Frans Witte passed away February 12

He worked on cichlid fishes from the Mwanza Gulf on Lake Victoria for the past 30 years in Tanzania and studied the adaptative evolution of the haplochromines to the Nile perch introduction. With his help, many cichlids were brought from the Lake in captivity and, later, were made available to aquarists. I had the privilege of being initiated by him to the systematics of cichlids and he allowed me to join his team on the shore of the Mwanza Gulf in November 1990. He was with me when I caught my first Haplochromis at Anchor Island.

Thank you very much for all you have done and specially on the Lake Fishes of Victoria. I think most ichthyologists worldwide will miss you.
Heiko Bleher