The 103rd story on picmybug.com is about the bluespotted cornet fish, or smooth flutemouth (Fistularia commersonii). This slender fish will lead us to the 250th anniversary of a 35 year old French woman returning home. March 8 2026 was the International Women’s Day!
The family Fistulariidae only contains 4 species, all in Fistularia. They belong to the order Syngnathiformes, where you can also find trumpetfishes, seahorses, sea moths, goat fishes and dragonets. Fistula means tube or pipe or maybe also flute, and is in medicine known as a connection between material where no connection should be.
The flutemouth is a common fish in the Maldives, and stays often near divers to hide and ambush. An impressive feature is their ability to change colors, from almost white to dark camouflage. They feed on smaller fish which they catch in fast forward-moves. Flutemouths are elegant, almost charismatic fishes. The species was named in 1838 by Eduard Rüppell in honor of Philibert Commerson. And there lies our story.
It started in 1766. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, a French explorer, started an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, achieved that for the very first time in 1519, and only 12 other navigators completed the circumnavigation before Bougainville did. It was an adventure and a commitment.
On his expedition was Philibert Commerson, a naturalist, assigned to collect and document the many unknown species you would find in an yet to know world. He was not in best shape and thus brought his servant ‘de Bonnefoi’. While Commerson had a bad ulcer on his leg, de Bonnefoi did much of the fieldwork collecting specimen, and also sorted and cataloged them, whilst taking care of the sick Commerson.
It was two years later in 1768, when de Bonnefoi was finally identified as disguised woman, which was a no go at this time on such an excursion. Imagine the risk they took to hide her gender and bring her to such a journey. A proper scandal on Bougainville’s expedition. Her name was Jean Baré, or Baret. The two ship’s names on the expedition kind of match. Bougainville was on the frigate ‘La Bodeuse’, the sulking woman. Commerson and Baré were assigned to the supply ship Étoile, the star, who Baré later became…
I’m always impressed what information you can find online nowadays, so here’s Wikipedia about women in the military. Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_military_in_Europe. I’m not sure about the situation of women on ships during that time. Seems women were considered to bring bad luck (distraction), but there were several jobs done by women. To some degree wifes were allowed, what makes me wonder if not the servant’s gender was the scandal, but their romantic relationship?!
It turned out that these two even had children before joining the trip. Shortly after their exposure in Tahiti 1768, the two landed on Mauritius, where Commerson died in 1773. Baré married again, Jean Dubernat in 1774. They traveled back to France in 1775 and so completed the first circumnavigation by a woman. Jeanne Baret died 1807.
Over 70 species were named after Commerson afterwards, for example Commerson’s dolphin and the Giant frogfish.
Only one species was named after Baré, but not by Commerson. It was in 2012. Solanum baretiae is a night shade related to tomato and potato.
Commerson himself named a shrub after her, and this was difficult to follow. Baretia bonafidia or lanata from Chile, but the shrub was named earlier already so that his name was a synonym. And/ or he never published the description. It is now called Stellaria villasenorii or Turraea rutilans, I could find a clear explanation. Commerson described for example the famous Bougainvillea spectabilis, which Baré collected in Brazil, while he was sick and staying on the ship. Today the are 16 species of Bougainvillea.
So much to Jeanne Baré’s early fame. But here’s the happy end.
King Louis XVI honored her as femme extraordinare, even granted her a pension of 2oo livres annually in 1785. Google tells me that is today roughly equivalent to 500 to 1000 Euro.
Lately Jeanne Baré received some honors, for example was she shown as one of 10 women with great achievements during the Olympics 2024 in Paris. There’s also a 5.7km long botanical walking trail called ‘Sentier botanique Jeanne Baret et Philibert Commerson’. Two streets in France, and one in Germany are named in her honour.
Here’s finally a photo of the flutemouth, named after Commerson, not Baré.
Deutsch 
English