Phillip Clarence Heemstra (9 December 1941 – 29 August 2019) was an American-South African ichthyologist.
[1] At the time of his death, Heemstra was a curator emeritus of the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB, formerly the J.L.B.
[2] Heemstra was, among other things, a biologist at the marine laboratory of the U.S. Department of Natural Resources in Florida, and from 1978 to 2001 a curator of fish at J.L.B.
His work included research on systematics, biology (especially reproduction), zoo-geography and marine fish conservation, a survey of the fish diversity of Southern Africa and the western Indian Ocean, and the identification of marine fish for institutions in South Africa and overseas.
He has also been a consultant to numerous publications and the author or co-author of several books, including Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa[3] with Elaine Heemstra.