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True Facts: How A Species Gets A Name!
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- Published on Jul 8, 2025
- Join the Ocean Species Alliance Mailing List!
sosa.senckenbe...
Thank you to the SOSA team for all of the
assitance and allowing me to film.
Images courtesy of Julia Sigwart, Torben Riehl,
and the Senckenberg.
Deep sea footage courtesy of NOAA.
Tonicella lineata images from:
doi.org/10.100...
Thank You:
Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart
Dr. Torben Riehl
Andre Ampuero Leon
Dr Fabrizio Marcondes Machado
Ruth Wasmund
Dr. Alica Torkov
Carly Rospert
Henry Knauber
Katarzyna Vončina
Sigrid Hof
Sandra Müller
Thank you to RV METEOR Captain Rainer Hammacher and his crew as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF)
Appearing on board were Prof. Dr. Angelika Brandt, Alexander Wolf, Moritz Boll, Christopher Cruz Gomez, Natalia Szymanska, and Nicole Gatzemeier. 
Pets & Animals
The "one crayon's worth" joke is so stupid that it might just be my favorite joke on the channel so far
I have to say, I was very impressed with "unironically take a Fahrt to Assmanshausen".
The simpler a joke, the better.
The more non-obvious the joke, the *_also_* better!
_(yes, I know that's not how the English language do, but just roll with it!)_
Why did the plane crash?
Because the pilot was a loaf of bread
I read this comment before I even got to that part in the video and it STILL caught me off guard and made me start cackling
So that's why they don't let the Marines in there....
2:10 "I have failed to outrun the crayon of death, and now my lungs are full of bees :("
"But the real agony is the emotional pain of thinking about what I did. :("
XD
If you should ever come into this situation, make sure to speak your last words out loud. That'll cheer you up on the way out ;)
No. Never happened. Our writers made it up. It's a total fabrication.
Have you tried farting the bees out?
And THAT is how a taxonomist dooooo.
I thought they dooooo on the toilet...just like everyone else.
@@BrockLee3 I dooooo in the toilet not on the toilet, dont compare me to you heathens
@@BrockLee3 ZeFrank actually has a gastrovascular cavity. Many don’t know this.
@@BrockLee3 Nono, they dooo da doodoo on the toilet, when they're not doing what a taxonomist dooo.
@@MelGibsonFan What? I thought he had a cloaca.
"so everyone's equally confused" - best description of binomial naming of all time
"It's the Matrix, but for snails."
_"There is no shell"_
other than a ghost maybe, you could say, a... _ghost in the shell_
@@sdal_yt I'm Shellshocked at your reference!
This comment section is my own personal shell.
@@sdal_yt Damnit, someone beat me too it!
Missed opportunity for a butt joke right there. But I guess the Rheinfahrt to Asswhereverhausen makes up for that.
I know it's not nearly as impressive, but 13 years ago I named a tortoise after you. Ze is still doing well and enjoys hanging out with his friend, Zelda. Keep up the good work, you are a treasure of a person.
My next pet will be named Frank if male, and Ze if female. Great idea!
For a moment I thought you meant a species of tortoise.
Still, just one tortoise is not to be sniffed at.
@@tulliusexmisc2191That's what I thought right up until your comment.
Unironically Ze Frank making a joke about Fahrting to Assmannshausen probably is going to propel the SOSA into the best known oceanic research society.
When I lived in Germany I quite regularly passed through Titz on my way to Wankum.
@@sureshot8399 If you commute from Detroit to Toronto or vice versa, you'll be taking I-69 through Climax.
Bitcoin surpassed $100k for the first time on Wednesday, reaching a new high as its rally continued, partly driven by the election of former President Donald...
how do y'all even make so much from crypto trading?
Market behavior can be complex and unpredictable. Mind if I ask you to recommend this particular advisor to whom you have used their services?
"...in Frankfurt, Germany... where you can unironically take a Fahrt to Assmannshausen."
ZeFrank, you are an absolute legend. Please, never stop doing what you do.
