Jonas Nicolaus Ahl (in Latin), also written as Jonas Nicolas AhlJordan, D. S. 1902. The History of Ichthyology. Science, New Series, 16(398): 241-258. or Jonas Nicholaus AhlJordan, D. S. 1917. The Genera of Fishes, Volume 1. Stanford University Press. 163 pages. ( – ) was a Swedish zoologist and botanist.

Biography Jonas Nicolaus Ahl was born on in Hudiksvall, province of Hälsingland, Sweden. He studied at the Vasaskolan Gymnasium in Gävle before joining Uppsala University, where he earned his doctorate in 1789 under the supervision of Carl Peter Thunberg. He married Margareta Sophia Alenius on and died on in Sala, Sweden.

Zoological legacy

In his 1789 dissertation, he described the genus Ophichthus as well as the species Echidna nebulosa (under the protonym Muraena nebulosa) and Gymnothorax pictus (under the protonym Muraena pica).Ahl, J. C. 1789. Specimen ichthyologicum de muraena et ophichtho, quod præside Carol. Pet. Thunberg, modeste offert Jonas Nicol. Ahl. 14 pages, pl. 1-2. Upsaliæ (Uppsala University). Dissertation presented 27 June 1789. (online)

Although doubts have been raised about the authorship of this description,Jordan, D. S., Gilbert, C. H. 1882. On the nomenclature of the genus Ophichthus. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 648-651. (pdf) because at the time it was common practice for the thesis supervisor (in this case Carl Peter Thunberg) to write the dissertation, the initial description of the genus OphichthusRay, D., Mohapatra, A., Biswas, S., Satpathy, K. K., Mishra, S. S. 2015. First record of the Evermann's snake eel, Ophichthus lithinus (Actinopterygii: Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae), from northern Indian Ocean. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 45(1): 89-93. (pdf) and the species Echidna nebulosaSmith, D. G. 2012. A checklist of the moray eels of the world (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Zootaxa, 3474: 1-64. (pdf) and Gymnothorax pictus remains attributed to Jonas Nicolaus Ahl.

Selected publications 1789 – Specimen ichthyologicum de muraena et ophichtho. 1793 – Dissertatio de Benzoe.Ahl, J. C. 1793. Dissertatio de Benzoe. In: Dissertationes academicae Upsaliae habitae, Vol. II (Ed. P. Thunberg), pp. 333–337, I. C. Dieterich (Gottingae). (online)

Jonas Nicolaus Ahl was also the author of entomological plates.Noraeus, J. O. 1789. Dissertatio entomologica novas insectorum species, sistens : cuius partem quintam. [plate no. 5]. Upsaliae.

References