ANGFA Australia & New Guinea Fishes Association

ANGFA Life Member

Glenn Briggs

Glenn Briggs began keeping native aquarium fish as a teenager, catching and keeping local natives in creeks around Brisbane in 1975. Apart from a couple of short breaks, he has been a fishkeeper ever since, primarily Cichlids and Australian and New Guinea fishes, and has worked for many years in the aquarium trade in both retail and wholesale.

Now based in Seville, Victoria, with his wife Jenny, Glenn has been a prolific field-trip reporter and species-account writer for Fishes of Sahul for over three decades, from a first article in 1992 through to pieces published as recently as 2024. Other members' own reports describe him as "a long-time ANGFA stalwart" — beyond his own writing, other contributors' acknowledgements repeatedly credit him for advice, encouragement and identification help, and he has served for many years as ANGFA National President and as coordinator (later chair) of the Fishes of Sahul Publications Committee, the volunteer team that keeps the journal running behind the scenes. He is also a regular contributor and field photographer for ANGFA Vic News, and a familiar guest speaker at ANGFA Victoria meetings and conventions.

This page draws together his contributions found so far across every ANGFA publication digitised to date — Fishes of Sahul and ANGFA Vic News — plus mentions still awaiting full indexing in ANGFA News.

Personal background

Jenny and Glenn Briggs on the Langwarrin Creek survey trip
Jenny and Glenn Briggs (left, with Katrin and Niki) on the ANGFA Victoria Langwarrin Creek survey trip. ANGFA Vic News, May 2001.

Glenn's wife Jenny is a constant presence alongside him in his own field trip reports — helping strip down and re-aquascape the community and native display tanks at McDonald's Eltham during a midnight working bee the club nicknamed "Mac-Day" in 1997, joining ANGFA Victoria survey trips, and turning up in the photo credits of his 2021 Atherton Tablelands article as often as Glenn himself. Writing up that same "Mac-Day" working bee, Glenn couldn't resist recording that fellow volunteer Noel Harcourt, soaked by an accidental spray of dirty tank water, "took on the appearance of a drowned Meercat".

Glenn Briggs and Dean searching for Mogurnda, photographed by Jenny Briggs
“There's a moggie here somewhere!” Photo: Jenny Briggs, Fishes of Sahul Vol. 35(2), June 2021.

Among fellow members Glenn is known simply as "Briggsy" — the name used introducing his convention talk in ANGFA News in 2013, on the genetics and temperament of two dozen different Mogurnda races he had collected in the wet tropics. The same review noted the field cost of that expertise: "we appreciated his dedication given the number of leeches that he acquired in his explorations."

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

Contributions found so far

  • 33 authored articles in Fishes of Sahul, spanning 1992 to 2024 — field trip reports, species accounts and the recurring "Fish in Focus" species-profile series
  • 21 further articles identified by byline in ANGFA Vic News, plus 2 in ANGFA News, awaiting full article indexing
  • 3 more ANGFA Vic News mentions found in that publication's own Contents listings (as guest speaker/subject rather than author)
  • 3 articles where Glenn is specifically credited as photographer for someone else's piece, on top of the many photographs credited to him within his own field trip reports

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.

Featured contributions

Hunter Creek, Mitchell River, Atherton Tablelands
Hunter Creek (Mitchell River), Atherton Tablelands. Photo: Glenn Briggs.

Magnificent Mogurnda of the Atherton Tablelands

Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 35(2), June 2021

"Mogurnda have always been one of my favourite native aquarium fish from the moment I first saw one in 1977…" — the story of four collecting trips (and almost an annual pilgrimage) to the Cairns-Atherton Tablelands region in search of the region's many distinct Purplespotted Gudgeon forms.

Wet tropical Queensland near Innisfail
Wet tropical Queensland near Innisfail. Photo: Glenn Briggs.

A Week in the Wet Tropics

Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 21(2), 2008

"In August 2006, I had the ultimate holiday for the Australian native fish enthusiast: a week spent looking at aquatic habitats and collecting aquarium fishes in the wet tropics…" A detailed, day-by-day account of a Far North Queensland collecting trip with local ANGFA member Dean Datodi.

Fish in Focus: Craterocephalus stercusmuscarum group species
Craterocephalus nouhuysi from Timika, southern Papua. Photo: Andreas Wagnitz.

Fish in Focus: Craterocephalus "stercusmuscarum" group species

Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 34(2), June 2020 — with K.G. Moy, D. Wilson, B. Hansen, P.J. Unmack & C. Scharpf

One of the longest entries in the recurring "Fish in Focus" species-profile series (26 pages), co-authored with fellow life member Bruce Hansen among others.