I mean, I knew what I've signed up for when we filmed this, but I definitely did not have "getting roasted by ZeFrank for my facial hair" on my 2024 bingo card 😂
Great video though! Was a pleasure to have you visit us in Frankfurt, so far from the ocean 🦀
Awww...it's ok.
You have been blessed, now! haha!
Have you shaved yet?😂
You puny mustache was asking for a roast but your username roars and your job rocks!
Roast? It sounded like a compliment! ... You should hear what ZeFrank usually has to say about, well, anything, really.
... Surprised he hasn't been sued for slander by some amalgamation of pissed off animals.
Ze Frank needs his own PBS show where he tours various science hippie locations (like Rick Steve, but actually watchable!)
YES! I would watch that alllll day😅
❤
Yes would be fun and help fill the Tom Scott hole in my heart
Agreed!
yeah, but it'd have to be PG-13, and uncensored. unfortunately, PBS isn't big on that type of programming
Congratulations on joining the advisory board. You've made learning about the natural world so fun and accessible, and I'm glad that top scientists appreciate it.
*_TOP_* scientists.
You mean “science hippies”….
Hear hear! 🍻
Also, what Candy said... as they beat me to it!
Ze z frank is becoming a science hippy!
For Real I wish teachers I had in the day had this guys comedy and style really makes learning fun even when its on things I didn't know or care about makes learning the unknown at the very least more entertaining than school versions to bore you
Frank has gone from goofy but educational videos on animals to being invited into a really cool Advisory Board and being the guest of _honour_ at a really really cool Museum in Germany.
What next? We can only begin to guess, but I look forward to finding out.
"Honour" is the British way of writing honor. Same as favour for favor, colour for color, etc. Actually, the American way of writing these words is misspelling.
@@myriamickx7969 Americans just de-Frenchified it. The opposite happened with the word "herb" though, and the Brits anglicized it by pronouncing the "h" while Americans kept it silent like the French would.
@@namelessnavnls8060 my pedantic self needs to point out that Frank is his last name. He goes by Ze, short for Hosea.
Perhaps he'll be taking the Fahrt to Assmannshausen. Who knows?
3:39 “If your parents didn’t let you go to art school cuz there was no money in it, be a scientist, you can draw! There’s still no money in it,” KILLED me. As a studying marine biologist and hobbyist artist, never felt this more 😭
I laughed a little, then I cried a little too
Yeah same over in biomanufacturing
@@toastsandwich9714 Hello from music land.
Hey, full PhD in biology and hobby artist here….
It’s still rough buddy 😢
@@toastsandwich9714what does a biomanufacturer do?
As a zoologist who graduated this year, I can't express how much I miss learning about our world. Your videos are like a comforting reminder of the passion I have for this subject- being able to revisit a cherished part of my life. Thank you for keeping the wonder alive with your funny videos for people like me who wish they could go back to it every day :)
2:14
Either you get-gone, or you argon 😂
Dad! What are you doing here?
Get out!
I am angry that you made me laugh at that
That's honestly such a good slogan 🤣
Scott Pilgrim reference????
You have prevented me from falling into a dark depression so many times
As a german. I have never felt more amused while being made fun of. I love you man :D
This - same here!
Jepp!;)
Now imagine that you can't take life seriously and see everything as the beginning of some kind of joke. It's how the Zefrank do
As a swiss, I've never felt more Schadenfreude.
Not German, but the "we will move the ocean to us" joke was pretty good. It feels like something Germans would find a way to do in an oddly meticulous way.
This was, by far, the funniest video on invertebrate taxonomy that I have ever seen.
And I want that shirt.
Ze frank really taught me how funny my own language is. Schnick schnack schnuck seemed normal until now
yeah that shirt is amazing
It's bonkers that he started out as making a joking documentary to almost poke fun at how stuffy the whole academic world can be (I say as a first-year grad student), and now he's participating and sorta revered in the field! very cool, I hope this goes far!
