Hugh H. DeWitt

Hugh Hamilton DeWitt (28 December 1933 – 5 January 1995) was an American ichthyologist, marine biologist and oceanographer.

Early life and education DeWitt was born on 28 December 1933 in San Jose, California, Lloyd Lewis DeWitt (1926-1988), who joined the United States Foreign Service and Hiram Pettit DeWitt (b.1936), a teacher. He grew up largely in California, leaving to attend high school at the Putney School in Vermont. He returned to California to enrol at Stanford University, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1955, masters in 1960 and doctorate in 1966, the doctoral thesis being on the cod icefishes of the genus Notothenia. He was one of the last graduate students to be supervised by George Sprague Myers.

DeWitt was known internationally as an ichthyologist, marine biologist and oceanographer with a special interest in the taxonomy, functional morphology, biogeography and ecology of fishes, particularly the species which inhabited the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. He was one of the leading workers studying the fishes found on the Antarctic continental shelf. He first worked in the Arctic in 1958 as a project assistant while still studying at Stanford University. In 1975 he was the chief scientist on the Argentine naval research vessel ARA Islas Orcadas and he was frequently invited to participate in other cruises as his technical expertise was highly regarded. Between 1974 and 1980 he was publications secretary for the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. He named a number of species, particularly from Antarctica and was a major contributor to the book Fishes of the Southern Ocean. He died in his office at the University of Maine on 5 January 1995.

Taxa named in his honor He was also honored in having a number of fish species named after him. The snailfish Paraliparis dewitti, The notothen Paranotothenia dewitti, The barbled plunderfish Pogonophryne dewitti, The Antarctic dragonfish Acanthodraco dewitti The crocodile icefish Chionobathyscus dewitti.

He died in 1995 at his office at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.