Mike Bruton

Mike Bruton is the former director of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology, now the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. Bruton was born and educated in East London, South Africa, where the first living coelacanth was discovered, and studied under JLB and Margaret Smith at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He has led a series of searches for the coelacanth and has been closely involved in efforts for its conservation. He is the author of many books, including When I Was a Fish: Tales of an Ichthyologist.