[2] He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Southern California, beginning with a BA in Zoology (1960) and an MSc in Biology (1965).
[2] His master's research investigated the ecology and vertical distribution of lanternfishes (family Myctophidae) in a deep-sea basin off southern California.
[3] Paxton completed his PhD under supervisor Jay Savage, on the osteology and evolutionary history of lanternfishes, and graduated in 1968.
[5][3] Over the next 30 years, Paxton increased the size of the Australian Museum's fish collection from 80,000 specimens to more than 1 million.
[5] In 1981, Paxton and colleague Doug Hoese founded the Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, which has since run every four years.