Krunoslav Babić (12 April 1875 - 4 March 1953) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. He was born in

Senj Senj (; it, Segna, la, Senia, Hungarian and german: Zengg) is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains. The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress ( hr, Tvrđava Nehaj) whic ...

. After finishing elementary school and

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Senj and Rijeka, he received a degree at the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the

Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fac ...

in 1897. He received his PhD in 1899 with a thesis: ''Materials for the knowledge of Croatian fauna of water polyps'' (''Građa za poznavanje hrvatske faune hidropolipa''). He worked as a high school teacher in Osijek,

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

, Susak and

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

. In 1906 he was elected as a curator in the National Zoological Museum in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. At the same time he started working as a private

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

, teaching

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and systematics of

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Higher Pedagogical School. He was appointed as a university professor of zoology in 1927, when he took over as the director of the Zoological Museum. He retired in 1945. Since 1940 he was a full member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop J ...

. In his zoological research he mainly dealt with

coelenterata Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phyla Cnidaria (coral animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their relatives) and Ctenophora (comb jellies). The name comes , referring to the hollow body cavity common to these two phyla ...

, echinoderms and arthropods. He was especially interested in the sea

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

. He studied water polyps of the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

(''Rad JAZU'', 1898; ''Glasnik Hrvatskog naravoslovnog društva'', 1903; ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'', Leipzig 1911, 1912, 1914; ''Glasnik Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog društva'', 1921),

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

Coelenterata Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phyla Cnidaria (coral animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their relatives) and Ctenophora (comb jellies). The name comes , referring to the hollow body cavity common to these two phyla ...

of scyphozoa and

ctenophora Ctenophora (; ctenophore ; ) comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and ...

(''Rad JAZU'', 1913), and also wrote several papers on

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

s in the Adriatic, discovering several new species (''Glasnik Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog društva'', 1921; ''Zoologische Jahrbücher'', ''Abt. für Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie der Tiere'', Jena 1923). He further studied isopod and decapod

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

and starfishes (''Zoologischer Anzeiger'', 1912, 1913; ''Glasnik Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog društva'', 1922),

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

s (''Priroda'', 1920) and

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

s (''Zoologischer Anzeiger'', 1939). He wrote on local species of

Opiliones The Opiliones (formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, harvest spiders, or daddy longlegs. , over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the total number of ext ...

, freshwater sponges, Branchipus stagnalis crabs and blind cave

decapods The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order (biology), order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, Caridea, shrimp and Dendrobranchiata, prawns. Most ...

, and the development of faunal studies in Croatia (''Glasnik Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog društva'', 1916, 1927/1928). Sponge species Axinella babici is named in his honor. He died in

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean ...

Works

* ''Pogledi na biologičke i bionomičke odnose u Jadranskome moru'', 1911, Zagreb * ''Životinjstvo za niže razrede srednjih i njima sličnih škola'' (coauthored with Nikola Finka), 1926, Zagreb * ''Život Jadranskoga mora'', 1928, Zagreb * ''Zoologija za više razrede srednjih škola'', 1 and 2 (coauthored with Nikola Finka), 1936, Zagreb * ''Životinjski svijet'' (in: ''Zemljopis Hrvatske'', 2), 1942, p. 482–502, Zagreb

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babic, Krunoslav Croatian zoologists 1875 births 1953 deaths People from Senj 20th-century Croatian scientists Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Zoologists from Austria-Hungary