Addison Emery Verrill was born on February 9, 1839, in Greenwood, Maine.

He was a zoologist, museum curator, and educator. He studied at Harvard University under Louis Agassiz (B.A., 1862). During his studies, he participated in various scientific collecting trips. In 1864, he accepted a position as Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School first Professor of Zoology and stayed until his retirement in 1907. He was also a Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Entomology at the University of Wisconsin (1868-1870). He served as assistant to the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries (1871-1887). In this role, Verrill was responsible for marine investigations and all invertebrate collections. He sorted, identified, catalogued, and labelled several hundred thousand specimens sent to the Smithsonian Institute. In later life, he explored with his students the geology and marine animals of the Bermuda Islands and published "The Bermuda Islands" (1903). Verrill published more than 350 papers and monographs and described more than 1,000 species of animals in every major taxonomy group. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1959, Yale's Peabody Museum established the Addison Emery Verrill Medal, awarded for achievement in the natural sciences.

In 1865, he married Flora Louise Smith (1840–1915). He died on December 10, 1926, in Santa Barbara, California.