THE STEINHART AQUARIUM - Gulf of Guinea Science ...

ii A Docent & Guide View of the Steinhart Aquarium Species
FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Steinhart Aquarium, a central part of the California Academy of Sciences since 1923, two years
ago opened a complex of exhibits as innovative and exciting as the institution that houses it. With
the Steinhart’s spectacular return to Golden Gate Park, docents, who everyday share their passion
and insight with the public, needed access to useful information specifically about the ever-growing
and changing Aquarium collection of live animals. This Field Guide along with the photo IDs of the
inhabitants of multispecies tanks hopes to fill an important part of that need.
This digital guide, easy to update, is well suited to track the on-going diversification of Aquarium animals.
Ideally, the Field Guide will be a resource improved and updated by information and suggestions from
our Academy family—curators, staff, docents, guides and other volunteers, and all who love our finny,
tentacled, slithering, gliding, flying, arboreal, aquatic, terrestrial denizens—all 38,000 of them.
This is a book created by volunteers for volunteers; contributors and advisors were many and appreciated!
Researchers and Writers: Maureen Aggeler, Ellen Barth, Roberta Borgonovo, Susan Crocker, Susana
Conde, Pat Dal Porto, Steve Doherty, Arville Finacom, Ann Hardeman, Sandy Linder, Ted Olsson,
Will Meecham, Alan Pabst, Owen Raven, Mary Roberts, Maggie Scott, Alice Settle, Elizabeth Shultz.
Peter Schmidt earns a special star for the original conception of a field guide and for writing well over
half of the entries, even more if the first two editions are counted.
Photography: Nearly all the pictures within these pages were taken by Ron DeCloux, whose skill and
commitment add an important visual component to our understanding. See his complete portfolio at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/collections.
Support: The Aquarium staff answered many questions almost more quickly than we could frame
them, especially Tom Tucker, Bart Shepherd, Dave Chan, Nicole Chaney, Charles Delbeek, Jim
Evans, Frank Glennon, Brenda Melton, Kristen Natoli, Rich Ross, Pam Schaller, Matt Wandell, Seth
Wolters, Nick Yim, and others.
This is actually the fourth edition of a Steinhart Guide for and by docents. Many curators and other
staff members have given us help along the way. We hope their patient explanations are reflected
in these pages. Any inaccuracies are due to the our interpretations, and most certainly not to the
information received.
Special thanks to Kathleen Lilienthal, Manager of Docent and Guide Services, for her unfailing support.
The Docent Materials Group
Sandy Linder, Coordinator
April, 2009