Australian Museum Ichthyology Collection
Ichthyology is the study of fishes. There are estimated to be over 32,500 species of fishes worldwide and over 4,400 in Australia. Fishes range from the massive Whale Shark down to species that mature at less than 1 cm in length.
Fishes are cold-blooded (mostly) animals that have:
- gills for breathing
- a backbone or a notochord (a cartilaginous rod)
- fins (most species but not all)
- scales (most species but not all)
About the collection
As one would expect, the Fish Research Collection contains many adult and larval fish specimens. These are used by researchers worldwide.
The collection contains specimens from all around the world, but has large holdings of fishes from the deepsea and Indo-Pacific reefs as well as larval fishes, gobies and freshwater fishes from New South Wales.
Of particular importance are the fish type specimens. These are the specimens upon which the original scientific description of the relevant species was based. The Australian Museum fish type collection is one of the most important in the world, containing over 11,000 specimens, some of which date back well into the 1800s.
The majority of the collection has been fixed in 10% formaldehyde then transferred to 70% ethyl alcohol for long term storage. In recent years many frozen and alcohol-fixed tissues have been added to the collection for use in genetic studies.
Collection data is all held in a KE Emu database. Some of these data are available online.
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An old jar containing a holotype View full size
Jason Armstrong
© Australian Museum
Shelves of small specimen jars View full size
Jason Armstrong
© Australian Museum
The oldest fish in the Australian Museum Collection View full size
Carl Bento
© Australian Museum
Fish Collection View full size
Tiki Rand
© Australian Museum
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4 comments
Blueeyes
5.07 PM, 06 July 2009
Happy to say I was there as well I think we may all need to wear a carnation next time how interesting. Yes, Nicolina I totally agree it was so packed I found it difficult to move obviously something that interests everyone. My favourite would have to have been the arachnids collection I find them so incredibly fascinating. I go out late at night in Summer just to observe their incredible talent and ingeneous ways.
Nicolina
5.07 PM, 06 July 2009
I agree with both of you it was a wonderful experience I enjoyed all the back alleys that the musem don't usually show amazing stuff the Ichthyology section was by far the most interesting. My only gripe is that it was just so packed I found it difficult to enjoy and absorb all the information provided. Maybe the museum is hospitable enough to put another show on in the near future. By the way I'm new here nice to meet so many interested animal lovers.
peppercorn
5.07 PM, 06 July 2009
I agree with you billy hill that it was disappointing that the server took off my comment on open day because it was overcrowded and full on the day despite this downfall it was still an important informative day with tons of behind the scenes backstage tours of ichthyology collection of fish.
billyhill
4.07 PM, 06 July 2009
I went to open day 5/07/09 unfortunately I wrote a comment but for some reason it's gone. The fish collection was educational interesting and well set out. I hope The Australian museum decides to have open day on a more regular basis. Very interesting indeed.
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