I was born on 15th February 1975 in Strausberg, a town near Berlin. With 4 years, we moved to Calau (in the Spreewald region). I left the school in Calau in 1988 and visited a sports-school in Berlin. During this time, my favourite sport was rowing. During my last school year (in 1993), I started  scuba-diving - now I've lost my heart to the underwaterworld. After I finished the comprehensive secondary school, I started my alternative civilian service in an home for handicaped and old people.
I began to study Biology (in Leipzig, Saxonia) in 1995. Here my first son Paul was born in 31th March 1996. In 1998 we moved to Kiel and I specialized in marine biology. This study was finished in 2002 with my Diploma thesis.
During my holidays, I've spent several months at the italian field station of the Institute of marine Biology (IfmB) on the Isola del Giglio. There I was dive guide and instructor for marine biological courses.

Between 2002 and 2006 I was research scientist at the Leibniz-Institute for Marine Sciences (IFM-Geomar).

In summer 2002, I've  met my later wife Britta. Our first son Birger Morgan Stepputtis was born on 21th November 2003, followed by his brother Jesper Bjarne on 3rd June 2005.

In July 2006, I've finished my Phd.

Since 2007, I am research scientist at the Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries.