BARCELONA, Spain -- Snowflake, the crinkly faced albino gorilla who served as Barcelona's mascot and symbol to the world, yesterday succumbed to skin cancer.

Snowflake was 40, about 80 in human years, and the only known albino gorilla. He left behind three wives, 21 grandgorillas and six great-grandgorillas.

Millions of tourists have flocked to the Barcelona Zoo to see Snowflake ("Copito de nieve" in Spanish) since he arrived from equatorial Africa on Nov. 1, 1966, and his picture is featured on Barcelona postcards and posters.

"Copito has been an unforgettable companion for our city, and we all feel regret in losing him," said Barcelona Mayor Joan Clos Matheu. "He's made a great contribution to his species by making the plight of gorillas more known, and the best thing we can do for him now is to continue that work."

Clos said zoo veterinarians euthanized Snowflake yesterday morning to save him from "extreme agony" as his skin cancer advanced. He had undergone cancer surgery three times since being diagnosed with melanoma in 2001.

The zoo became embroiled in controversy last week after a newspaper ran color pictures of an obviously frail and declining Snowflake. They showed a large, bleeding sore on the gorilla's chest, the main site of the cancer.

Television crews quickly flocked to the zoo, raising questions about whether Snowflake was suffering needlessly. People viewing him over the Internet, thanks to live Internet cameras focused on his enclosures, also began to complain.

Dr. Jesus Ferandez, chief zoo veterinarian, insisted that Snowflake was comfortable, thanks to painkillers and other medications.

In recent days, visitors gathered at the zoo entrance each morning to check a sign announcing whether Snowflake could be seen that day. By midweek, public viewing ended, and the zoo disconnected the Webcams.

"A circus instead of a zoo," is how one commentator for the daily newspaper La Vanguardia described Snowflake's final days in an article last week. He contended that "morbid-minded" journalists forced the zoo to put Snowflake in seclusion sooner than was necessary.

Zoo Director Jordi Portabella said samples of Snowflake's brain and other organs will be used for scientific studies. He denied that there would be any attempt to clone the gorilla.

None of Snowflake's offspring is albino, which involves absence of a dark pigment called melanin. This condition was responsible for his fame but also left him vulnerable to skin cancer, since melanin shields the skin from harmful ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. Each mating of Snowflake's grandchildren will carry a 1 in 4 chance of an albino offspring.

Clos said the city will name a street after Snowflake and adorn it with a monument. Some officials envision a larger-than-life statue that could rival Barcelona's famous seafront monument to Christopher Columbus, who returned to the city in 1493 from his first voyage to America.

The Columbus memorial is more than 150 feet high.