Talk:Stewart Springer

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Stewart Springer, 5 June 1906-23 August 1991 Stewart Springer was a world renowned expert on the classification (taxonomy), behavior, and distribution of shark populations. There are more than 35 species of sharks, skates, rays, and other animals either classified originally by him or named after him.

Springer was a field naturalist, mostly self-taught. His exceptional interest in animal behavior was apparent early in his life when, at age 22 he identified and described a new species of lizard, Cnemidophorus velox Springer or Plateau Striped Whiptail. His interest in the Plateau Striped Whiptail was piqued, he said, by the fact that the young boys ages 12 to 14 that he was chaperoning on a field trip in Arizona in 1928 could catch jack rabbits and other Striped Whiptails in the area but could not capture this particular lizard which seemed faster than the others. He had no idea that the Plateau Striped Whiptail was a new species of a much studied genus which contained some species, among them his C. velox, that were all female species. He obtained his specimens for examination by shooting them with a 22 calibre rifle equipped with a specially concocted "dust shot" made by his cousin, Max Barnes, who was an ordnance expert for the Army (personal correspondence from Stewart Springer to Donald Hawley, January 31, 1991). Thus, Springer's focus on behavior as a distinguishing charactersitic, began officially with C. velox.

His early interest in herpetology was soon replaced by a lifelong fascination with sharks. Having dropped out of Butler University in 1929 as a sophomore, he and a friend headed south to Biloxi, MS, where they hoped to collect and preserve animal specimens for zoological study in colleges. They were interested in catching and selling Squalus, a small shark known as a dogfish, but soon discovered that Squalus was not to be found in Biloxi waters. From area fisherman they learned of another small shark species about the same size as Squalus called Rhizoprionodon terra novae. At the time, local fisherman called it the puppy shark. They were able to catch many Rhizorionodon all about 3 feet in length and all males which meant they could not fill their orders for equal numbers of males and females. Over the following years, Springer found that among most shark species adult males and adult females do not live together most of the time and where this is true the males tend to live in slightly cooler water. (personal correspondence from Stewart Springer to Donald Hawley, January 31, 1991). It was not until 1964, 35 years after he dropped out of Butler, that Springer obtained a baccalaureate degree from George Washington University after having already achieved success in his chosen field of ichthyology. Many colleagues and students addressed him as Dr. on the mistaken assumption that he must have a Ph. D. in biology or an allied field given his status in the world community of ichthyologists.

Stewart Springer published more than 80 papers on sharks, skates and rays in a wide range of scientific journals including American Midland Naturalist, Copeia, Nature, Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, the Florida Academy of Science, Science, Texas Journal of Science, UNESCO and various government agencies in the U. S., New Zealand and South Africa. During and after WW II, he engaged in commercial shark fishing when he was not working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) on a shark repellant called "Shark Chaser" or on survival manuals for the Navy. In the 1940's sharks were hunted commericially primarily for their livers, a rich natural source of Vitamin A. From 1947 through 1949 he worked for Shark Industries, Inc. as Asst. Production Manager. The company was bought out by the Borden Milk Co. in 1949 and operations ceased shortly after as it became possible to manufacture synthetic vitamins and the most prized shark species as natural sources of Vitamin A were being "fished out."

From 1950 to 1971, Springer worked for the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Department of the Interior, as a fishery methods and equipment specialist while continuing his research in the life history and behavior of sharks. From 1950 to 1954 he was project manager for an exploratory fishing and gear development program for the Bureau at Pascagoula, Miss. During his tenure there, the project was expanded making notable progress in developing more effective fishing methods for shrimp and tuna in the Gulf of Mexico. From 1955 to 1962 he served as Chief, Branch of Exploratory Fishing in the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. In 1961, Springer became interested in an opportunity in the Bureau which would allow him to pursue further shark research in an academic setting on the Stanford University campus. To qualify for the competitive Civil Service position as a Fishery Biologist, he needed at least a baccalaureate degree in the biological sciences. At age 55, "Dr." Springer went back to school to get a degree at the George Washington University. From 1963 to 1967 Springer served as Fishery Biologist (research), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at Stanford where he ran a shark tagging program. From 1968 to 1971 he served as a Fishery Biologist (Research), National Marine Fisheries, at the National Museum in Washington, D.C.

Stewart Springer retired from Federal Service in 1971 but he continued his research while employed by the Mote Marine Research Laboratory in Placida, Florida. In April 1979, he completed his last major research project with publication by the National Marine Fisheries Service of "A Revision of the Catsharks, Family Scyliorhinidae." This paper covered a family of sharks that included (in 1979) 86 species and 17 genera. Six new species and one new sub-species were described in this publication (A Revision of the Catsharks, Family Scyliorhinidae, Stewart Springer, NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 422, U. S. Department of Commerce, April 1979, 152 pages.)

Special Assignments - Stewart Springer served in 1960 as Government advisor to the Rules of the Road delegation to the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea. From 1958 to 1970 he was a Member of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Shark Research Panel. He was a founder of the International Shark Attack File now maintained by George Burgess at the Florida Museum of Natural History. In 1964, Springer was Chief Scientist, Cruise 8, International Indian Ocean Expedition aboard the research vessel Anton Brun. From 1978 to 1980 he was a Member of the Shark Panel, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

Memberships - Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Member, American Elasmobranch Society, (Distinguished Service Award); Member, American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists; Member, American Littoral Society; and, Research Associate, Florida Museum of Natural History.Mls68 16:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)--Mls68 22:15, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

--Mls68 22:52, 10 July 2006 (UTC)