Maria Portaro

Maria Portaro (February 24 1944, Agropoli - July 3 1986, Agropoli) was a Italian marine biologist and ichthyologist, famous for her work on the fish of Amalfi Coast.

Born into a poor family, she struggled to find a job. In 1956, at the age of 12, her uncle gave Maria a job at his fish store. After 9 years working at the store, a biologist came in one day, and noticed her intelligence of the many kinds of fish. He offered her an internship. After six months her hard work paid off. She then started working as a marine biologist, and ichthyologist.

During her time in the Amalfi Coast, she collected well over 450 specimen, many of which are today at the Natural History Museum in Florence.

On July 3, 1986, Portaro returned to here home town to return to her family for the 4th of July. That afternoon, she took them scuba diving at a close beach. Twenty minutes into the dive, a shark came from behind a big rock. It had bitten both her legs off. Maria was sent to a nearby hospital where she later bled to death.

Portaro published more than 500 papers on ichthyology, describing 302 new genera and 1548 new species.