Sterlet (Aceripenser ruthenus)

The yellow boxfish on the left and the sterlet on the right are from the collection of Marcus Elieser Bloch, a physician and naturalist. The collection embraced 1,400 fish specimens from all over the world and entered the holdings of the Cabinet of Curiosities in 1802. Bloch was a member of many academies and private societies. However, as a Jew he was not allowed to join the Königlich Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Royal Prussian academy of sciences. Bloch published his research findings in Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische (General Natural History of Fish). Today, the collection is one of the oldest holdings of Berlin's natural history museum, the Museum fur Naturkunde.