francisco mago was a founding member of the instituto oceanográfico de la universidad de oriente in cumaná sucre state venezuela and a founding member of the instituto de zoologia tropical (izt) de la universidad central de venezuela situated in caracas venezuela. he was a teacher of the chair of animal biology, vertebrate biology and systematic ichthyology at the biology school of sciences faculty of the universidad central de venezuela. he was director of the museo de biología de la universidad central de venezuela (mbucv) and acuario agustín codazzi. he was editor of the acta biologica venezuelica (abv). in 1968 he founded the mago collection of mbucv considered the largest ichthyological collection in latin america. it is a mandatory study resource on tropical fish for experts who wish to know more about this area. currently the mago collection has a heritage of 33,000 fishes thousand preserved in alcohol and skeletons.