Johann Natterer was a 19th-century Austrian naturalist and explorer who is best known for his work in the Amazon River basin in South America. He was born on November 5, 1787, in Vienna, Austria, and began his career as a naturalist working at the Schönbrunn Palace menagerie in Vienna. In 1817, Natterer was appointed by the Austrian government to lead a scientific expedition to Brazil. He spent the next 18 years exploring the Amazon River basin and collecting specimens of plants and animals.
During his travels, he collected over 20,000 specimens of fish, including several new species of cichlids, which are the family of fish that includes discus fish. Natterer’s work was instrumental in advancing the field of zoology and ichthyology. He sent his collections back to Europe, where they were studied and cataloged by other scientists. His work helped to establish the Amazon River basin as one of the most diverse and ecologically important regions in the world. Today, Natterer is remembered as one of the most important naturalists of his time. His collections are housed in museums and research institutions around the world, and his contributions to the field of science continue to be celebrated and studied by researchers and scientists today.
Johann Natterer is widely credited with being the first person to discover and collect discus fish in the Amazon River basin in the mid-19th century. However, there were other explorers and scientists who also played a role in the early discovery and study of discus fish.
Franz Steindachner: Steindachner was an Austrian ichthyologist who worked at the Natural History Museum in Vienna in the late 19th century. He described and named several species of discus fish, including Symphysodon aequifasciatus and Symphysodon discus, which are still recognized today.
Heiko Bleher: Bleher is a modern-day explorer and ichthyologist who has spent decades studying and collecting discus fish in the Amazon River basin. He is known for his expeditions to remote regions of the Amazon, where he has discovered several new species of discus fish.
Eduard Schmidt-Focke: Schmidt-Focke was a German breeder who is often credited with pioneering the breeding of discus fish in captivity. He developed new techniques for breeding and raising the fish, which helped to make them more accessible to hobbyists around the world.
Dr. Herbert Axelrod: Axelrod was an American ichthyologist and aquarium enthusiast who played a major role in popularizing discus fish in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote several books on aquarium fishkeeping and helped to establish discus fish as one of the most popular species of fish in the hobby. These are just a few of the many people who have played a role in the discovery, study, and popularity of discus fish over the years.
