Dr. Minckley conducted a significant amount of work on endangered species at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, United States. © Stan Shebs

The late ichthyologist Dr. Wendell Lee Minckley (1935-2001), one of the founding members of the Desert Fishes Council and a lifetime supporter of its work, will be well-known to those familar with freshwater fishes of the southwestern United States and Mexico.

He studied aquatic ecosystems and southwestern fishes, authoring a number of books, research articles and book chapters as well as co-authoring ‘Freshwater Fishes of Mexico’ with Robert Rush Miller, the latter eventually being published in 2005.

Dr. Minckley was also Professor of Life Sciences at Arizona State University in Tempe, United States for almost four decades during which time he collected an extensive library of reprints and other references with the aim of making this freely-available in an online format for all to use.

This has now become a reality and the entire reference library is available at www.nativefishlab.net.

With more than 11,000 documents this should prove a fantastically valuable resource for those interested in the freshwater ichthyofauna of southern North America.