Heinz Büscher at the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Curious villagers looking at prints with the Mzungu.

The OCA is proud to have won Heinz Büscher as a speaker for the OCA Extravaganza 2010. He will show video footage from his recent diving excursions, demonstrating the vast diversity amongst the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika. The current working title of his presentation is: ‘Lake Tanganyika – Diving into Evolution’.

While Heinz Büscher’s work on the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika is internationally renowned, most of the information available online about his person appears to be in German. Below is a short vitae in English based on German sources, namely the German Cichlid Society (DCG) and the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Heinz Büscher was born in 1942 in Bielefeld, Germany. After completing his school education, he was trained as a biology laboratory assistant and worked for some time in Germany. In 1963 he joined the large pharmaceutical company Sandoz in Basel, Switzerland. As a bio-technician he worked on the development of antiallergics and pain killers, and remained with his employer until his retirement in 2002.

In the early 1980s, Heinz Büscher began to develop a keen interest in the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika. Since then, he has undertaken more than 20 ichthyological and collecting trips to Lake Tanganyika, during which he discovered 16 new species. In 1983 Neolamprologus buescheri was named in his honor – a species he had discovered one year earlier. Other results of his ichthyological work include the scientific descriptions of several cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, as well as about eighty publications regarding the biology of these fishes. In December 2006, Heinz Büscher was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bern, Switzerland. The University of Bern recognized that Heinz Büscher’s dedicated and profound work on the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika had made a significant contribution to the understanding of the ecology, the breeding and social behavior of this group of fishes, as well as their amazing separation into species. The university called Heinz Büscher’s high quality field and laboratory work a glowing example of showing initiative in research.

In order to allow him to better observe, study, and breed the fishes he collected, Heinz Büscher set up a fish-room rivaling that of many a science institute in the basement of his home in Pratteln, Switzerland. Heinz Heinz Büscher is also a skilled photographer, who has documented many of the details about the biology of the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika in stunning images, both taken in the aquarium and on diving excursions in the lake. Heinz Büscher is a staunch supporter of the world’s largest aquaristic society, the German Cichlid Society (DCG), and a sought-after speaker at international aquaristic conventions and events. The OCA is looking forward to present Heinz Büscher to you at the OCA Extravaganza 2010.

Return to the OCA Extravaganza Page.