Finfish health in the United States (1609-1969): historical perspective, pioneering researchers and fish health workers, and annotated bibliography

The importance of fish health studies prior to the 1970s is largely ignored by US fish health investigators. This is because today's literature search es rarely obtain research information prior to 1970. The absence of this ea rlier literature can result in the duplication of research efforts and miss ing data that could change the course of a scientific investigation. This i s particularly true for studies in fish parasitology. Much of the descripti ve literature done between 1900 and 1950 is still valid today and may be th e only work available for reference. Older data is also important to unders tanding disease origin and disease etiology. Information on diseased fish f rom the geographic region, now known as the United States of America, was f irst recorded in about 1609 when Captain John Smith described a fish kill. In the 19th century, more than 250 pieces of literature written by US inves tigators were retrieved that described diseases and parasites of fish. Afte r 1899. only the studies of more prominent fish health specialists. as dete rmined by publication records, have been highlighted. In general, this revi ew documents the development of fish health studies in the US. It serves as a historical document, but more importantly as a resource of older works i mportant to today's scientific studies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.