Deriugin, Konstantin

Born Jan. 27 (Feb. 8), 1878, in St. Petersburg; died Dec. 27, 1938, in Moscow; buried in Leningrad. Soviet zoologist and hydrobiologist.

Deriugin graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1900. In 1915 he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1917 he began teaching at Petrograd University (now Leningrad University) as a docent, becoming a professor in 1918. Beginning in 1920 he was at the Petergof Institute of Natural Science, where he was director until 1936. He investigated the hydrology and fauna of the White Sea, the Kola Gulf, the Gulf of Finland, the Neva Bay, and the relict Lake Mogil’noe. Under his guidance, marine stations were established on the White Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Together with his students, Deriugin worked out methods for multiple investigations of bodies of water and the biogeographical analysis of fauna as the basis for understanding the evolution of the sea and the history of the formation of its fauna. He was the founder and editor of the publication Issledovaniia morei SSSR (Studies of the Seas of the USSR) (issues 1-25, 1925-37). He was awarded the F. P. Litke medal.