He's a damn treasure! I've said this a number of times but Ze, Lindsay Nikole, and Maya Higa _(Alveus Animal Sanctuary)_ are showing everyone the future of teaching _(and conservation)._ That you can connect with students by being informal and like a friend, but despite that, can still manage to teach people important stuff!
The classes that I RETAINED knowledge in, were my elective classes in highschool, where the teachers were buddy-buddy with us and cdidn't care about swearing or goofing around. That made class fun, which in turn we were more engaged and receptive of what we were being shown or told. 25 years later and I *still* know many of the things I learned in my Metal Fabrication & Welding class, and my... well I don't recall the class _name_ but we were taught photo editing using Adobe Photoshop. 😊
Thanks for being awesome, Mr. Wolfe! _(he taught both classes)_
He makes learning fun so yes hes revered. People like eye witness when it was a thing...kinda miss is.
It's like how "Father Ted" was considered by the Catholic clergy too.
he pulled a gary larson, from satire to scientific fixture
@@Carlos.Eduardo.Garcia I believe I've retained more knowledge from Lindsey Nikole than I was taught over years about zoology
That part about sitting and thinking about what i did while i die via a crayon's worth of argon cracked me up! Also Henry and his moustache is adorable 😂 how fun it must have been for Ze to be hanging out with the team!
They should name one Bob, '' Save the Bob" would definitely work as a campaign to protect our oceans.
I would walk around town with a sign that said that.❤
We could declare a sort of Bob Emergency.
They can only name one Bob if it has a tiny shovel it can show off.
Name a snails specie like that
😂😂😂😂❤EPIC YES😂❤
I am honoured you were so honoured!😅 You're a perfect spokesman for them!😍
3:30 I'm actually good at that too😉
"🫨🫨🫨 tell me your secrets DNA" caught me off guard 😂😂😂
molecular biologists as DNA-torturers. "Start talking DNA... or it's the PCR for you!!"
it's giving "where's the money lebowski?"
5:17 omg Frank, you were right! That IS a complicated version of a COVID test, it’s a PCR test (we use it to look at DNA). I juuust learned how to do this in university
Imagine being so good at science yapping you become an authority on creatively naming stuff up.
Incoming wave of unusually hilarious sea creature names in 3, 2, 1...
(That's not to say giving silly names is unheard of, but Ze will undoubtedly skew the average. Yay!)
He's become a science hippy himself. Soon he'll evolve into a butt scientist.
My mother spent decades as a scientific illustrator for the USDA! Seeing that that guy looking through a microscope with a side periscope really brought me back to my mom’s earlier years. She spent probably two decades drawing insects the exact same way! When she was done, the have drawn image looked so insanely realistic, you’d swear it was a photo. Incredible talent! Towards the end of her career, she had switched over to digital cameras mounted on the microscope but still took many many images and then layered them together in photoshop to make one single picture. Truly incredible!
Congrats on being honoured, Ze! You make biology accessible and now you're getting the perks for being awesome!
All of those fart jokes are finally coming to fruition :)
You get to look at dead things your friends brutally abducted from their underwater homes! Woo!😂
Woot!
Bot
@@The-Man-On-The-Mountain What exactly makes you (wrongly) think I'm a bot? Or are you announcing that you're a bot?
Go for it Ze!! I bet that they'd be honored to have you on their staff. Good for you too; gives you more critters you can explain to us non-specialists.
Idk why but a dude being so passioned yet goofy about animals, that he's now stumbling around germany teaching about taxonomy, is incredibly wholesome
This reads marvelously!
I grew up near Frankfurt and I loved beeing in the Senkenberg museum when I was a kid. And after your cryptic intro I was so happy that I put the clues together correctly!
Pumping the room full of argon is a HELL of a fire suppression system. And yes, you'd die. Suffocation, nothing too spicy but you'd still die.
I mean, it is just a crayon's worth.
We used to have Halon systems (either way you die)
If you hear that alarm you'd better get out the door before they lock
At least it renders everything inert.
Trouble is, "everything" unfortunately includes you.
