ANGFA Life Member
Ray Leggett
Ray Leggett was a Brisbane-based collector, breeder and field surveyor whose byline appears in ANGFA's publications from 1983 through to 2004, but whose own accounts describe a life of fish collecting stretching back much further — to work on the Burdekin River as early as 1964, and to "more years than I care to remember (about 35!!)" of keeping native fish by the time he wrote about the endangered Oxleyan pygmy perch in 1990. Across two decades of Fishes of Sahul and the Queensland Newsletter he documented survey trips the length of the continent's north, from repeated expeditions to the Jardine River on Cape York to a three-month, sixty-seven-site survey of the Kimberley in 1986, lodging thousands of specimens with the Queensland Museum along the way.
His most significant scientific contribution was probably the small gudgeon he collected in leaf litter on the Jardine River in 1980: Oxyeleotris nullipora, which he was the first to breed and describe the spawning behaviour of in captivity, published in Fishes of Sahul in 1987. The same river system also yielded an undescribed species of Glossogobius goby that he bred and wrote up in both Fishes of Sahul and the Qld Newsletter. In 1987 he co-authored the book Australian Native Fishes for Aquariums with J. R. Merrick, and in the Burdekin catchment his collecting helped bring the distinctive "Burdekin Rainbow" colour form of Melanotaenia to notice, in collaboration with Dr John Merrick and Queensland Museum curator Jeff Johnson.
This page draws together the 37 authored articles found so far across Fishes of Sahul (1983–2004) and ANGFA Queensland's newsletter (1985–1998, effectively the whole of its run to that point), plus one article where he is credited as the photographer rather than the author. Ray was also ANGFA Queensland's very first guest speaker, addressing the club's inaugural meeting in June 1985 on "Showing and Judging Fish Competitions" — a detail recovered from Bruce Hansen's own newsletter columns rather than from Ray's own writing, since his byline record on the club's founding issue is otherwise a run of short species notes and book reviews.
Personal background
Ray rarely wrote about himself directly, but the asides scattered through his field reports and a couple of personal pieces in the Qld Newsletter's "Collector's Corner" and "Field Trip" columns fill in a picture of an obsessive, wide-ranging naturalist. Asked in 1988 to name his favourite collecting site, he wrote: "I have difficulty coming to terms with the topic over the last thirty odd years. I have been to some really beautiful places in my quest for fish — ranging from a man-made stream in Kew Gardens, London, where I collected the extremely interesting stickle-back, to a swamp in New Guinea looking for a labyrinth fish supposed to be there, through to places like the Upper Jardine River." His eventual answer was an unmapped perched swamp in the Kimberley, reachable only by dead reckoning.
That 1986 Kimberley trip, a three-month survey of the north-western corner of Western Australia undertaken with Monty (elsewhere Graham) Heidke in a modified twin-cab Toyota towing a purpose-built aluminium dinghy, produced some of his most vivid writing: sharing a dinghy with a two-metre crocodile while retrieving gill nets after dark, damper baked in a camp oven, and sixty-seven sites surveyed for a donation of 10,460 specimens to the Queensland Museum — along with wolf spiders, frogs, dragonflies and a detailed finch report supplied to the Northern Territory's Conservation Commission at a researcher's request. "On a couple of occasions Monty and I shared the dinghy with a 2m crocodile which we had to remove from our net," he recalled, "it was then that you prayed that the head torch batteries would not run out."
His acknowledgements are one of the few places family appears in the record: in his 1993 write-up of a Queensland Naturalists' Club trip to Iron Range, he thanks "Berenice Leggett, Jon and Chris Marshall" for their assistance in the field. He was evidently a keen show exhibitor and judge as well as a field collector — ANGFA Queensland's records show him as the club's first-ever guest speaker in 1985, and in 1992 he reported back to the club on showing and judging practice in the UK. And he had a sense of humour about his own obsessions: a 1997 postcard-style letter to the newsletter, written from "deepest Costa Rica" and addressed to "Dear Dockor," runs through poison-arrow frogs, twenty-one species of hummingbird and Inca pottery scattered in the forest before signing off, "But best of all I could mention the cichlids, tetras and livebearers… But I won't."
