ecologist, author, and an Emeritus Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. He is internationally recognized as a leading expert on freshwater crayfish, particularly the native European white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) as well as invasive species. Dr. Reynolds is an "Honorary Canadian" as he earned a Ph.D. (Zoology) from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada and taught at UBC and the University of Victoria from 1970 to 1977.
Walter at IAA 11 in Thunder Bay in 1996.
Walter at Lakehead University
Dr. Walter Thomas Momot Professor Emeritus of Ichthyology and Astacology at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Canada since 1975. He was Chair of the Department of Biology, 1996-2003 and is best known for his extensive knowledge of crayfish and passion for the biogeography of fish and invertebrates in the Boreal lakes and rivers of Ontario. Dr Momot was one of my early role models as one the first astacologists in Canada.
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