Fish Department - Research Associates
His Imperial Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan
Emperor Akihito conducting research on gobioid fishes in 1984, when he was the Crown Prince. Photo © Imperial Household Agency.
Emperor Akihito became an Australian Museum Research Associate in 1983 while he was the Crown Prince. He has always been very interested in natural history and conservation and has conducted research for many years on the taxonomy of gobioid fishes, a research interest he shares with Australian Museum Research Fellow Dr Doug Hoese.
Despite his numerous official duties, the Emperor still manages to study fishes. He has published papers on Australian fishes and studied fishes from the Australian Museum fish collection.
Emperor Akihito has received numerous awards and society memberships including the following:
- 1980 - Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London
- 1985 - Honorary President of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes during which he presented a paper.
- 1986 - Elected an Honorary Member of the Linnean Society of London
- 1992 - Honorary Member of the Zoological Society of London
- 1997 - Honorary Member of the Research Institute for Natural Science of Argentina
- 1998 – The first recipient of the King Charles the Second Medal, which is awarded by the Royal Society of London to those heads of state who have made outstanding contribution to the advancement of science.
Research Interests
- Gobioid fish taxonomy
- Conservation
Research Publications
As a member of the Ichthyological Society of Japan, Emperor Akihito published 38 papers between 1963 and 2003, many of which appear in the Society's journal (Ichthyological Research). View publications list.