Found by searching the full text of Fishes of Sahul and the Qld Newsletter for Ray's bylines and photo credits — a search of the one hit where he is credited only as a photographer (a general Qld species survey by Bruce Hansen, Qld Newsletter Vol. 15(5), 1999) turned out not to contain further biographical material about Ray himself, beyond the photo credit. There may well be more still to find as ANGFA News, ANGFA Vic News and In-Stream are fully indexed.
Contributions found so far
- 37 authored articles located across Fishes of Sahul and the Qld Newsletter 12 in Fishes of Sahul (1983–2004) · 25 in the Qld Newsletter (1985–1998)
- 1 further article where Ray is credited as photographer rather than author a Qld species-survey piece by Bruce Hansen, Vol. 15(5), 1999
- 1 book co-authored with J. R. Merrick — Australian Native Fishes for Aquariums (1987)
- Active in print from Fishes of Sahul's second issue in 1983 to 2004, and across the entire run of ANGFA Queensland's newsletter indexed so far (1985–1998) — though his own accounts describe fish collecting going back to at least 1964
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
Oxyeleotris nullipora, the collecting, spawning behaviour and growth of a new gudgeon from the Jardine River
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 4(2), 1987
"One pair spawned early in the morning of October 18, 1985, after a part change of water the previous afternoon… I had nine further spawnings from this pair until the end of March 1986." The first captive-breeding account of a gudgeon Ray had collected as an unidentified species five years earlier.
Freshwater fish of the Cape York area
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 6(2), 1990
"The Jardine was found to contain the most species of freshwater fishes, 34… a small goby Glossogobius sp. can be collected amongst scattered patches of twigs and leaves temporarily caught up in the submerged tree trunks." A detailed sixteen-site survey report from his 1985 return trip to the Jardine, complete with site-by-site water chemistry and a new species of goby.
A fish in danger – Nannoperca oxleyana
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 6(1), 1990
"Despite living for most of my life in and around Brisbane and keeping freshwater fish for more years than I care to remember (about 35!!)… unless the remaining habitat is protected from any interference by man this fish will very quickly become extinct." A decade-long personal study of the Oxleyan pygmy perch, from failed early attempts to the first successful captive breeding.
Collecting in the Kimberley
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 8(3), 1994
"We were quick to discover that we shared the water holes with freshwater crocodiles and therefore could not leave the gill nets in overnight… it was then that you prayed that the head torch batteries would not run out." A first-person account of the three-month, 67-site Kimberley survey that yielded five species new to science.
Rivers I have known – Drysdale River
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 17(1), 2003
"Site 5 was one of my favourites of the 67 we surveyed during the trip, a magic spot. We took 9 hours of low-range four-wheel driving to travel 34 km to Sandz Crossing on the Drysdale…" One of a late-career series revisiting rivers surveyed decades earlier, this one recording a rainbowfish that "to this day I do not believe" matched any described species.
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 (12)
- Rhadinocentrus ornatus – southern soft-spined sunfishVol. 1(2), 1983 — Leggett, R.
- The olive perch Ambassis nigripinnisVol. 1(3), 1984 — Leggett, R.
- Oxyeleotris nullipora, the collecting, spawning behaviour and growth of a new gudgeon from the Jardine RiverVol. 4(2), 1987 — Leggett, R.
- A fish in danger – Nannoperca oxleyanaVol. 6(1), 1990 — Leggett, R.
- Breeding notes on a new goby from the Jardine RiverVol. 6(2), 1990 — Leggett, R.
- Freshwater fish of the Cape York areaVol. 6(2), 1990 — Leggett, R.
