Tarleton Hoffman Bean

Tarleton Hoffman Bean (1846–1916)

Tarleton Hoffman Bean (1846–1916) was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania. After teaching in a high school, in 1874 he became associated with the United States Fish Commission, working on the Connecticut coast. From 1874 to 1876 he studied medicine at Columbian College (now George Washington University).

In 1877 he joined the United States National Museum where he became curator of fishes in 1879. His field trips with the Fish Commission led to the discovery and description of many new species of fishes. From 1895 to 1898 he served as the first superintendent of the New York Aquarium at Castle Garden in Battery Park, Manhattan.

In the late 1870s he married Laurette Van Hook, daughter of John Welsh VanHook, a local Washington businessman. Their daughter, Caroline Van Hook Bean (noted artist, later married to Bernardus Blommers, Jr.) was born in Washington on 16 November 1879.

He served at the World's Columbian Exposition as commissioner in charge of fishes. He filled similar roles at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, at Paris in 1900, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1905.

He published many papers with his colleague George Brown Goode, including the monograph Oceanic Ichthyology (1896).

Eponymy

Tarleton Hoffman Bean's former residence in Washington, D.C.

The genus Tarletonbeania of lanternfishes was named after him by Rosa Smith Eigenmann and Carl H. Eigenmann in 1890.

Species named after him include:

• Naked sand darter, Ammocrypta beanii Jordan, 1877.
• Atherinella beani (Meek & Hildebrand 1923).
• Green guapote, Cichlasoma beani (Jordan, 1889).
• Ctenolucius beani (Fowler, 1907).
• Ophidion beanii Jordan & Gilbert, 1883.
• Plectromus beanii (Günther, 1887).
• Deepwater dab, Poecilopsetta beanii (Goode, 1881).
• Bean's searobin, Prionotus beanii Goode, 1896.
• Scopelogadus beanii (Günther, 1887).
• Bean's sawtoothed eel, Serrivomer beanii Gill & Ryder, 1883.

References

• "Tarleton Hoffman Bean (1846–1916)". National Museum of Natural History. http://www.mnh.si.edu/vert/fishes/baird/tbean.html. Retrieved 9 April 2006. 
• "Oceanic Ichthyology, A Treatise on the Deep-Sea and Pelagic Fishes of the World (1896)". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nmfs/fgind12.htm. Retrieved 9 April 2006.