Francisco Mago Leccia

Who was Francisco Mago Leccia?

Francisco Mago Leccia was born in Tumeremo, Bolívar State, Venezuela on May 21, 1931 and died in Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela on February 27, 2004. Mago was a distinguished Venezuelan ichthyologist who specialized in electric fish of the rivers and lagoons of Venezuela and South America. His education was Docent in Biology and Chemistry graduate from the “Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas”, Master of Sciences from the University of Miami, Florida, U.S.A., Doctor in Sciences from Universidad Central de Venezuela. His Doctoral Thesis was entitled: “Los peces Gymnotiformes de Venezuela: un estudio preliminar para la revisión del grupo en la América del Sur”.

Francisco Mago was a founding member of the Instituto Oceanográfico de la Universidad de Oriente in Cumaná Sucre state Venezuela and a founding member of the Instituto de Zoologia Tropical de la Universidad Central de Venezuela situated in Caracas Venezuela. He was a teacher of the chair of Animal Biology, Vertebrate Biology and Systematic Ichthyology at the Biology School of Sciences Faculty of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. He was director of the Museo de Biología de la Universidad Central de Venezuela and Acuario Agustín Codazzi. He was editor of the Acta Biologica Venezuelica.