H Geoffrey Moser. Larval Fishes: Taxonomy, Distribution, and Fisheries Biology
Authors' note.—H Geoffrey Moser was one of the most influential larval-fish biologists of the past century. He was perhaps best known to ASIH members as the coeditor and motivating force behind the first ASIH Special Publication, Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. His other accomplishments included an extensive body of publications on larval fishes, with descriptions of development in almost 50 families and as editor of one of the most comprehensive regional identification guides for the California Current (relevant for much of the eastern Pacific and elsewhere). He co-taught courses in larval-fish identification that trained a generation of ichthyologists in that discipline. Many of those scientists have passed that skill on to younger students, continuing his legacy to the present. In addition, he was a talented illustrator and a poet. Geoff, as he was known to his colleagues and friends, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 83 on September 30, 2021. He was interviewed for this Historical Perspective by internet during the COVID-19 pandemic at his home in Bozeman, Montana, in April, 2021 by Eric Hilton and Bruce Mundy. He also provided most of the photographs. The interview was completed through questions and answers exchanged by email. Geoff was shown all of the drafts of this account. He actively contributed to it until the day before his death and approved its content.
(A) The Ridley Park High School Dance Band in Geoff's senior year of high school (1955–1956). Geoff, on saxophone, is in the front row, far right. (B) The Pennsylvania All-Delaware County Football Team in 1955, of which Geoff Moser was part. Geoff is in the upper right, with his first name misspelled as “Jeff.”
Geoff and Pamela Moser in 1982 in Japan when Geoff was a visiting scientist at the Ocean Research Institute (now part of the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute), University of Tokyo. Photograph by Kouichi Kawaguchi.
Herbert Perkins (left) and Geoff Moser (right) at the California Current Resources Laboratory of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1962. Perkins worked with Fred Berry on midwater and other pelagic fishes collected in pioneering midwater trawl surveys off southern California (Berry and Perkins, 1965).
Geoff Moser (right) with Elbert “Ahlie” Ahlstrom (left) in 1972, taken for a San Diego newspaper article about the Wildlife Society recognition of Moser and Ahlstrom (1970).
Geoff Moser in 1977 while co-teaching the larval-fish identification class with Elbert Ahlstrom at the NMFS SWFC, La Jolla.
(A) The participants in the 1972 class on the identification of marine fish larvae that was taught by Geoff Moser and Elbert Ahlstrom in La Jolla (in the back row, left side). The students, not named in the order shown, included: Anne Naplin, Karl Niggol, and Kenneth Waldron (NMFS Seattle Laboratory); Thomas Kazama (NMFS Honolulu Laboratory); Thomas Potthoff and Edmond Metziger (NMFS Miami Laboratory); John Finucane (NMFS St. Petersburg Laboratory); Ruth Stoddard (NMFS Narragansett Laboratory); Sally Richardson and R. Gregory Lough (Oregon State University); Sara Guzman and Thalia Castro (Instituto Nacional de Pesca, Mexico); Richard Haight and Chester Mattson (NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory); Barbara Sumida (University of Hawaii); Elaine Sandknop, Mary Kalin, John Butler, and Elizabeth Stevens (NMFS La Jolla Laboratory). This was the first class that Geoff co-taught. (B) The international participants in the 1977 class on the identification of marine fish larvae that was taught by and Elbert Ahlstrom and Geoff Moser in La Jolla (in the back row, right side). The students, not named in the order shown, included: Olayinka Babalola (Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research); Robert Behrstock (Humboldt State University); M. Elizabeth Clark and Pat Wagner (University of Alaska); Francois Conand (Centre ORSTOM, New Caledonia); César F. Coto (Centra de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, Mexico); C. B. Lalithambika Devi (Natonal Institute of Oceanography, Kerala, India); T. Saunders English, Leanne Legacie, and Bruce Miller (University of Washington); Doris Finan (NMFS Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Laboratory); Marta Gerritón (Departimento de Oceanología, Chile); F. Douglas Martin (University of Maryland); John Olney (Virginia Institute of Marine Science); Allyn Powell (NMFS Beaufort, North Carolina, Laboratory); D. A. Robertson (New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries); Bruce Stewart (Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, California); and John Tucker (North Carolina State University). This was the last class that Geoff co-taught with Elbert Ahlstrom.
(A) The first meeting of the steering committee for the symposium on The Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes, in honor of Elbert Ahlstrom, at Boulder, Colorado in 1982. From left to right: Sally Richardson, Michael Fahay, Arthur Kendall, Jr., William Richards, and Geoff Moser (Daniel Cohen, not in photo). (B) The steering committee for the symposium on The Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes, in Miami, Florida in 1983. From left to right: Daniel Cohen, Sally Richardson, Michael Fahay, Geoff Moser, Arthur Kendall, Jr., and William Richards.
The ichthyoplankton group at the SWFSC, c. 1983. From left to right: Elizabeth (Betsy) Stevens, Geoff Moser, Elaine Sandknop Acuna, Eric Bertelsen (Visiting Scientist), Barbara Sumida, and Morgan Busby. Photo courtesy of Morgan Busby.
(A) Jeff Leis, Dan Cohen, and Geoff Moser boarding a train for the field trip following the 1976 ASIH meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo courtesy Jeffrey Leis. (B) Geoff Moser and Bill Richards in Miami, Florida, 1997. (C) Larval-Fish Conference in Miami, 1986. Right to left: Jeff Govoni, Geoff Moser, and John Olney. Photo: George Boehlert.
Geoff Moser in 1989 with a rainbow trout on the bank of the Ahuriri River, New Zealand, just before dark, and just before releasing the fish. Photograph by his son, David Moser.
Illustration of a larval Lamprogrammus from Moser (1981).
Contributor Notes