author
J. L. B.
A pioneering South African ichthyologist and author, J. L. B. Smith brought the mysterious coelacanth to the world’s attention and turned his passion for marine life into widely read books and more than 500 scientific papers.
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About the author
James Leonard Brierley Smith (1897–1968) was a South African ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. His lifelong interest in fish led him to Rhodes University, where he became a leading authority on the fishes of southern Africa.
In 1939, Smith identified a remarkable preserved fish as a coelacanth—a species then believed to have been extinct for more than 65 million years. He later helped secure a second specimen from the Comoros Islands in 1952. With his wife, Margaret, he wrote Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, first published in 1949, and authored The Search Beneath the Sea: The Story of the Coelacanth.
Smith and Margaret also worked together on hundreds of scientific papers and described or named numerous fish species. His legacy continues through the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, founded in his memory.