Rosa Smith Eigenmann (October 7, 1858 – January 12, 1947) was an American ichthyologist (the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish), as well as a writer, editor, former curator at the California Academy of Sciences, and the first librarian of the San Diego Society of Natural History.

[3][4] Seeking a warmer climate for family health reasons, the Smiths moved to California in 1876 and settled in San Diego.

[9] At about this time, she had discovered the blind goby Othonops eos living in caves underneath the Point Loma peninsula.

[5][1] Smith met fellow IU student Carl H. Eigenmann, a German scientist who was pursuing a doctorate degree in ichthyology, through her studies with professor Jordan.

Adele Rosa (Eigenmann) Eiler (1896-1978) accompanied her father on the Irwin Expedition to South America in 1918-1919, and received a medical degree from Indiana University in 1921.

[3] Around 1879 Smith discovered blind goby (Othonops eos) living in underwater caves at San Diego's Point Loma peninsula.

[11][12] After returning to San Diego from Bloomington, Indiana, in 1882, she focused on publishing formal descriptions of the blind goby and other species of fishes.

[12] Following Smith's marriage to Carl Eigenmann in 1887, the couple immediately left for Harvard University, where they studied the Agassiz collections of South American fishes and collaborated on research.

[13] In addition to collaborating on research with her husband, she was granted special student status at Harvard to study cryptogamic botany with William G. Farlow in 1887–88.

[3][14] After their return to California in 1889, the Eigenmanns established a biological station in San Diego and continued their studies of fish in the region.

As she told the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association in 1891: "In science as everywhere else in the domain of thought, woman should be judged by the same standard as her brother.

[3] Rosa Eigenmann continued to live in the San Diego area Coronado, California, following her husband's death, but she was no longer scientifically active.

[5] Rosa Smith Eigenmann died on January 12, 1947, in San Diego, California, of chronic myocarditis, which followed a series of difficult eye operations.