Mesiatsev, Ivan Illarionovich

Mesiatsev, Ivan Illarionovich 

Born June 20 (July 2), 1885, in present-day Krasnodar Krai; died May 7, 1940, in Moscow. Soviet zoologist. Became a member of the CPSU in 1929.

In 1912, Mesiatsev graduated from Moscow University. He was one of the organizers of the Floating Marine Scientific Institute (founded in 1921) and served as its director until 1933. In 1922 the first Soviet marine expedition vessel, Persei, was built under Mesiatsev’s supervision. Between 1921 and 1927 he headed a number of expeditions to the northern seas of the USSR. From 1929 to 1932, Mesiatsev headed the subdepartment of invertebrate zoology at Moscow State University. His principal works were on the biology of schooling fish (specifically on the reasons for their concentration). He also worked out methods for exploratory surveys of fish.

WORKS

“Stroenie kosiakov stadnykh ryb.” Izv. AN SSSR: Ser. biologicheskaia, 1937, no. 3.
Ob organizatsii poiskovykh robot po treske v DaVnevostochnykh moriakh. Moscow, 1933. (In collaboration with N. A. Maslov and A. D. Starostin.)

REFERENCE

Muromtseva, T. L., and L. A. Zenkevich. “Ivan Illarionovich Mesiatsev.” Trudy Vsesoiuznogo gidrobiologicheskogo obshchestva, vol. 6. 1955. Pages 5–16.