ANGFA Australia & New Guinea Fishes Association

ANGFA Life Member

Barry Crockford

ANGFA National Life Membership was awarded to Barry Crockford at the April 2015 ANGFA Victoria Meeting.

Barry has been an active contributor within and supporter of ANGFA for over 30 years, and as Rod Wubben explained on the night, ANGFA’s experiences with PNG rainbowfish would have been substantially less if not for Barry’s contribution to ANGFA and the hobby.

Also present to help celebrate with (and roast) Barry, (pictured below from left), is ANGFA Victoria Life Member Glenn Briggs and ANGFA Life Members Ron Bowman and Neil Armstrong.

Personal background

Barry was ANGFA's most experienced Papua New Guinea rainbowfish collector from the association's earliest days — virtually every early Fishes of Sahul species profile of a PNG Melanotaenia, Glossolepis or Chilatherina traces back to fish he had personally collected, including the "Pagwi" rainbow he brought back from the Sepik River region in November 1982, later profiled by Neil Armstrong. He briefly took over as Fishes of Sahul's journal coordinator in 1983, succeeding founding coordinator Graham Thompson, but "had barely settled in when his home was completely destroyed in the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires" — among the worst bushfires in Australian history — forcing Neil Armstrong to take over the role. Remarkably, water and broken glass showering down from the upper rows of his fish room during the fire is thought to have shielded the bottom row of tanks just enough for some of his New Guinea rainbowfish to survive.

Found by searching the full text of every digitised ANGFA publication for mentions of Barry, not just his own bylines — there may well be more still to find as later ANGFA News and ANGFA Vic News issues are fully indexed.

Contributions found so far

  • 16 authored articles found in Fishes of Sahul (1983–1999), overwhelmingly species profiles of Papua New Guinea rainbowfishes he had personally collected
  • 2 further articles identified by byline in ANGFA Vic News, awaiting full article indexing
  • Briefly Fishes of Sahul's journal coordinator in 1983, before the Ash Wednesday bushfires destroyed his home and fish room

Counts are drawn from an author/photo-credit search across every ANGFA publication processed so far and will grow as more issues are indexed — treat them as a running minimum, not a final tally.

Complete list of contributions found so far

Sorted by publication, then chronologically. Co-authored pieces are included. This list will be extended as more publications are indexed.

Fishes of Sahul (16)
  • Melanotaenia lacustris, Lake Kutubu RainbowVol. 1(4) — Crockford, B.
  • The genus PopondettaVol. 2(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Iratherina werneri – breeding procedureVol. 2(3) — Crockford, B.
  • Glossolepis maculosusVol. 3(1) — Crockford, B.
  • Glossolepis wanamensisVol. 3(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Chilatherina campsiVol. 3(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Glossolepis multisquamatusVol. 3(3) — Crockford, B.
  • The family MelanotaeniidaeVol. 4(1) — Crockford, B.
  • The genus GlossolepisVol. 4(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Kiunga ballochiiVol. 11(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Pseudomugil paskaiVol. 12(2) — Crockford, B.
  • Melanotaenia goldeiVol. 12(3) — Crockford, B.
  • Lake Wanam revisited – a habitat under threat. Lake Wanam surveyVol. 13(3) — Crockford, B.
  • The Lake Wanam rainbowfish, Papua New Guinea field expeditionVol. 13(3) — Crockford, B., Littlejohn, P. and Vincent, M.
  • Lake Wanam fasciata Chilatherina fasciata wanamensis, a subspecies in troubleVol. 15(3) — Crockford, B.
  • Chilatherina axelrodiVol. 15(4) — Crockford, B.