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Our fish collection
With around 35,000 known species,fish are the most diverse group of vertebrates. They colonise almost all aquatic habitats on earth. The research and collection of the ichthyology section of the Museum Koenig in Bonn is dedicated to this diversity.
The research and collection focus on freshwater fish. Research topics range from the documentation of species diversity to the mechanisms of evolutionary processes underlying this diversity. In projects we combine morphological and ecological approaches to understand how fish have adapted to their very different habitats.
The specimen collection of the Ichthyology Section comprises around 140,000 specimens, most of which are preserved in alcohol. The collection serves as evidence of the occurrence of species in space and time, but also as a source of morphological and, in some cases, genetic information. The majority of the specimens are digitised and can be accessed via the digital collection portal.
The Ichthyology Section was founded in 1945. The first curator was Karl Heinz Lüling, followed by Klaus Busse in 1978 and Fabian Herder in 2008.
Related collections
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Contact person
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- Head of Vertebrate Department
- Head of Section Ichthyology
Phone: +49 228 9122 255
E-Mail: f.herder@leibniz-lib.de
Projects
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Diversity and evolution of the Sulawesi ricefish radiation
Management: PD Dr. Fabian Herder
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Catfish population surveys on the Sieg
Management: PD Dr. Fabian Herder
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Community assembly and species coexistence in Sulawesi’s stream fishes
Management: PD Dr. Fabian Herder
Publications
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2025/12
Sulawesi Stream Fish Communities Disconnected From the Sea: Absence of Diadromous and Dominance of Exotic Species
Freshwater biology, 12, 70
2025/04
Multiple instances of river-lake introgression in the adaptive radiation of sailfin silversides in Wallace’s Dreampond
2025/03
Increased phenotypic diversity as a consequence of ecological opportunity in the island radiation of Sulawesi ricefishes (Teleostei: Adrianichthyidae)
BMC Ecology and Evolution, 1, 25
2025/02
A new and unique species of ricefish (Teleostei: Adrianichthyidae: Oryzias) from the Lariang River Basin, Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the first known sympatric ricefish species pair from Sulawesi rivers
Ichthyology & Herpetology, 1, 113
2025/02
Sulawesi stream fish communities depend on connectivity and habitat diversity
Journal of Fish Biology, 106
2025/01
A Graphical Key for the Identifi cation of German Freshwater Fishes - Grafischer Bestimmungsschlüssel für die Süßwasserfische Deutschlands
Bulletin of Fish Biology, 20
2024/08
Exkursion in den Kaukasus: Der CaBOL BioBlitz 2022 in Armenien und Georgien
Koenigiana, 18
2022/06
A new endemic species of pelvic-brooding ricefish (Beloniformes: Adrianichthyidae: Oryzias) from Lake Kalimpa'a, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Bonn zoological bulletin, 1, 71
2022/01
A fish-parasitic isopod (Cymothoidae) on the pachyrhizodont Goulmimichthys roberti from the lower Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) Vallecillo plattenkalk, NE Mexico
Cretaceous Research, 129
2021/12
Complex sexually dimorphic traits shape the parallel evolution of a novel reproductive strategy in Sulawesi ricefishes (Adrianichthyidae)
BMC ecology and evolution, 21
2021/07
Comparative osteology of the fossorial frogs of the genus Synapturanus (Anura, Microhylidae) with the description of three new species from the Eastern Guiana Shield
Zoologischer Anzeiger, 293
2020/12
Crossing the Weber Line: First record of the Giant Bluetongue Skink Tiliqua gigas (Schneider, 1801) (Squamata: Scincidae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia
Bonn zoological Bulletin, 2, 69
2020/06
At the edge of extinction: a first herpetological assessment of the proposed Serra do Pingano Rainforest National Park in Uíge Province, northern Angola
Zoosystematics and Evolution, 1, 96
2019/06
Nomorhamphus versicolor, a new species of blunt-nosed halfbeak from a tributary of the Palu River, Sulawesi Tengah (Teleostei: Zenarchopteridae)
Ichthyological exploration of freshwaters, 1105
2019/05
Adding DNA barcoding to stream monitoring protocols: Whats the additional value and congruence between morphological and molecular identification approaches?
PloS one, 16, 1
2019/01
Structure of the andropodium of the viviparous halfbeak genus Nomorhamphus (Atherinomorpha: Beloniformes: Zenarchopteridae), endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The Raffles bulletin of zoology, 67
2016/09
A frog's eye view: logging roads buffer against further diversity loss
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7, 14
2016/07
Facing complexity in tropical conservation: how reduced impact logging and climatic extremes affect beta diversity in tropical amphibian assemblages
Biotropica, 4, 48
2016/02
An annotated checklist of the inland fishes of Sulawesi
Bonn zoological Bulletin, 2, 64
2015/12
Review of the dwarf Glossogobius lacking head pores from the Malili lakes, Sulawesi, with a discussion of the definition of the genus.
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 63
2015/05
The FREDIE project-different lessons from a large-scale DNA barcoding campaign
5, 58
2014/09
High Levels of Diversity Uncovered in a Widespread Nominal Taxon: Continental Phylogeography of the Neotropical Tree Frog Dendropsophus minutus
PloS one, 9, 9
2014/09
On the natural history of an introduced population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859) in Germany.
BioInvasions Record, 3, 3
2014/05
RAFFAEL ERNST, ALVARO BRUNO TOTO NIENGUESSO, THEA LAUTENSCHLÄGER, MICHAEL F.BAREJ, ANDREAS SCMITZ & MONIQUE HÖLTING (2014) Relicts of a forested past: Southernmost distribution of the hairy frog genus Trichobatrachus Boulenger, 1900 (Anura: Arthroleptidae) in the Serra do Pingano region of Angola with comments on its taxonomic status. Zootaxa, 3779 (2): 297–300.
Zootaxa, 5, 3795
2014/05
Two new species of viviparous halfbeaks (Atherinomorpha: Beloniformes: Zenarchopteridae) endemic to Sulawesi Tenggara, Indonesia.
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 62
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Employees
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PD Dr. Fabian Herder
ztm Ichthyology Bonn ScientistPhone: +49 228 9122 255
E-mail: f.herder@leibniz-lib.de/leibniz-lib.de/fileadmin/user_upload/home/Bilder/LIB/Ueber_das_LIB/Mitarbeitende/Bonn/01_20241118_MKB_Portraits_LowRes_HoeltingMonique_FKurceren_6N0A3276.jpg%3F1739188746)
Dipl. Biol. Monique Hölting
ztm Ichthyology BonnPhone: +49 228 9122 440
E-mail: m.hoelting@leibniz-lib.de/leibniz-lib.de/fileadmin/user_upload/home/Bilder/LIB/Ueber_das_LIB/Mitarbeitende/Bonn/01_20241125_MKB_Portraits_HighRes_LambrechtMarius_MGeiger_IMG_5301.jpg%3F1743069397)
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Henning Monscheuer
ztm Animal husbandry Ichthyology Bonn Animal keeperPhone: +49 228 9122 274
E-mail: h.monscheuer@leibniz-lib.de/leibniz-lib.de/fileadmin/user_upload/home/Bilder/LIB/Ueber_das_LIB/Mitarbeitende/Bonn/01_20250115_MKB_Portraits_MoehringJan_MGeiger_IMG_5694.JPG%3F1739268790)
Jan Möhring
ztm zmb Comparative Genomics - Vertebrates Ichthyology Bonn Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 228 9122 431
E-mail: j.moehring@leibniz-lib.deLetha Louisiana Wantania
ztm Ichthyology Bonn Doctoral candidatePhone: +49 228 9122 375
E-mail: l.wantania@leibniz-lib.de