Dr. Kent E. Carpenter is a professor of biological sciences at Old Dominion University,[1] in Norfolk, Virginia, who is notable for having two fish species named in his honor, Paracheilinus carpenteri Randall and Lubbock 1981,[2] popularly known as "Carpenter's flasher wrasse", and Meganthias carpenteri Anderson 2006,[3] popularly known as Carpenter's Yellowtop Jewelfish.
[4] Dr. Carpenter earned his Bachelor of Science degree in marine biology at Florida Institute of Technology in 1975 and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology at the University of Hawaiʻi.
His research emphasis is in the systematics and evolution of marine fishes.
His work in marine biogeography for the Indian Ocean and west Pacific Ocean has led to work in marine conservation and comparative phylogeography using population genetics, with a special interest in the Philippines.
He is also a long-term collaborator with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Species Identification and Data Programme for Fisheries, producing identification guides for regions such as the western Pacific and the western and eastern Atlantic Oceans.