Max Fernand Leon Poll (21 July 1908 in
Ruisbroek – 13 March 1991 in
Uccle) was a
Belgian ichthyologist
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...
who specialised in the
Cichlidae. In the years 1946 and 1947 he organised an
expedition to
Lake Tanganyika.
He has described several
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
Pseudocrenilabrinae, such as ''
Lamprologus signatus'', ''
Steatocranus casuarius'', ''
Neolamprologus brichardi'', and ''
Neolamprologus pulcher''.
He was a member of
The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium,
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
at the
Université libre de Bruxelles
The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...
, and
conservator at the
Royal Museum of the Belgian Congo in
Tervuren.
He was an honorary member of the
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of th ...
.
Taxon named in his honor
Named after him are species and
taxa
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...
such as:
*The African Lanternshark ''
Etmopterus polli''
Bigelow, Schroeder & S. Springer, 1953,
*''
Merluccius polli''
Cadenat, 1950,
*''
Pollichthys''
Grey, 1959,
*''
Polyipnus polli''
Schultz, 1961,
*The Catfish ''
Microsynodontis polli''
J. G. Lambert, 1958.
*The African Catfish ''
Synodontis polli''
Gosse, 1982.
''Synodontis polli''
- planetcatfish.com
*'' Placidochromis polli'' ( W. E. Burgess & H. R. Axelrod, 1973)
*The African Tetra'' Phenacogrammus polli'' J. G. Lambert, 1961.
Taxon described by him
*See :Taxa named by Max Poll
References
1908 births
1991 deaths
Belgian ichthyologists
20th-century Belgian zoologists
People from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
Academic staff of the Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)
{{zoologist-stub