Mr Marx (28) is a University of Otago geology PhD student who has been awarded the inaugural Otago Museum Linnaeus Taxonomy Fellowship.
He will this year undertake research on the pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata, after gaining the recently-established $5000 fellowship.
At 6.5m long, this "pygmy" whale is one of the largest mammals on the planet.
It lives in the southern hemisphere, including in New Zealand waters.
Mr Marx will continue his previous work in this area , and his research will include unpublished data on the morphology of the whale species.
Working with Otago geologist Prof Ewan Fordyce, he plans to complement other research data with observations on many specimens housed at the museum.
He will then write a comprehensive report on the morphology of the living pygmy right whale.
He was "thrilled" to gain the fellowship and it was "very encouraging" to be able to undertake further study in Otago.
It was "amazing" that, despite all the public and scientific interest in whales and dolphins, there were still no detailed descriptions of the pygmy right whale's skeleton or soft tissues.
"And we still haven't managed to figure out which other living or fossil whales it is actually related to," he added.
Museum collections, research and experience director Clare Wilson said "excellent outcomes" were anticipated from the first fellowship.