- Freshwater fishes of Iron Range and adjoining areasVol. 8(1), 1993 — Leggett, R.
- Collecting in the KimberleyVol. 8(3), 1994 — Leggett, R.
- Salted rainbows, the perfect hors-d’oeuvreVol. 10(1), 1996 — Leggett, R.
- Rivers I have known – Drysdale RiverVol. 17(1), 2003 — Leggett, R.
- Rivers I have known – King George RiverVol. 18(1), 2004 — Leggett, R.
- Rivers I have known – Burdekin RiverVol. 18(2), 2004 — Leggett, R.
Qld Newsletter (25)
- Book Review – Rainbow Fishes of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Allen G.R. & Cross N.J.Vol. 1(1), Jun 1985 — Ray Leggett
- Keeping & Caring – Retropinna semoni (Australian Smelt)Vol. 1(1), Jun 1985 — Ray Leggett
- Foods & Feeding – White WormsVol. 1(2), Aug 1985 — Ray Leggett
- Field Trip – Personal – Jardine River, Cape YorkVol. 2(3), May 1986 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Dec 86 – Presentation about the Kimberley’s and Elsewhere – ReviewVol. 3(1), Jan 1987 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Oct 87 – Presentation about the Current State of Melanotaenia eachamensis (Lake Eacham Rainbowfish)Vol. 3(6), Nov 1987 — Ray Leggett
- Field Trip – Personal – Ray’s SwampVol. 4(3), May 1988 — Ray Leggett
- Article – New Species of Glossogobius sp. (Jardine Goby)Vol. 4(6), Nov 1988 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Dec 88 – Presentation of Australian & PNG Fish Taken by Belgian Members & ANGFA Melbourne Member’s Fish RoomsVol. 5(1), Jan 1989 — Stephen Hume & Ray Leggett
- Melanotaenia enchamensis (Lake Eacham Rainbowfish) – Re-classification by Walter Ivantsoff – Confirmation RequiredVol. 5(5), Sep 1989 — Ray Leggett
- Keeping & Caring – Denariusa bandata (Pennyfish)Vol. 5(6), Nov 1989 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Feb 90 – Presentation about Brisbane’s Most Experienced Aquarium JudgeVol. 6(2), Feb 1990 — Ray Leggett
- Field Trip – Personal – Drysdale River, North Western AustraliaVol. 6(2), Feb 1990 — Ray Leggett
- Meet the Hobbyist – Ron BowmanVol. 6(5), Oct 1990 — Ray Leggett
- Next Meeting – Open Discussion on SpeciesVol. 7(1), Jan 1991 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Feb 91 – Presentation about Melanotaenia trifasciata (Regal Rainbowfish)Vol. 7(2), Mar 1991 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Aug 92 – Presentation about Showing & Judging in the UKVol. 8(5), Oct 1992 — Ray Leggett
- Workshop – Building Backdrops & Fry Tank FiltrationVol. 8(5), Oct 1992 — Ray Leggett, Bruce Hansen & Rob Wager
- Article – Environment – The Drysdale RiverVol. 10(2), Mar 1994 — Ray Leggett
- Guest Speaker – Feb 95 – Presentation about Meal WormsVol. 11(2), Mar 1995 — Ray Leggett
- Foods & Feeding – Meal WormsVol. 11(3), May 1995 — Ray Leggett
- ANGFA’s A-Z Notebook – Native Freshwater Fish – M for Melanotaenia – Melanotaenia duboulayi (Crimsonspotted Rainbowfish)Vol. 12(2), Mar 1996 — Ray Leggett
- Display – New Public Display of Freshwater Fish for Surat, QldVol. 13(4), Jul 1997 — Ray Leggett
- Letter – Dec 97 – Costa RicaVol. 14(1), Jan 1998 — Ray Leggett
- Foods & Feeding – White WormsVol. 14(1), Jan 1998 — Ray Leggett