Marcus Eliezer Bloch (1723-99) practised as a physician in Berlin. His professional interest in fishes came late in his life at the age of 56. His first scientific work of note was a treatise on intestinal worms which won him a prize from the Academy of Copenhagen. His monumental work entitled ‘Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische’ is ‘possibly the most beautiful book on fishes ever published’ (Dance). Amongst his supporters was Frederick the Great. According to Wood ‘one of the early and fundamental treatises on general ichthyology by a well-known authority’. Many of the plates were heightened in silver by which means Bloch sought to reproduce the sheen of the fish. Dance (1990) p. 56; Nissen ZBI (1978) 416; Wood (2002) p. 244.