TO THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN “ICHTHYANDER” DMITRY ALEKSEEVICH ASTAKHOV

On December 26, 2023, the renowned Soviet and Russian expert in the field of morphology, systematics, biology and distribution of reef fishes, PhD in marine biology, Leading researcher of the Laboratory of Oceanic Ichthyofauna of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS – Dmitry Astakhov turned 70 years old. 50 years ago, being a student of the Biology Department of Moscow State University, and already having diving training, Dmitry Astakhov took part in his first scientific expedition to the dolphinarium at Bolshoi Utrish, where he worked in water and underwater with dolphins. Since then his professional activity has been closely connected with underwater research. He has spent thousands of hours underwater, accumulated great experience and collected unique scientific material. Dmitry Alekseevich participated in 28 oceanic and coastal marine expeditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, where he studied morphology, systematics, biology and distribution of reef fishes, estimated the volume of ichthyofauna of different areas based on the species composition of indicator families of reef fishes. A separate direction was underwater and laboratory studies of the biology of anemonefishes and their symbiotic sea anemones, a significant component of coral ecosystems.