NOTES OF AN ICTHYOLOGIST AND DIVER

Abstract

From the Editor. The presented autobiographical article, submitted by the author at the request of the Editors and in connection with his 70th anniversary, tells about the interesting and exciting diving practice of the famous Russian ichthyologist, leading researcher at the Laboratory of Oceanic Ichthyofauna of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of RAS, Dmitry Alekseevich Astakhov. Dr. Dmitry Astakhov has PhD of Biological Sciences (1984) and specializes in studying the morphology, systematics, biology and distribution of reef fish. Thanks to his unique experience as a submarine diver, he provides himself and his colleagues with primary products and samples of endemic fauna for scientific research. Dmitry Astakhov participated in 28 oceanic and coastal sea expeditions to various areas of the tropical Indo-Pacific in the waters of Vietnam (12 expeditions), Taiwan (2 expeditions), Indonesia (3 expeditions): Java, Bali, Flores, Western New Guinea, in the Indian Ocean: in the waters of its western part (9 expeditions): the Persian Gulf, Sri Lanka, the atolls of Ari, Cosmoledo, Aldabra, Farquhar, the Nosy Be islands, the coast of Kenya, the island of Mauritius, as well as in the Northern (Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba) and Southern (islands: Hanish, Zukar, Ardyn) parts of the Red Sea (2 expeditions). An important field of scientific activity of D.A. Astakhov was an experimental work on the study of symbioses of sea anemones and anemonefishes in experimental closed-cycle marine systems, which he began in 1979. In 1987, a clonal culture of the main, for most anemonefishes, species of symbiotic sea anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) was obtained in laboratory systems. To date, the age of this clonal culture has exceeded 37 years. D. A. Astakhov raised 10 species of anemonefishes (from larvae to adult fish), which constitutes 35.7 % of the world’s anemonefish fauna, and conducted experiments on the rate of settlement of their larvae into specific and non-specific species of sea anemones. It has been experimentally shown that the maximum lifespan of anemone fish exceeds 25 years. Having devoted half a century of his life to scientific activity from his student years to the present day at the Laboratory of Oceanic Ichthyofauna, D. A. Astakhov achieved unique results, published more than 80 scientific papers and actively continues expeditionary and laboratory-experimental scientific work.