Pierre Carbonnier

Pierre Carbonnier, (7 August 1828 – 8 April 1883) was a French scientist, ichthyologist, fish breeder and public Aquarium director. Member of Imperial Society of acclimatization (Société Impériale d'Acclimatation). Pierre Carbonnier was born 7 August 1828 in Bergerac, son to Pierre and Marie Andrieu. As third child of twelve, he married Zélie Joséphine Flusin (dead 9 April 1883) in Paris November 10, 1857. Pierre Carbonnier founded in 1850, one of the oldest public Aquaria in Paris. In 1869 he started to breed exotic aquarium fishes, being the first in Europe to breed a tropical fish species, the Macropod (Paradise fish). This first shipment of tropical fish species was brought to Europe by a naval officer named Gerold (Gérault) at the request of French Consul (1868-1869) Eugene Simon (Eugène Simon) in Ningbo of Zhejiang Province in the southeast of China. Of 100 macropods, 22 arrived alive July 8, 1869 in Paris, and Carbonniers share of the shipment was 17 specimens, (12 males and 5 females). Two years later he had raised 200 specimens of the Paradise fish. The same year he wrote the brochure "Report and observations about the pairing of one kind of Chinese fish" (fr. Rapport et Observations sur l'accouplement d'une espèce de poisson de Chine; 1869), "The new remark on the Chinese fish belonging to the genus makropody" (fr. Nouvelle Note sur un poisson de Chine appartenant au genre macropode; 1870), and others. He published also several works devoted to the breeding of crustaceans. His fish breeding center was destroyed in 1870-1871 during the siege of Paris by the Prussian troops in the Franco-Prussian War, but he regained his spirit and in 1872 he introduced the Fantail, a variety of gold fish (Carassius auratus), in France. In 1874 Carbonnier imported the first Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) and Dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia). At the International Exhibition of sea and river industries in Paris in 1875, Carbonnier was awarded the Gold Medal of the French Imperial Society of acclimatization for research and breeding of freshwater aquarium of exotic fish and his success of introducing exotic fish species to France.