But the fire would also die. Don't bother me with details: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
No, it's much more, the sign is just a reminder to crayon until you die. @@PenguinDT
Congrats! What an honour to be asked! I'm glad you accepted!
man, I started working at Senckenberg two weeks ago! Are we coworkers now? a dream made true!
Yeah well, he's more like your boss :D
Have you got a moustache too?
@@kingcosworth2643and if not, WHY not?
We need to be able to identify you!
@@SanneGaardsdal I wish
@@kingcosworth2643 full beard. It could be considered a moustache plus
I love scientific naming conventions, sometimes a guy finds a new spider and now its scientific name is Hotwheels Sisyphus forever now 😂
I literally paused an art video to watch this one while I was eating and, at the part in the art video where I paused, the artist is drawing what he thinks a "Hotwheels Sisyphus" is. I went from never hearing that combination of words in my life to hearing and reading it twice during lunch.
“Hard bits- ˢᵗᵒᵖ ᶦᵗ”
I LOVE the Senckenberg!!!
The Spongiforma Squarepantsii and Astrolirus Patricki, named after SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Star. True peakness.
Brochuchus for Dr. Christopher A. Brochu, who will gladly tell you that naming species after Metal Songs and Bands is actually a common occurrence.
I have been watching you for years. Your content is unwavering. Hilarious, informative, silly, punny, nerdy, sciencey, well rounded dammit!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 bravo bravo
5:39 As a metalhead and marine biologist I NEEED that shirt
Good luck!
Which country are you from? I have stuff to do in Frankfurt every so often and could go to the museum shop (apparently they don't have a web shop - typical non-digital Germany...)
Definitely a very cool shirt. There's also a tarantula species named after Metallica too. It's a great looking blue one. 🤘
Nightwish has had a couple of critters named after them too.
Tanidromites nightwishorum a reef crab
Sciophila holopaineni a fungus gnat
Tmesisternus floorjansenae a longhorn beetle
Scientists get to name the things, and they happen to have good taste in music
@@bertoluccib6175 could use one for my dad over here in the States.
Your fahrt was a joy to experience. Thank you ZeFrank and SOSA. And I'm not just saying that so that you'll name something floaty mcblobface.
52 year old British man with hard-core nerdism and an old school sense of houmourour, fcking love this channel.
British?
@@zefrank he misspelled Brutish
@@pacanukeha it's spelt Bri'ish
the rumor come out: does zefrank is british?
His channel says he's american.
This is tops. Congrats - what an awesome team-up.
1:15 that “On-oo-erd” was delivered perfectly.
They also spelled 'molluscs' with a 'c', just to make it clear which side of the Atlantic they are.
I literally just paused the video because I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.
Dude that’s so cool I’ve always loved this channel but that’s super cool for you to get recognition in this way. The crayons worth of argon and the diagram of the guy thinking about what he’d done as he dies were perfect jokes lol.
I love how Creepy Dave started to come out 5:03
There was more than once I noticed that too! 😂
Laff yeh commented on that 👍🏼🍻
Yes--I thought I dreamt it!
Just saw your comment after I made mine. So glad it wasn't some fever dream.
I thought it was just me
Dude you made a whole channel out of your education and the the wisdom that men don’t grow up past 13. It’s awesome.
In a lot of places, asphyxiating fire suppression systems have been outlawed because they tend to kill you before the smoke does, so you know these guys are really serious about the dead things in those jars and trays.
It's mostly because the building could become a bomb with all those chemicals there. It's too dangerous to risk.
In this case, chances are the explosion would kill you faster
"This is a place for SCIENCE, and your life has been judged less valuable to SCIENCE than these specimens." - The Architect, (probably).
More importantly, they're crazy expensive. These days, more expensive than the stuff they're nominally saving most of the time. Just buy another truckload of computers and load backups from the cloud.
*Not related to the video or that comment, just something that i really want to know*
Does anyone here know if the firehawk *really* spread fires?
