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Unlike many 19th century scientists, who were for the most part simple taxonomists, Bleeker had a very modern understanding of the inter-relationship of species. His work is highly respected by today's scientists.

Finding New Species

Bleeker's work was so good that species described 100 years ago are still waiting to be "re-discovered." It is amazing how many deep-water fishes were collected in those days and never seen again. But scientists tend to concentrate on these, and the intertidal areas are often overlooked. A knowledgeable diver, with sharp powers of observation, has a very good chance of finding an unknown animal on just about any dive in Indonesia.

The red-headed wrasse, Halichoeres rubricephalus, is sexually dichromic (male at top). This beautiful wrasse was discovered by Kuiter in 1986 in Maumere Bay. Common there, it has not been seen anywhere else.

I have been visiting the Flores Sao Resort on a regular basis since 1986, photographing and observing the animal life of Maumere Bay. Despite my many dives in these waters, new species turn up on every trip. Often a "new" species looks very similar to a well-known one, and thus has been overlooked. But in other cases the new species is so spectacular one wonders how it could possibly have ever gone unnoticed.