Author of Freshwater Fishes of the World. Photo taken 2017 in Germany.
Günther Sterba (1922-2021)
From "The ETYFish Project":
On 16 June 2021, one of the giants of the aquarium hobby, Günther Sterba, passed away just a few weeks after his 99th birthday. He was the author of the 1959 classic aquarium reference, reprinted and updated many times in many languages, "Susswasserfische aus aller welt" ("Freshwater Fishes of the World").
Born in Czechoslovakia, Sterba began studying medicine from a hospital bed, having been wounded in 1944 while serving in World War II. In 1947 he began studying for a second degree in zoology, which eventually became his focus. His 1949 Ph.D. dissertation was on the histomorphology of the African Clawed Frog, Xenopus laevis. He became a Professor of Zoology at the University of Leipzig and Director of their Zoological Institute in 1959, where he retired as a professor emeritus in 1987. Most of his research and academic publications were in three subject areas: (1) the genesis and structure of incretory organs in lower vertebrates, (2) comparative neuroendocrinology in vertebrates, and (3) circumventricular organs and cerebrospinal fluid in vertebrates.
Sterba maintained aquaria during his youth. His love for the hobby matured as he matured, culminating in the 1959 publication of "Susswasserfische aus aller welt." Three years later an English version was published, translated and updated by Denys W. Tucker, recently fired by the Natural History Museum of London for believing the Loch Ness Monster was real (see the 1 Jan. 2020 “Name of the Week”). Professional ichthyologists were impressed with Sterba’s knowledge. Peter J. P. Whitehead of the British Museum (Natural History) praised the book in a scholarly journal, the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. This is how he opened his review:
“What contribution does the aquarist make towards the science of ichthyology? Observation alone is not science, merely one of the steps involved; it leads to an accumulation of data. Science persues relevant observations, relevant that is to an existing hypothesis, correlates and compares, tests and adjusts — then pronounces. In recent years, some studies (fish behaviour, genetics) have certainly originated from aquarists’ observations. Of value to the ichthyologist too has been the ever-growing body of empirical data relating to practical fish-rearing and breeding techniques. Any truly scientific work which helps to systematize the aquarist’s know-how will benefit both aquarist and ichthyologist. Günther Sterba’s Susswasserfische aus aller welt is such a work.”
Three fishes have been named in Sterba’s honor. In 1962, Sterba’s friend Joachim Knaack, a physician, aquarist and amateur ichthyologist, described Corydoras sterbai, a popular aquarium catfish. In 1997, Axel Zarske, one of Sterba’s many students, named a darter characin, Geryichthys sterbai, on the occasion of Sterba’s 75th birthday. Zarske again honored Sterba for his 90th birthday in 2012 with the name of the Seven-Rayed Mint Tetra, Serrapinnus sterbai.
