Fernando Lahille (Fernand Lahille, born August 18, 1861, in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, died July 30, 1940, French-Argentine scientist, ichthyologist and

tunicate Tunicates are marine invertebrates belonging to the subphylum Tunicata ( ). This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...

specialist. Lahille studied science and medicine at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1891 while publishing extensively. When in 1893 the Natural History Museum of La Plata in Argentina sought a scientist to head the newly formed zoology department, they found him in Lahille, already with eight years of experience in the marine laboratories of

Banyuls-sur-mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissemen ...

and Roscoff, and sixty published works with the thesis on tunicate taxonomy (''Recherches sur les tuniciers'') being the most ground-breaking. During six years at the museum in Argentina (1893~1898), Lahille created a marine research station on the edge of

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

and initiated scientific studies of the continental shelf off Argentina. He also participated in two research trips to investigate the natural resources along the Patagonian coastline. Lahille subsequently became head of the Fish and Game Department within the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, where he became involved in new fields of biological research. In Argentina, he published over 300 scientific texts in a very broad field. In May 1910 he was appointed professor of zoology at the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine of the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. Among the areas Lahille worked in are studies on worms in apples and pears, parasitic diseases in agriculture and the fertility of ticks in different life periods, but also largely on invertebrates, such as

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s, molluscs, crustaceans, hexapods,

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

s and

s. He was also the author of works of a philosophical, technical, anthropological, linguistic and educational nature. The Argentine stingray ('' Torpedo puelcha'') Lahille, 1926, the spectacled porpoise ('' Phocoena dioptrica'') Lahille, 1912 and the sea urchin '' Clavelina nana'' Lahille, 1890 are examples of species first described by Lahille. The tunicate '' Didemnum lahillei'' Hartmeyer, 1909, the knot species '' Simulium lahillei'' Paterson & Shannon, 1927 and the dragonhead fish '' Helicolenus lahillei'' Norman, 1937 are named in his honour.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahille, Fernando 1861 births 1941 deaths Argentine zoologists Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires