Bashambhar Nath Chopra or B. N. Chopra (1898 – 2 March 1966) was an Indian zoologist who specialized in crustacea and ichthyology at the

Zoological Survey of India The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India as a premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, explora ...

Biography

Chopra received a DSc from Panjab University Lahore studying crustaceans and joined the

in 1923. He was an assistant superintendent until 1944 when he became director. After independence he served as an advisor for fisheries development to the Government of India. Chopra collected aquatic fauna on several expeditions, particularly to Meghalaya, the

Shan States The Shan States were a collection of minor Shan people, Shan kingdoms called ''mueang, möng'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' (''sawbwa''). In British rule in Burma, British Burma, they were analogous to the princely states of Britis ...

and the Indawggyi Lake in Upper Burma and described a number of species, particularly decapods. A fish '' Triplophysa choprai'' named from a specimen collected by him was named in his honour by

Sunder Lal Hora Sunder Lal Hora (22 May 1896 – 8 December 1955) was an Indian ichthyologist known for his biogeographic theory on the affinities of Western Ghats and Indomalayan fish forms. Life Hora was born at Hafizabad in the Punjab (modern da ...

in 1934. Other species named after him include ''

Danio choprae The glowlight danio (''Danio choprae'') is a small, schooling fish closely related to the popular zebrafish ''Danio rerio''. This should not be confused with the GloFish, a trademarked brand of fluorescent zebrafish that appear to glow in the dar ...

'' and '' Leoparreysia choprae'' (although the -''ae'' ending is typically used for feminine names). During World War I, Chopra was involved in shifting the collections of the ZSI from Calcutta to Kaiser Castle belonging to Sir Jung Bahadur Rana in Benares. Some damage was caused when the Varuna river flooded into the building. Nearly all the 27,000 bird specimens were soaked.

References

External links

Handbook of Indian Fisheries
(1951)
Indian National Science Academy: Deceased Fellow: Bashambhar Nath Chopra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chopra, Bashambhar Nath 1966 deaths 1898 births Indian zoologists