ANGFA Vic News issue 115 cover, featuring Glenn Briggs as guest speaker
VICNEWS 115 (August 2015), introducing Glenn as that month's guest speaker.

Celebrating "Australian Native Fishes for Aquariums"

ANGFA Vic News 115, August 2015

"Glenn began keeping native aquarium fish as a teenager, by catching and keeping some of the local natives in creeks when he lived in Brisbane back in 1975…" A profile introducing Glenn as guest speaker, one of the few pieces in the corpus with direct biographical detail rather than field or species reporting.

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 (33)
  • Blue-eye trouble shooting (revisited)Vol. 7(3) — Briggs, G.
  • Murray-Darling Mogurnda adspersaVol. 12(1) — Briggs, G.
  • Conquering the mountain (rainbowfish that is)Vol. 12(2) — Briggs, G.
  • Yarra pygmy perch Edelia obscuraVol. 13(3) — Briggs, G.
  • A crazy name for a “crazy fish”Vol. 14(1) — Briggs, G.
  • Finke MogurndaVol. 15(2) — Briggs, G.
  • Laura River rainbowfishVol. 15(2) — Briggs, G.
  • The spotted rainbowVol. 15(4) — Briggs, G.
  • Purple-spotted gudgeons without the spotsVol. 16(4) — Briggs, G.
  • Victoria's brackish gobiesVol. 19(3) — Briggs, G.
  • Murray River rainbowfishVol. 19(4) — Briggs, G.
  • A week in the Wet TropicsVol. 21(2) — Briggs, G.
  • ANGFA-VIC 2008 field trip to SheppartonVol. 22(2) — Briggs, G.
  • Australian purple-spotted gudgeonsVol. 23(3) — Briggs, G.
  • Glorious empire gudgeonsVol. 24(2) — Briggs, G.
  • Utchee Creek rainbowfish (at Utchee and elsewhere)Vol. 26(1) — Briggs, G.
  • A quick trip for rhads (ornate rainbowfish)Vol. 29(3) — Briggs, G.
  • Fish in focus: Coal Grunter Hephaestus carboVol. 30(1) — Briggs, G., Sambell, B., Hansen, B. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Blackmast Craterocephalus stramineus (Atherinidae)Vol. 30(2) — Tappin, A., Briggs, G., Wilson, D. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Empire Gudgeon Hypseleotris compressa (Eleotridae)Vol. 30(3) — Unmack, P.J., Hansen, B., Briggs, G., Stanton, M., Scharpf, C. & Gill, A.
  • Fish in foscus: Crimson-spotted Rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi (Melanotaeniidae)Vol. 31(2) — Tappin, A., Unmack, P.J., O’Reilly, L., Briggs, G., Hansen, B., Stanton, M. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Marjorie’s Hardyhead Craterocephalus marjoriae (Atherinidae)Vol. 31(4) — Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J., Stanton, M. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in foscus: Seven-spot Archerfish Toxotes chatareus (Toxotidae)Vol. 32(2) — Briggs, G., Sambell, B., Wilson, D., Martin, K. & Hansen, B. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Central Australian Mogurnda species (Eleotridae)Vol. 32(3) — Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J., Hammer, M. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Pygmy Rainbowfish Melanotaenia pygmaea (Melanotaeniidae)Vol. 33(3) — Tappin, A.R. Briggs, G., Stanton, M., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Spotted Galaxias Galaxias truttaceus (Galaxiidae)Vol. 33(4) — Shoesmith, D, Romanowksi, N., Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Blueback Blue-eye Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis (Pseudomugilidae)Vol. 34(1) — Gauci, P, Lange, G., Wilson, D., Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in foscus: Craterocephalus “stercusmuscarum” group species (Atherinidae)Vol. 34(2) — Moy, K.G., Wilson, D., Briggs, G., Hansen, B., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Magnificent Mogurnda of the Atherton TablelandsVol. 35(2) — Briggs, G.
  • Fish in focus: Poreless Gudgeon Oxyeleotris nullipora (Eleotridae)Vol. 35(2) — Cousins, J., Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Fish in focus: Twospine Blackfish Gadopsis bispinosa (Gadopsidae)Vol. 35(3) — Martin, G., Briggs, G., Unmack, P.J. & Scharpf, C.
  • Lake Tebera Rainbowfish Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi - 40 years in the hobbyVol. 36(1) — Briggs, G. & Armstrong, N.
  • Aquatic habitats along the Warburton TrailVol. 38(1) — Briggs, G.