C. Lavett Smith, Jr.

Abstract

The highly respected ichthyologist, Clarence Lavett Smith, Jr. (Smitty), passed away on February 10, 2015, in Fort Collins, Colorado, at the age of 87. The majority of Smith's career (35 years, until 1997) was spent as a curator at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Particularly newsworthy during his time at AMNH was his dissection with colleagues in 1975 of a coelacanth Latimeria spp., making the surprising discovery that these ancient fish were livebearers. Smith was raised in Hamburg in western New York and obtained his B.S. degree from Cornell University, M.S. degree from Tulane University, and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. While being schooled, Smith worked under the direction of such ichthyological stalwarts as Ed Raney and Reeve Bailey. Drafted by the Army in 1954 while working on his doctoral degree, he served in the Army Medical Corps at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. and the Tropical Medical Research Laboratory in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, he discovered a love for the tropics and, in his spare time, even managed to describe two new species of blennies. In his career, Smith taught at a number of universities in the New York City region, in the south and midwest United States, and in Hawaii and Guam. Most of his summers were spent teaching or conducting research at biological stations, including Ohio State's F.T. Stone Lab on Lake Erie, the AMNH Lerner Marine Laboratory at Bimini in the Bahamas, and the Smithsonian's Research Station on Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Smith wrote more than 100 scientific books and journal articles on fish, plus some popular works, including in 1994, Fishwatching: An Outdoor Guide to Freshwater Fishes. Though interested in anything ichthyological, Smith's primary research focuses were the biodiversity and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes, especially in the Caribbean and Pacific, and the zoogeography and life histories of the freshwater fishes of New York State. However, he also published on many other topics, including classical comparative taxonomy and fossil and larval fishes. Although Smith was not truly a theorist, he did publish a useful primer on cladistics in the AFS Fisheries magazine in 1988 titled, “Minnows First, Then Trout,” as that approach to taxonomic classification became predominant. Smith was involved with many scientific and natural history societies, and he served in leadership and board positions with a number of Hudson River-related and other environmental organizations. His time spent living underwater as part of the Tektite Program and Hydrolab earned him membership in the exclusive New York Explorer's Club. While at AMNH, he also participated in themed tours for the public, leading snorkeling excursions on tropical coral reefs. Clarence Smith's famous coelacanth dissection in 1975. Smith is on the right. Photo credit: AMNH. Smith and wife Marjorie in lower left with his various students circa 1987. Photo credit: Moses Chang. I had the privilege of earning two graduate degrees under Smith's mentorship. Smith loved engaging graduate students, especially when piling us into his van and spending a day chasing spawning Sea Lampreys Petromyzon marinus just for the joy of it or a week in the field seining and electrofishing to collect specimens and contribute site data for his landmark 1986 publication, The Inland Fishes of New York State. As a student, I spent a good deal of time in his laboratory, which doubled as his office. With Smith's high visibility as an AMNH curator, I often heard him field telephone calls with all kinds of questions about fish from the public or reporters. After finishing such a phone conversation, he'd sometimes lean back in his chair, ruminate for awhile, and then say “You know John, life is an ichthyology exam.” If so, then Smith passed with the highest of grades.