A particular catfish found in the Orinoco River basin of Colombia and Venezuela hides in hollow logs by day and forages for aquatic insects at night. It has mottled flesh and thick lips.
A particular retired mailroom supervisor, found at the Academy of Natural Sciences until 2003, hangs out these days in his Southwest Philadelphia garden and in places where jazz can be heard. He has a broad smile and a quick wit. Frank Gallagher also has an unlikely namesake: the thick-lipped catfish of the Orinoco.
For that dubious honor, he can thank Academy catfish expert Mark Sabaj Pérez, one of six scientists leading an effort to inventory the world's catfish. Going through the Academy's collection of 1.3 million fish one day, he found a specimen of the genus Rhinodorus that he realized was a new species.
The naming of species has its own logic - or, perhaps none at all. A few years ago, two Cornell entomologists named a new slime-mold beetle after the president (Agathidium bushi). More often, scientists choose spouses, benefactors and one another. Associates have named two fish after Sabaj Pérez.
This time, the ichthyologist decided to honor Gallagher and his long service of shipping and receiving specimens - not to mention passing along gossip, which earned him the nickname "The Grapevine."
"I simply thought, here is a guy who should be honored with his own catfish," Sabaj Pérez says.
Rhinodoras gallagheri.
Gallagher, as shy as the fish, merely says it's "nice."
But he always joked he'd been at the Academy so long - 37 years - that he should be part of the collection. Now, he is.
- Sandy Bauers