There are thousands of channels and scientific articles saying it is true, but none of them delivers have a proof about it, there is only one video but it doesnt seens trustable, thats why i think it is fake, however... There is not a single article on the internet saying it is fake, i only saw ONE ornitologist saying it was not true (Willian Menq, a brazilian)
According to him, this was a myth based on people that saw those birds hunting near the fire, and the first scientific article about that (in 2017/2015 i think) was interviewing those people, not a single profissional interviewed, and other scientific channels just got along with this, spreading misinformation
I really need to know this, but i dont see to find a response anywere, thats why i wrote this here...
(And sorry for any typos or bad grammar)
“They lack spine” really made my day haha
"They even have a shirt, which I own..." 😂 🤘
Metalheads metabolize ! 🤘
Thoroughly enjoyed this one (as always). Congratulations on being invited to be on the board! That’s fabulous!
Their board meetings are about to get a lot more fun.
This has been my unquestioned most enjoyable 7 mins of 2024. That’s saying a lot; I had a great year! I kept replaying lines over and over and laughing so loudly that my partner wondered what was going on. There were too many times during this video that I wanted to time stamp a comment. Thank you for gifting us this joy!
Observational foreign sign humor has always been one of you spiritual gifts.
i grew up with all these videos back when the channel started and im just so glad that this is still on going - spreading awareness and joy is what we need more of in this world - thank u frank!
I love how you slip into "Creepy Dave" voice here and there. :D Kudos and well done!
You are so blessed to visit such a museum!
this was the best 6:45 video iv ever watched
Is this your first Ze Frank video?
@@ElijahForLong i wish😅
Genuinely same
Bravo, Ze! Congrats on joining the board! Looking forward to your next adventure!
Dudes, what I wouldn't give to hear Zefrank do a David Attenborough commentary on everyday mundane life lmao
Sad cat diaries comes pretty close.
He also did "True Facts About Morgan Freeman"
Congrats on the board position, well deserved. Thanks for all the fun and informative videos that have taught us a lot while also making us cry with laughter. Here's to many more to come!
Any institute of marine biology worth its salt would be honoured to have you.
...and in the world of marine biology and oceanography, that is a *lot* of salt!
That's quite the honour!!
Congratulations Zefrank!!!!
Ze Frank is back! Really needed a pick-me-up today so thank you for bringing us joy when we need it most!
Man I just love you. The way you combine facts and things of importance with.. fun and life, it's just one of a kind
Your humour was on full flow today! Love it!
this is unironically one of my most favourite videos I’ve seen all year
Gonna name the next snail I discover zekius frankius
Gonna name the next seacucumber 'MEGADETHSUPREME'
@@denifnaf5874
Dreadlock squishy.
Considering taxonomic naming conventions for species that have people's names in them, for Ze Frank it'll be _[GENUS NAME] zefrankii_, which would translate roughly to "Ze Frank's ___"
How often do you discover snails?
@@lordmalecith2300 Please let it be a sea cucumber 😂
This video just shows me that he's always been Dave at heart
In the University of Zurich, they found a fossil of a new species of squid and got to name it. They called it "Ticinoteuthis chuchichaeschtli", Chuchichäschtli meaning "little kitchen cupboard". A word that non-Swiss people famously have trouble pronouncing. I think that was the right move by the scientists.
I have a basic understanding of German phonetics, but I'm not sure my mouth is capable of making the sequence of sounds those letters represent.
All in favor of giving up and pronouncing it "Chuck E. Cheese-tli"?
@@CosmicPlatonix From what I've been given to understand, the English transliteration of the word could look something like "cookie keshtley," except every hard K sound (including the initial c of cookie) gets substituted by a uvulo-palatal fricative sound reminiscent of the sound of a cat hissing that only exists in English in the Scots dialect in the word "Loch," as in Loch Ness. Which you then have to clearly differentiate from the voiceless postalveolar fricative "sch" cluster, pronounced like the "sh" in "ship." I'm about to look and see if a native pronunciation guide exists on RUclips, to see how closely my assumptions comport with reality.
Nailed it. ruclips.net/video/ZxGbZkQ2u0k/video.htmlsi=8qcXp7-HKot24KDd
@@bartolomeothesatyr if you mean the not-quite-a-"h"-sound, we have that in the Czech language, just not as harsh.
