Christian Frederik Lütken (; 7 October 1827, in

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025).

– 6 February 1901), was a Danish

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. In 1852, he resigned his commission as a lieutenant with the Danish army, and earned his master's degree in sciences the following year.Darwinarkivet.dk
Christian Frederik Lütken (1827–1901) Afterwards, he served as an assistant to Japetus Steenstrup (1813–1897) at the University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum, at the time an independent institution, now part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Following Steenstrup's retirement in 1885, he became a professor of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and director of the zoological museum. As he grew older, he suffered from physical infirmities and during the last year of his life, he was stricken by paralysis. In 1899, Hector Frederik Estrup Jungersen (1854–1917) was chosen as Lütken's successor at Copenhagen. Lütken specialized in marine zoology, being highly regarded for his research of

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s. He described a number of marine organisms, and has numerous species named after him, such as ''Paulicea luetkeni'', ''Platystoma luetkeni'', ''Ophiactis luetkeni'' and ''Oneirodes luetkeni''. With Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (1816–1882), he published a book on Brazilian

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

and

reptiles Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

titled ''Bidrag til Kundskab om Brasiliens Padder og Krybdyr''. With Reinhardt, he described several herpetological species, including the Little-scaled least gecko, the Rio Grande escuerzo and Saint Vincent's bush anole.

Partial list of publications

* 1859 :'' Udsikt over de saakaldte vingeløse, ikke flyvende, fugles bygning og liv'' - Tidsskrift for populære fremstillinger af Naturvidenskaben. * 1864 :'' Bidrag til Kundskab om Echinidern'' - (contributions to the knowledge of echinoderms). * 1877 :'' Korte bidrag til nordisk Ichthyographi. I. Foreløbige Meddelelser om nordiske Ulkefiske (Cottoidei). Vidensk. Medd. Naturh. Foren. Kjøbenhavn'', 1876–77 : 355–388, 72–98. * 1892 :'' Spolia Atlantica''. * 1898 : The ichthyological results. Danish Ingolf Expedition, II. Copenhagen : 215–254, Pl. 1–4. * 1899 : The Ophiuridæ - (on

Ophiuridae Ophiuridae are a large family (biology), family of brittle stars of the suborder Ophiurina. Description The arms are simple and unbranched, projecting from and well-fused to the edge of the disc. These arms move horizontally. The arm spines sh ...

), published in English in 1899. * A collection of his popular lectures at the Danish Natural History Society was published in ''Skildringer af Dyrelivet i Fortid og Nutid'' (Descriptions of Animal Life in Past and Present Times) (Copenhagen: P.G. Philipsens Forlag, 1880).

Taxon named in his honor

He described a number of marine organisms, and has numerous species named after him, such as *The Gilded Catfish '' Paulicea luetkeni'', *The Fly '' Platystoma luetkeni'', *The Brittle Star '' Ophiactis luetkeni'' Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1887 and *The fish '' Oneirodes luetkeni''.( Regan, 1925) *'' Diaphus luetkeni'' ( A. B. Brauer, 1904), Luetken's lanternfish, is a species of

lanternfish Lanternfish (or myctophids, from the Greek language, Greek μυκτήρ ''myktḗr'', "nose" and ''ophis'', "serpent") are small mesopelagic fish of the large family (biology), family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, ...

found worldwide. *'' Hypostomus luetkeni'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

in the family

Loricariidae Loricariidae is the largest family (biology), family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genus, genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South A ...

. It is native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, where it occurs in the state of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Taxon described by him

*See :Taxa named by Christian Frederik Lütken

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutken, Christian Frederik Danish ichthyologists Danish zoologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Danish herpetologists People from Sorø Municipality

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

1827 births 1901 deaths