Charles Eric Dawson

Charles Eric "Chuck" Dawson (December 6, 1922 – February 11, 1993) was a Canadian-American ecologist, ichthyologist, and taxonomist. He held expertise in gobies, flatfishes, and sand stargazers, and was considered "the ultimate authority" on pipefishes in the family Syngnathidae.

Life
Dawson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but would eventually spend much of his career at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he worked early as an administrator, then researcher, and museum curator. Over his long career Dawson wrote 150 publications, on the majority of which he was the sole author. He recognized 52 Syngnathid genera and provided systematic reviews of most of them. His work culminated with his extensive review of all Indo-Pacific pipefishes. He died as a result of a branchioloalveolar carcinoma in combination with other long-term lung ailments.

Dawson served in the Royal Canadian Army during World War II, losing an eye in the Battle of Dieppe, France. He also served in the United States Army and became a naturalized citizen in 1946.

Fishes named in honor of Dawson include Syngnathus dawsoni (Herald, 1969), the chain pearlfish, Echiodon dawsoni Williams and Shipp, 1982, and the Brazilian goby Priolepis dawsoni Greenfield. The parasitic copepod Therodamas dawsoni Cressey, 1972, and the marine barnacle Octolasmis dawsoni Causey, 1960 also are named for him.