Julian Dignall

Julian Dignall is one of those lifelong hoarders of all things fishy, owning a glut of journals, papers, out-of-print books, trinkets (like the one pictured below) livestock and so much more — all legacy of true immersion in aquatics and collecting tours around the world.

Known online simply as Jools, he’s the man behind the Planet Catfish website, among others, and has invested vast amounts of time to bring his vision of global catfish appreciation to life. The Planet Catfish project was born way back in 1996 from a desire to collate all silurid knowledge into one place, and it’s apparent that Julian is not averse to digging in and absorbing some of that himself.

If his thirst for knowledge and enthusiasm for livestock seems relentless, then his fish room is the physical proof of this passion. Here is a man with a dedicated 30 tanks — and it feels that, given the chance, he’d have many more.

Unusually for a fish fancier, Julian prides himself on keeping fish for all of their natural lives, and in some cases afterwards, too.

He’s not a whimsical snatcher of new species, keeping them for a few months before moving on to something else. He goes out of his way for something special and maintains a lifelong bond. As such, there are some very established fish at the Dignall home, like the 13 year old Brochis, collected in person from the Amazon.