Dr. Simon Weigmann

Associated Scientists

Associated Scientists are professional scholars who formally and actively collaborate with CeNak scientific staff through co-authored publications, collaborative projects, etc. including regular use of the research collections and other facilities of the CeNak. Associated Scientists have achieved a degree, usually a doctorate, and have professional status within their academic community, they are generally affiliated with a recognized academic institution as active or retired staff and have an active publication record.

Joint publications with Scientific Staff of the CeNak

• Weigmann, S., Kaschner, C.J. & Thiel, R. (2018): A new microendemic species of the deep-water catshark genus Bythaelurus (Carcharhiniformes, Pentanchidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean, with investigations of its feeding ecology, generic review and identification key. PLOS ONE 13(12): e0207887. doi: 10.1371/Journal.pone.0207887.
• Zidowitz, H., Kaschner, C., Magath, V., Thiel, R., Weigmann, S. & Thiel, R. (2017): Gefährdung und Schutz der Haie und Rochen in den deutschen Meeresgebieten der Nord- und Ostsee. BfN-Skripten 450: 224 S.
• Weigmann, C., Vaz, D.F.B., White, W. T., de Carvalho, M. R. & Thiel, R. (2016): Distribution and comments on the morphology of Centroscymnus owstonii Garman, 1906 (Squaliformes: Somniosidae), with focus on its occurrence the Indian Ocean. Marine Biodiversity 46. 641-653. doi: 10.1007/s12526-015-0413-x.
• Kaschner, C.J., Weigmann, S. & Thiel, R. (2015): Bythaelurus tenuicephalus n.sp., a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the western Indian Ocean. Zootaxa 4013 (1): 120-138.
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. (2015): Okamijei ornata n. sp., a new deep-water skate (Elasmobranchii, Rajidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean off Socotra Islands. Deep-Sea Research II 115: 18-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.09.005.
• Weigmann, C., Stehmann, M. & Thiel, R. (2014c): Rajella paucispinosa n. sp., a new deep-water skate (Elasmobranchii, Rajidae) from the western Indian Ocean off South Mozambique, and a revised generic diagnosis. Zootaxa 3847 (3): 359-387. (http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3847.3.3).
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. (2014b): Complementary redescription of Anacanthobatis ori (Wallace, 1967) and its assignment to Indobatis n. g. (Elasmobranchii, Anacanthobatidae), with comments on further legskates. Zootaxa 3779 (2): 101-132.
• (http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3779.2.1)
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. 2014a): Contribution to the taxonomy and distribution of Pristiophorus nancyae (Elasmobranchii: Pristiophoriformes) from the deep western Indian Ocean. Marine Biodiversity 14: 189-202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12526-013-0200-5
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. (2013): Planonasus parini n. g. and n. sp., a new genus and species of false cat sharks (Carchariniformes, Pseudotriakidae) from the deep northwestern Indian Ocean off Socotra Islands. Zootaxa 3609 (2): 163-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3609.2.3
• Weigmann, S. & Thiel, R. (2013): Predicting the spatial distribution of blue-spotted maskray Neotrygon kuhlii (Myliobatiformes, Dasyatidae) on the Australian North and Northwest Shelf comparing two different methods of habitat modeling. Journal of Ichthyology 53 (8): 628-640. http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S0032945213050111

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Research interest

The focus of my research is on the taxonomy and systematics of chondrichthyans (sharks, skates and rays, chimaeras) in the deep western Indian Ocean, an area with a very poorly known cartilaginous fish fauna and simultaneously increasing commercial fishing efforts, intensified deep-water fishery, and declining populations of many cartilaginous fish species.

Professional employment and academic education

Since 2015: Head of departments Product Management, Medical Management and Marketing at PlantTec Medical GmbH, head of Elasmo-Lab, Elasmobranch Research Laboratory
2015: Product Management, Medical Management and Marketing at PlantTec Medical GmbH, guest researcher at the Center of Natural History
2014 - 2015: Freelance biologist
2011 - 2014: Scientific staff member at the Center of Natural History, Doctorate to Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude) on the biodiversity and distribution of chondrichthyans in the deep western Indian Ocean
2010 - 2011: Freelance biologist
2008 - 2010: Masters in Biology (with distinction), University of Hamburg
2005 - 2008: Bachelors in Biology, University of Hamburg

Honors, scholarships and awards

Since 2016: Invited member of the Shark Specialist Group Indian Ocean of the International Union for Conservation of Nature
2017: Travel grant from the German Academic Exchange Service
2015: Travel grant from the Society of Natural Sciences in Hamburg
2014: Student Bursary Award from the European Elasmobranch Association
2013 - 2014: Research grant from the State Postgraduate Scholarship Program of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
2012: Travel grant from the German Academic Exchange Service
2011: Student Bursary Award from the European Elasmobranch Association
2011: Research grant from the Society of Natural Sciences in Hamburg

Professional memberships and reviewer activities

• Chair of the German Elasmobranch Society (D.E.G.) and editor-in-chief of the journal Elasmoskop
• Member of the Society of Natural Sciences in Hamburg
• Member of the German Carnivorous Plant Society (G.F.P.)
• Reviewer for > 15 scientific journals, including, e.g., Marine Environmental Research, Nature Ecology & Evolution and Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

Publications

• More than 20 peer-reviewed publications (15 as sole or first author) and (co-) author in almost half of all 630 species treatments in the first comprehensive book on all valid batoid species of the world (Rays of the World, CSIRO Publishing, 2016)
• 11 publications in the top-ranked journal of ISI category “Zoology“, Zootaxa (Eigenfactor search under: www.eigenfactor.org)
• 2 publications in the top 4 journal of ISI category “Fisheries & Limnology“, Journal of Fish Biology, including one publication with more than 200 pages that was presented in Nature 530 (7590), p. 258 and ranked among the top three most cited articles published in the journal in 2015 and 2016 according to Thomson ISI Web of Science®.

Five key publications

• Weigmann, S. (2017) Reply to Borsa (2017): Comment on ‘Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity by Weigmann (2016)’. Journal of Fish Biology 90 (4), 1176–1181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13234
• Weigmann, S., Ebert, D.A., Clerkin, P.J., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Naylor, G.J.P. (2016) Bythaelurus bachi n. sp., a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the southwestern Indian Ocean, with a review of Bythaelurus species and a key to their identification. Zootaxa 4208 (5), 401–432. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4208.5
• Weigmann, S. (2016) Annotated checklist of the living sharks, batoids and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of the world, with a focus on biogeographical diversity. Journal of Fish Biology 88 (3), 837–1037. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12874
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. (2015) Okamejei ornata n. sp., a new deep-water skate (Elasmobranchii, Rajidae) from the northwestern Indian Ocean off Socotra Islands. Deep-Sea Research II 115, 18–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.09.005
• Weigmann, S., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Thiel, R. (2014) Rajella paucispinosa n. sp., a new deep–water skate (Elasmobranchii, Rajidae) from the western Indian Ocean off South Mozambique, and a revised generic diagnosis. Zootaxa 3847 (3), 359–387. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3847.3.3