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Person

J. L. B. Smith

James Leonard Brierley Smith was a South African ichthyologist and chemist who achieved global fame for identifying the first living coelacanth specimen in 1939. A lecturer at Rhodes University, he dedicated fourteen years to finding a second specimen, eventually locating one in the Comoro Islands in 1952. His work on the coelacanth and his comprehensive book, The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, established him as a foundational figure in modern marine biology.

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