Anastasio Cocco (29 August 1799,

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

– 26 February 1854, Messina) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

naturalist who specialized in

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

. Cocco was a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

. He was especially interested in

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and described several

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural 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 nam ...

from the

Straits of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria ( Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Se ...

. In 1852 his friend the German scientist

Eduard Rüppell Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell (20 November 1794 – 10 December 1884) was a German Natural history, naturalist and List of explorers, explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet, due to german ort ...

named a fish ''Microichthys coccoi'' to honor his name. He was a friend and correspondent of many other naturalists notably

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French naturalist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte. Life and career ...

Antoine Risso Giuseppe Antonio Risso (8 April 1777 – 25 August 1845), called Antoine Risso, was a Niçard and naturalist. Risso was born in the city of Nice in the Duchy of Savoy, and studied under Giovanni Battista Balbis. He published ' (1810), ' (1826) ...

and

August David Krohn August David Krohn (1803–1891) was a Saint Petersburg born zoologist of German origin. He was the son of Abraham Krohn, the founder of Russia's first brewery, who had left the island of Rügen to serve in the court of Catherine the Great. He wa ...

Works

Partial list * Cocco, A. 1829. Su di alcuni pesci de'mari di Messina. ''Giornale di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti per la Sicilia'' (Palermo) 7 26(77): 138–147 46 Contains the description of Argyropelecus hemigymnus Cocco, 1829 the Halfnaked Hatchetfish. *Cocco, A. 1838. Su di alcuni Salmonidi del mare di Messina; lettera al Ch. D. Carle Luciano Bonaparte. ''Nuovi Annali delle Scienze Naturali. Bologna'' 1(2): 161–194 pls 5–8 67, pl. 5(2)Contains the description of Power's Deep-water Lightfish (Cocco, 1838). *with Rüppell, E. 1844. Intorno ad alcuni cefalopodi del mare di Messina: lettera del Dr. Eduardo Rüppell di Frankfort sul Meno al Prof. Anastasio Cocco. ''Giornale del Gabinetto Letteràrio di Messina'', 5(27-28):129-135, 2 figures.

Works

See also