James Edward Craddock papers

Jim Craddock was born in Louisville, KY in 1937. He was offered a full scholarship by the Ford Foundation to a college of his choice, graduating from the University of Louisville with an A.B. in Biology in 1958 and a PhD. in Zoology in 1965. During his years as a graduate student, he was a research assistant in radioassay for a project between the University of Louisville and Oranco as well as for the Doe Run Project between the University of Louisville and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Jim Craddock came to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in December 1964 as a post-doctoral fellow and began working under the sponsorship of Senior Scientist Richard Backus. As an ichthyologist, Craddock's experience before coming to Woods Hole had been limited to freshwater fishes, but he shortly made the first of his many cruises to collect the small fishes of the upper 2000-3000 feet of the deep Atlantic, using mid-water trawls for the purpose. In a few years he was an acknowledged expert in the ocean-wide distribution and systematics of this fauna, which comprises hundreds of species. One of his specialties was the study of the calcareous little ear-stones, or otoliths, of these fishes. Otoliths are indigestible and therefore long-retained in the stomachs of predators, and because they are distinctive for each species, they can be useful in studies of the food habits of fish-eating animals. An article representative of this research, the Food Habits of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins (Lagenorhyncus acutus) off the Coast of New England, appeared in the July 2009 Fisheries Bulletin. Altogether Jim was the author or co-author of more than 25 articles, most on the ecology and distribution of mesopelagic fishes, among which is Scopelosaurus craddocki.

Jim Craddock became an Associate at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) following the donation by Richard Backus and Craddock of the enormous, partially identified WHOI fish collection, a transfer made with the help of the National Science Foundation. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Craddock often went to the MCZ to work with curator Karsten Hartel on further identifying material in the collection, thereby increasing its value to researchers. Craddock's contributions to the MCZ were recognized when in 2004 a deep-water species was named Eustomias jimcraddocki. Jim Craddock passed away on June 7, 2009. He was 71.

[Taken from Craddock's WHOI obituary.]