Earl Stannard Herald (April 10, 1914 - January 16, 1973) was an American zoologist, Ichthyologist and television presenter. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and got his Ph.D. in 1943. In 1948, he became the director of the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, California, and from 1952 to 1966, he presented the popular science television programme Science in Action. Throughout his life, he studied a variety of aquatic organisms, especially pipefishes, and described many new taxa. He died in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, in a scuba diving accident.
Herald graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1937, he then completed his master's degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1939 and then his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1943. This selection of institutions allowed Herald to be schooled in zoology by Loye Holmes Miller and Joseph Grinnell, while his training as an ichthyologist was supervised by George S. Myers. He joined the United States Army during the Second World War and rose to the rank of captain in the Sanitary Corps. In 1946 he was an ichthyological investigator on the effects of the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll had on reef fishes. In 1947-48 he was appointed to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Philippine fishery program as an aquatic biologist.[1]
Herald was appointed as Curator of Aquatic Biology at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco on 2 August 1948. He expanded the Herpetological Exhibit at the Aquarium from a single boa to one of the world's leading exhibits of reptiles and amphibians. He also secured major funding for refurbishment and renewal of the Aquarium in the form of a San Francisco Municipal bond. In addition, he conceived of a doughnut-shaped exhibit which would allow for the display of fast swimming pelagic species, for which he also secured major funding.[1]
In addition to his work in expanding and improving the Steinhart Aquarium he was also the presenter of the television show Science in Action, replacing the original host Dr Tom Groody,[2] and he presented the show for the rest of its runs between 1952 and 1966, when the show ceased production.[1] This was a half-hour weekly show, produced by the California Academy of Sciences, which was originally broadcast locally in the San Francisco Bay area but which was eventually shown all over the world. It contained discussions of science topics with noted scientists as well as a popular segment involving unpredictable animals.[2] In one especially notable sequence Herald demonstrated the ability of archer fish Toxotes jaculatrix to shoot food from the walls of their aquarium having spent the previous weeks training the fish. Herald's interest in public education about science led him to propose a "San Francisco Bay floating laboratory" on a retired, refurbished PT boat, which was designed to allow High School pupils to observe marine biologists at work. He also instituted a graduate course on Aquatic Animals in Captivity for the California State University, San Francisco.[1]
Herald was a Curator of the Department of Ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences, as well as a Trustee of the George Vanderbilt Foundation, and in these roles he was able to secure funding to support the transfer of the Vanderbilt Foundation's collection of fishes from Stanford University to the academy, which also allowed for extensive renovations of the Department of Ichthyology. He was then involved in the transfer of Stanford University's collection of fishes and the David Starr Jordan Library to the academy.[1]
Herald was primarily interested in fishes, especially pipefishes, and his initial dissertation was on the taxonomy of the American pipefishes. He was also interested in freshwater dolphins and travelled to the river systems which hold these species, he also travelled widely in his ichthyological research. In all he published 93 papers, many of which were on the systematics and biology of the Syngnathidae. He described many new taxa and some work was co-authored with John Ernest Randall and Charles Eric Dawson. During his life he published two books, the first of which, Living Fishes of the World, was translated into a number of languages. On his death he was working on two additional books which would be published posthumously.[1]
His passion for pipefishes was recognised when the monotypic genus Heraldia[3] and the species Cosmocampus heraldi were named in his honour.[4] Additionally, the yellow angelfish (Centropyge heraldi), also known as Herald's angelfish, was named in his honour by his colleagues Loren Paul Woods and Leonard Peter Schultz, the type being collected with Herald's assistance during his time at Bikini Atoll.[5]
Herald died on 16 January 1973 while scuba diving off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California.[6] He was searching for the golden angelfish Holocanthus clarionensis which had been reported by other divers in that area. He was survived by his wife Olivia and their three children, Bruce, Douglas and Katherine.[1]
The following is an incomplete list of publications authored by Earl Stannard Herald:[7]