Remembering Paul Humann

Paul Humann changed my life. My husband Harris and I met Paul in June of 1994 aboard the liveaboard MV Spree, as she sailed from Key West to the Dry Tortugas for an early REEF fish ID trip. Paul and his friend and collaborator Ned DeLoach were working on the second edition of their lauded fish identification book, and they helped teach the identification course while on the boat.

I was still a fairly new diver and had never seen someone dive like Paul: he stayed in one place for an hour with his camera, and he still wore the horseshoestyle flotation vest! The fish ID course changed our lives. Harris and I realized there is always something interesting to look at on a dive. If you know fish ID and behavior, you never have a dull dive.

We got to know Paul better years later, when we were invited to a REEF event for donors at his house in Davie, Florida. Paul walked around Mango Manor with us, pointing out the over three hundred species of palms he had planted, along with orchids and bromeliads, and we realized that his passion for classification and the natural world had a powerful topside component as well.

After I joined the REEF Board of Trustees, which I continue to serve today, I saw another side of Paul, the administrator and leader who helped keep our meetings on track. And after meetings, the social side of Paul emerged, always ready for a convivial evening.

Paul and Ned not only founded REEF, but Paul was in touch with fish scientists all over the world. In gratitude, they named some new species after him, with my favorite being a lovely flasher wrasse from Indonesia. Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/mrxtrz4h/.

Paul passed away on February 5. You can read more about his remarkable life on the REEF website. https://www.reef.org/remembering-paul-humann

- Mel McCombie