Jacques Pellegrin

Who was Jacques Pellegrin?

Jacques Pellegrin was a French zoologist.

In Paris, he worked under zoologist Léon Vaillant at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. From 1897, Pellegrin served as préparateur at the museum. He obtained doctorates in medicine and science, and in 1908 was named as an assistant director.

After many missions abroad, he became sub-director of the museum in 1937, and replaced Louis Roule as the chairperson of herpetology and ichthyology.

He has published over 600 scientific books and articles and has discovered around 350 new species. He named a number of fishes from the family Cichlidae, such as the genera Astatoreochromis, Astatotilapia, Boulengerochromis, Lepidiolamprologus, Nanochromis and Ophthalmotilapia. He has the following species named in his honor:

Apletodon pellegrini

Barbus pellegrini

Crenicichla pellegrini

Geophagus pellegrini

Nemacheilus pellegrini