This Centre has its roots in the Indian Ocean Biological Centre setup during International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE, 1962-65) in November 1962. The vessels from IIOE Programme participating countries deposited their biological samples at this Centre for further analysis and studies on taxonomy, ecology and zoogeography. This provided basic understanding of the biology of the Indian Ocean. Based on this work several monographs and atlases have been published. Notable among these are the Plankton Atlas (in series) depicting species wise zoogeographic distribution.

The Centre, today, specializes in biological oceanography and studies related to Environmental Impact Assessment of the southern part of the west coast of India.