Gerald R. Allen
From Microcosm Aquarium Explorer
Gerald R. Allen, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned authority on the classification and ecology of coral reef fishes of the Indo-Pacific region.
Known to friends as Gerry, he says he is "definitely old school" in his approach to science, spending more time in the field than behind a desk looking through a microscope.
Over a career spanning 40 years, he has accumulated more than 12 years on various expeditions to all the world’s tropical seas and has logged more than 8,000 hours of scuba diving. Dr. Allen has authored 33 books and more than 400 scientific publications.
He received a PhD in marine zoology from the University of Hawaii in 1971, studying the classification and biology of anemonefishes as the subject of his thesis.
The lure of Australia’s rich, but poorly documented fish fauna attracted Gerry and his wife Connie to Sydney in 1972 and two years later they moved to Perth on the Indian Ocean coast, where they still reside.
Dr. Allen served as Curator of Fishes at the Western Australian Museum for 25 years, retiring in 1998. He now works as a full time consultant for Conservation International, conducting marine biological surveys, primarily in Southeast Asia. He still maintains a rigorous research program and is also an avid underwater photographer.
He lists mountaineering, rock climbing, bicycle racing and bird watching as his favourite hobbies.
Dr. Allen is a past President of the Australian Society for Fish Biology, an honorary foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology, and a recent recipient of the prestigious K. Radway Allen Award for Outstanding Contributions to Australian Ichthyological Science. Gerald R. Allen is the author of: