Werner Schnakenbeck

Georg Christian Werner Schnakenbeck (born June 4, 1887 in Sandesneben , † April 3, 1971 in Hamburg ) was a German zoologist and ichthyologist . Most recently he was professor and director at the Institute for Sea Fisheries at the Federal Research Center for Fisheries .

Life

Schnakenbeck was born in 1887 in the Duchy of Lauenburg as the son of a nature-loving merchant who later took him hunting . After graduating from the Royal High School in Kiel, he studied natural sciences a. a. Zoology at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel , the University of Freiburg im Breisgau and the University of Halle (Saale) . In the meantime (1909/10) he served in the marine infantry ( sea ​​battalion ) in Kiel, he retired as a sergeant in the reserve. He then worked for Valentin Haecker in the zoological garden in Halle / Saale and worked on his first doctorate.

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he was called up for military service on the Western Front . As a member of the Marine Division he took part . a. participated in the siege of Antwerp and the battles of Flanders and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class. He was dismissed in 1918 with the rank of lieutenant in the reserve.

In 1919 he became a volunteer assistant, later assistant director in the zoological garden. In 1920 he received his doctorate on the subject of the analysis of the racial characteristics of the axolotl and the origin and fate of epidermal pigment carriers . From 1921 he was assistant to the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research and worked as such with Friedrich Heincke at the Biological Institute Helgoland . In 1923, at the instigation of Ernst Ehrenbaum , he moved to the fishery biology department of the Natural History Museum in Hamburg as a research assistant . In 1926 he became curator and in 1931 he succeeded Ehrenbaum as director of the institute.

In 1933 the Hamburg Senate awarded him the honorary title of "Professor". In 1934 he was appointed a full member of the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research by the Reich Minister of Food, Walther Darré . In 1939 he received the official title of senior government councilor at the Institute for Sea and Coastal Fisheries (formerly Fishery Biology Department) in the Reichsanstalt für Fischerei . From 1936 to 1945 he was also a lecturer in fisheries science at the University of Hamburg .

In 1949 it was taken over by the Zentralanstalt für Fischerei (later the Federal Research Institute for Fisheries ). In 1951 he became professor and director at the local institute for sea fishing. In 1952/53 he retired; his successor was Johannes Lundbeck .

Schnakenbeck was involved in several voyages of the research vessel Poseidon and contributed to the manual of zoology . In 1953 he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services .

Fonts (selection)

• The North Sea fishery (= Handbook of Sea Fisheries Northern Europe . Vol. 5, H. 1). E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart 1928.
• with Wilhelm Reuter: Practice of deep sea fishing (= Seemännische Bücherei . Vol. 48). Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg 1939.
• Animals and plants of salt and fresh water (= fish economy . Vol. 1). 3 deliveries, Keune, Hamburg 1947.
• German fisheries in the North Sea and in the North Sea (= Fischwirtschaftskunde . Vol. 3, Part 2). Delivery 1, Keune, Hamburg 1947.

literature

• Paul Friedrich Meyer-Waarden : Prof. Dr. Werner Schnakenbeck . In: Allgemeine Fischwirtschaftszeitung , No. 21, May 26, 1962, p. 41.
• Kurt Schubert: Prof. Dr. Werner Schnakenbeck [died] . In: Reports of the German Scientific Commission for Marine Research Hamburg 22 (1971), pp. 229-231.
• Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 9: Schlumberger - Thiersch . 2nd revised and expanded edition, KG Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-25039-2 , p. 89.
• Michael Watkins , Bo Beolens : Sharks: An Eponym Dictionary . Pelagic Publishing, Exeter 2015, ISBN 978-1-907807-93-0 , p. 141.