ERHARD ROLOFF
(1903-1980)

Article published on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Erhard Roloff’s birday, authored by Jean-Pol Vandersmissen (Killi-Contact, bulletin of Association Killiphile Francophone de Belgique, 31st year, Jan-Feb 2003) – reproduced here with express authorization from AKFB:

100 years ago already…

1903… Somewhere in Germany, a little boy was born who would become a both contested and undisputed figure in aquaristics: Erhard Roloff.

From a young age, he showed an immediate interest in nature. This enthusiasm grew, and after becoming a bank executive, he began, in the 1930s, to travel the world in search of animals — mainly fish — and plants. He visited the Antilles, Africa…

This tireless traveler turned into a conscientious aquarist when he returned from his journeys. Everything had been carefully noted on site so that, once settled in the aquarium, his residents would thrive.

I remember the little green plastic curtains he used to roll down in front of his aquariums on days he thought were too hot and sunny for his fish. A memory from our visit to his home in Karlsruhe with Pierre Watteeuw on April 16, 1976.

Beyond his passion for travel, he was also deeply devoted to studying the fish he kept. Having collected himself — or received from others — numerous populations geographically or phenotypically close to each other, he was one of the first to practice systematic hybridization to better understand the fish he maintained.
He already refused to rely only on external appearance, as taxonomists of the time often did!

This allowed him to describe R. bertholdi, R. brueningi, R. chaytori, R. monroviae, R. viridis… Some of these species were later considered synonyms of others, but today, thanks to DNA studies, it must be acknowledged that he was already right!

His beloved Roloffia, whose generic name established by S. Clausen was challenged by Myers in favor of Callopanchax, was, however, based on an identification error!

Several figures supported Roloffia — including D. Thijs van den Audenaerde, former director of the Tervuren Museum, among others.
A petition for revalidation was filed but rejected by the Commission of Nomenclature.

An aquarist and killifish specialist of exceptional skill — an undisputed talent in what, for him, was more than a hobby — everyone recognized it.

Having seen his name given to a genus, he was also highly contested, yet he managed to keep his distance while holding firm to his convictions:

“Even if others believe that Roloffia = Aphyosemion, they are not to be put in the same bag,” he told me during a second visit to Karlsruhe, where he and his wife welcomed us with their legendary hospitality.

Lacking modern techniques (electrophoresis, DNA analysis…), he could not know that one day his reasoning would be vindicated.
When he died in 1980, at the age of seventy-seven, the name Roloffia, rejected — I believe — for political more than scientific reasons, had not been restored.
However, the latest studies by Glenn Collier et al., referring to DNA analysis, prove that he was right:
Roloffia and Aphyosemion do not belong to the same evolutionary lineage. Who, then, was right?

I believe that on the 100th anniversary of his birth, it is worth recalling the immense work he accomplished.
I think a few people will remember him on this occasion: V. Etzel, G. Tschuch, G. Schmitt, M. Galluser, P. Watteeuw, among others.
His name will certainly not be forgotten, for even if the generic name ROLOFFIA, created by S. Clausen, is no longer commonly used, other scientific authorities have nonetheless honored Erhard Roloff, in particular:

• Ahl, 1938 — Roloffia roloffi
• Trewavas, 1948 — Rivulus roloffi
• Romand, 1978 — Epiplatys roloffi
• Klausewitz, 1957 — Barbus roloffi
• Thys, 1968 — Pelvicachromis roloffi
• Géry, 1968 — Ladigesia roloffi

Meeting Roloff was a turning point for me. Thanks to him, I set out on the path of research — however modest it may be.
Others might ask why one should care about this “old monument of the past”…
I would simply answer by quoting another author:

“Because it was him… Because it was me…”