This account is the perfect combination between informational and sarcastic, I love it
Thanks Ze. And I am very thankful for you and all the science hippies and their critters, named and unnamed.😊
Ze Frank you are an absolute genius, long may you continue to educate us with your wonder-full sense of humour - and I hope you get an award.
2:42 🤣🤣🤣 That's the funniest thing I've heard all month!!! Oh I LOVE this channel!!!
I will slog through youtube ads and slop shorts just to see Zefrank be helpful with his funny insights on fauna. You're doing the good fight, thank you for inspiring us to get involved!
You never disappoint. Keep being awesome Ze
This was really neat! Congrats on being invited to do something so noble.
Thanks Ze, right on time. The science genus Sus and the entire Suidae family of even-toed ungulates appreciate you.
Why do pigs, in particular, appreciate him?
@MatthewTheWanderer because we like to wallow like hippies in mud at woodstock in his spin on science facts & it makes us squeal with delight too ~ silly
@@SizzleMoonSong Hmm, I still don't see the connection, and pigs are my favorite animal...
😂😂😂 Being humbled by the John. I can't get enough of these videos
Awesome and congratulations
New content from one of my favorite creators makes me happy.
I study biology and taxonomy is truly awesome! My systematics teacher is a prominent ichthyologist and have named dozens of brazilian river fish species! And I've also learned that plants systematics are waaay more complex than animals...
This guy is pretty much the best
0:28 less than 30 seconds and we get this...
Our teenhood BMW had a “Fhart” (start) button. We drove it to Aspen, though, not Assmannshausen.
There is a German plane with the tail number D-ICKS. Seeing that randomly on Wikipedia years ago was a fun discovery.
@@SuziQ. Fahrt*
@@BaldorfBreakdowns I mean, now that we KNOW we can't ever go to Germany and NOT take a fahrt to Assmannshausen, right?
I'm so glad that someone else does this.
Excellent video, thank you! ❤
The humour was on fire. Punch after punch. Amazing!
dude i've been watching you since i was like 12, i'm 25 now. i can't express enough how much i love your content and i'm so happy you haven't been taken from youtube following list like some other old youtubers. keep going strong i hope to see and enjoy another true facts when i'm 40.
Did you just call him old? 😂
@ Lol no. he doesn't hit old until he 70.
I have learned more about biology from Ze Frank in the 3 years that I've been watching him, than I did over my entire schooling career. It's so cool that he's been invited to be on the advisory board at Senkenburg. I say it's well deserved.
1:46 Yep, that’s so unapologetically scientific that I actually started sciencing all over the place.
This is freaking awesome !!! ❤❤❤
What an honour! One of my favourite species names is that of the boops (Boops boops)
also fond of Wunderpus photogenicus, Mini ature, Mini mum, Mini scule, Agra vation, Aha ha, and Spongiforma squarepantsii
Do you watch Octopus Lady, too?
I had to look up Boops boops. I'm disappointed it's not something with a nose I want to boop. It is a cute fish though.
@ ,
It’s more disappointing that it’s pronounced “bo- ops” and not “boops”.
@@SuziQ. no haven't heard of that
@@AntoDesormeaux ,
She’s on RUclips, and recently mentioned Boops boops. Her enthusiasm for marine life is infectious, and, like Ze, she collaborates with some really cool people.
This was an extremely delightful video 🥰
I love this! Your commentary always makes me chuckle.
OUTSTANDING! What an honour. You deserve good things....as far as I know.
Congratulations!! 🎉 And the Germans apparently DO have a sense of humor! 😅 They're lucky to have you on board!
So nice of you to grace SOSA with your vast knowledge and charisma
I love this channel as deeply as the Mariana Trench.
All the way down to 1,086 bars !
He nailed the pronunciation of Schnick Schnack Schnuck 😁
(we also call it Schere Stein Papier which translates to *scissors rock paper* so it’s closer but less funny sounding)
Thanks for all the amazing videos and epic content!
That super quick "stopit" really got😂 me