Urbain-Louis-Eugène Léger (7 September 1866 – 7 July 1948) was a French zoologist who was a specialist on aquatic protists, fish parasites, and

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

. He served as a professor of zoology at

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. Léger was born in

Loches Loches (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre (river), Indre. History Loch ...

, son of a school teacher. He grew up in

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

and went to the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; , ) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France ...

where he studied under

Aimé Schneider Aimé () is a French masculine given name. The feminine form is Aimée, translated as "beloved". Aimé may refer to: Given name * Saint Amatus or Saint Aimé (died 690), Benedictine monk, saint, abbot and bishop in Switzerland * Aimé, duc de ...

, receiving a doctorate for studies on gregarines. He then worked in Marseilles and studied medicine, receiving a medical degree in 1895 for studies on arteries in the aged. He became a lecturer at Grenoble in 1898 and became a full professor in 1904. Léger's researches included work on the Gregarinida in collaboration with

Octave Duboscq Octave Joseph Duboscq (30 October 1868, Rouen – 18 February 1943, Nice) was a French zoologist, mycologist and parasitologist. He obtained doctorates in medicine (1894) and sciences (1899) at the University of Caen. From 1904 to 1923, he was cha ...

. He also studied the life-history of Cnidospora,

flagellates A flagellate is a cell or organism with one or more whip-like appendages called flagellum, flagella. The word ''flagellate'' also describes a particular construction (or level of organization) characteristic of many prokaryotes and eukaryote ...

, trichomycetes, and

ciliates The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a different ...

. He also studied the fishes of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

region examining habitat characteristics and was later involved in introductions of fish species into the Alps and into Madagascar. He was also an excellent illustrator and watercolour artist.

References

1866 births 1948 deaths Pisciculturists French zoologists Academic staff of Grenoble Alpes University {{Authority control