John Dow Fisher Gilchrist

John Dow Fisher Gilchrist (1866–1926) was a Scottish ichthyologist, who established ichthyology as a scientific discipline in South Africa. He was instrumental in the development of marine biology in South Africa and of a scientifically based local fishing industry.

Education and career Gilchrist was born in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland in 1866. His early education was at Madras College, St Andrews, Scotland. He studied at the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh,

Gilchrist was appointed Marine Biologist in the Department of Agriculture of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Colony in December 1895 and took up the position in early 1896. He held the post of Professor and Director of Fisheries and Marine Biological Survey of South Africa and initiated a marine biological survey in 1897, using the vessel Pieter Faure, which led to the discovery of new stocks of hake near Dassen Island and sole near Mossel Bay. The survey was extended in 1901 to the coast of Natal but no new trawling grounds were found.

A biological laboratory for marine research focusing on marine fauna, sea temperature and salinity as a means of studying ocean currents, was built at St James in 1902 at Gilchrist's request. William Wardlaw Thompson was his assistant for most of Gilchrist's tenure and Thompson co-authored many important papers with him, including The Freshwater Fishes of South Africa and A catalogue of the sea fishes recorded from Natal.

The specimens collected during the marine surveys resulted in the discovery of hundreds of new species and several new genera of marine organisms, including many that had not been observed in South African waters before. Gilchrist described many of the new species himself, while others were sent to overseas specialists such as G.A. Boulenger, G.B. Sowerby, T.R.R. Stebbing, S.J. Hickson and J. Stanley Gardiner, whose descriptions were published in the six volumes of Marine investigations in South Africa (1902-1910), the first marine science journal in Southern Africa, which Gilchrist edited and to which he contributed many papers.

Gilchrist was an examiner for the University of the Cape of Good Hope in botany (1902-1903) and zoology (1903, 1912-1916). He was awarded a D.Sc. in 1905 by the University of Edinburgh and was appointed supervisor of marine studies at the South African College. In 1907, he was appointed professor of zoology at the South African College, replacing Arthur Dendy. His teaching assistant at that time was J. Stuart Thompson. He remained professor of zoology until shortly before his death in 1926.

In 1907, the post of Government Biologist was abolished, but Gilchrist continued to play an important role in the Department of Agriculture's marine survey as Chairman of the Fishery Advisory Board. In 1908, he described a new species of hemichordates. After 1910, he became director of the Fisheries Survey of the Union of South Africa. As fisheries advisor to the Cape Provincial Administration he compiled four Marine Biological Reports covering activities during the years 1912 to 1917.

Gilchrist resigned his position in December 1910, when a full-time curator of marine collections was appointed under the Union of South Africa. Together with his assistant, W.W. Thompson, Gilchrist published a comprehensive Catalogue of the sea fishes recorded from Natal in the Annals of the Durban Museum In 1918 he described a new genus of crawling medusa and investigated trematode parasites.

In 1920, Gilchrist led marine survey expeditions in a converted whaler, the Pickle. The expeditions went as far as Laurenço Marques to the east and Walvis Bay to the north. Amongst other discoveries were new trawling grounds for hake north-west of Cape Town. These discoveries were covered by the reports of the Fisheries and Marine Biological Survey for the years 1920 to 1925, issued by Gilchrist. In 1925, he discovered a new enteropneust.

He is the recognised authority for many genera and species of fish, such as Paralichthodes algoensis, the peppered flounder. His standard abbreviation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is Gilchrist.

Taxon named in his honor The genus Gilchristella, a member of the Clupeidae (herring) family, was named in 1935 in his honour. The Gilchrist's scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis gilchristi (J. L. B. Smith, 1957) is named after him.

Gilchrist was modest and well-liked, although he had the reputation of being an absent-minded professor. He married Elfreda R. Raubenheimer, and they had one son and one daughter.