Marine Taxonomy

Aquenal’s professional benthic analysis service differentiates it from other environmental consultancies. Aquenal houses a fully equipped benthic laboratory for the processing, sorting, identification, preservation and archiving of benthic infauna and other biological samples. Aquenal’s laboratory services are supported by our comprehensive biological reference collection that houses more than 3000 marine, estuarine and freshwater species. Aquenal’s laboratory also utilises an interactive distributional and photographic database, and additional analytical equipment for the analysis of physico-chemical parameters of sediment samples.

Aquenal’s staff have expertise in the taxonomy of marine animal and plant groups (including introduced marine pest species) and have well established networks with other specialist taxonomists around Australia. Aquenal routinely collaborates with state museums, research institutions, universities and other private consultancies to coordinate identification of biological collections from tropical through to temperate study areas. Aquenal’s laboratory processes samples collected during our field studies, but also provides benthic identification and analysis services to facilitate rapid processing of samples collected by other organisations from around Australia.

The development of in-house taxonomic expertise and the continuous updating of databases are core components to Aquenal’s business, and has enabled Aquenal to deliver robust, reliable and expert taxonomic services for over 25 years.