Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt/M.

Marine Zoology

Since 2018, the Division of Marine Zoology at Senckenberg Research Institute is found under the roof of the Arthur von Weinberg House in Frankfurt. It includes all working groups that mainly focus on marine animal groups.

Here, the sections Marine Evertebrates I (Porifera, Cnidaria), Marine Evertebrates II (Polychaeta, Echinodermata), Marine Evertebrates III (Bryozoans), Crustacea, Malacology and Ichthyology are found. Additionally, parts of our Biodiversity Informatics team are also found here.

The division’s main research focuses on the research areas Biodiversity, Systematics and Evolution, Biodiversity and Climate and Biodiversity and Environment. From a geographical point of view, the polar regions and the North Sea, but above all the Arab and East Asian seas play a central role in research within the division. Another key focus is the exploration of the oceanic deep sea and deep sea hydrothermal vents.

In contrast to other marine divisions of Senckenberg, Marine Zoology is also responsible for maintaining and developing extensive scientific, marine collections. The division also has a central zoological library that is open to all divisions.

The history of the past 200 years of marine research at Senckenberg was summarized in 2017. You can download it here as a PDF.

Sections of Marine Zoology

Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Frankfurt Außenansicht

Adrian Giacomelli

Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Frankfurt am Main is the headquarters location of Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research (SGN). It is the home of the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, which also comprises the research stations Weimar, Gelnhausen, and the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Messel Pit.”

SGN

Crustacea

In the Crustacea section we mainly study decapods. These are animals that the non-specialist will easily classify as crustaceans.

Senckenberg, Friedhelm Krupp

Ichthyology

With more than 50,000 nominal and about 34,200 valid species, fishes are the largest group of vertebrates. There are more fish species than species of all other vertebrates combined.

Sigrid Hof

Malacology

Malacology is the scientific study of molluscs (phylum Mollusca), the most diverse living group of animals. The Malacology Section of the Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt am Main belongs to the Division of Marine Zoology. The research of our members focusses on systematics and taxonomy.

Melanie Bergmann

Marine Invertebrates I

Focus of our research in section Marine Invertebrates I is the phylum Porifera (sponges). Furthermore, the taxa Cnidaria (corals in particular), Tunicata (ascidians and salps) and Ctenophora (warty comb jellies) are part of our research collections.

Marine Invertebrates II

The section Marine Invertebrates II is responsible for the curation of a large part of Senckenberg's collections of recent marine invertebrates.

SGN

Marine Invertebrates III

Bryozoans, Polyzoa or Moss Animals represent a phylum of colonial aquatic suspension feeding animals. Currently, 6,500 living and 15,000 fossil species are known to science.

Science Advances

Senckenberg am Meer

Inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Richter in 1928 to establish a permanent research facility on the North Sea, the institute today consists of two departments, the Marine Research section and German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), and is closely interconnected with important marine research associations and universities in Germany.