Landmark
book on Wisconsin fishes is only a cast away online
www.news.wisc.edu/15425
George C. Becker's Fishes
of Wisconsin is the first comprehensive survey of the state's
fish species and the environmental challenges they face.
Published by the University of Wisconsin
Press in 1983, it remains the seminal reference to 157 fish species found in
Wisconsin, many which are also found throughout much of the Great Lakes and
Upper Mississippi River basins.
Becker's approach to documenting both the
fish species and the management of fish ecosystems was a model for others; American Zoologist
magazine called it one of the best books of its kind ever written.
Recently, rather than reprinting the
1,064-page book, Wisconsin's Water
Library, the University of
Wisconsin Press, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Digital Collections
collaborated to digitize the book and make it freely available online.
Becker was professor of biology and
curator of fishes at the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point. A native German speaker from Milwaukee, he began
his academic career with a master's degree in Germanic philology and a job
teaching high school Latin and modern languages in Port Edwards, Wis.
In a September 2000 interview, shortly
before his death in 2002, Becker said he had intended to keep his love for the
natural world separate from his vocation. But that changed when he met Aldo
Leopold.
"That was a wrenching
experience," Becker recalled of his realization that he'd have to change
careers. In the mid 1950s, he left his position as a high school principal and
earned master's degrees in zoology and botany, followed by a Ph.D. in
ichthyology from UW-Madison. During a course with the prominent limnologist
Arthur Hasler, he was surprised to find the only overview of Wisconsin fish was
a thin book about 100 pages long.
"And that was all! For the state of
Wisconsin!" he said. "And that's where the idea for 'Fishes of
Wisconsin' was born."
Becker began collecting specimens in
1958, the summer after he started teaching biology at UW-Stevens Point. His
wife Sylvia, and three sons, Kenneth, Dale and David, all participated in the
field work, as did hundreds of ichthyology students. Together, over the course
of 18 years, they collected more than 250,000 fish specimens.
Becker spent the next six years writing,
editing, and drawing illustrations. "Fishes of Wisconsin" was
published in 1983 by UW Press with support from the UW Sea Grant Institute.
A helpful companion resource, "Wisconsin Fishes 2000" by
John Lyons, Philip A. Cochran and Don Fago, is available from the UW Aquatic
Sciences Publications Store. This publication updates the information in
"Fishes of Wisconsin" on the occurrence, taxonomic status,
distribution, and abundance of fishes in Wisconsin.
Also available free online is the Wisconsin Fish Identification Database.
Produced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the UW Center for
Limnology, and UW Sea Grant, the site features more than 4,000 photos covering
all 162 native Wisconsin species and 12 invasive species that have taken up
residence in the state's waters. It also includes a taxonomic key, an
illustrated guide to fish anatomy, and an illustrated glossary.
More free digital materials related to ecology and natural
resources are available in the UW Digital Collections. Find information on
other UW Press books about fish
and fishing (enter "fish" in the "search" box).
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Kathleen Schmitt Kline
Science Writer
Aquatic Sciences Center
Sea Grant Institute and Water Resources Institute
University of Wisconsin
239 Goodnight Hall
1975 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1177
phone 608.262.6393
fax 608.262.0591
kmschmitt@aqua.wisc.edu
www.seagrant.wisc.edu
www.wri.wisc.edu