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Flounder, Drawn by a Giant

Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967) helped establish the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and was WHOI’s first director, from 1930 to 1940. One of the giants of U.S. oceanography, Bigelow’s interests spanned both the ocean’s physical characteristics and the natural history of marine animals, and he spent more than a decade studying the Gulf of Maine’s currents, plankton, and fish. An outdoorsman, sailor, and fisherman, he also illustrated many jellyfish and fish, including this flounder found in his comprehensive work, Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Down to the Sea for Science is available in the WHOI store and features WHOI’s history. (Illustration by Henry B. Bigelow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)