Facilities
The Australian National Fish Collection
About the collection | Australian
fish names | Photographic
index | Publications | ANFC
Home | Fish
Collection Profile
About the Collection
The 145,000 specimens from 3,000 species (representing 300 fish families)
include oceanic, deep-water, demersal, inshore, estuarine, river and
lake fishes. Most are from Australian waters, but there are also collections
from Papua New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands,
as well as fish from New Zealand, the Antarctic continent and sub-Antarctic
islands, Europe and South-east Asia, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia,
the Philippines and Japan.
The Collection holds 160 holotypes (primary type speciments) and 1200
paratypes (supplementary specimens) of 280 newly described species. It
also contains a substantial amount of voucher material relating to published
books and papers, illustrations and photographs. A valuable component
of the Collection is the large Photographic Index of Australian Fishes
(PIAF — see
back page) and the radiographs, which are useful for detailed bone studies.
The Collection also contains hundreds of jars of ichthyoplankton (fish
eggs and larval fish), some of which are unsorted, and collections of
otoliths (ear bones, for determining the age of fish).
A computerised index of the contents of the Collection has been developed
using Texpress software designed by KE Software of Melbourne.
This index will be linked up with other CSIRO collections and museum systems
in the near future.
A substantial collection from the Tasmanian Department of Sea Fisheries,
together with material from museums, professional fishermen and other
Government organisations, has been incorporated into the Collection, which
is managed by a staff of three people.
Established 60 years ago, the Collection is one of the most comprehensive
and important reference collections in Australia.
Judged by the diversity of species it holds, the Collection is among
the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. All specialist collections strive
for quality and diversity. The Collection’s focus on Indo—Pacific
shark and ray, and temperate and Southern Ocean species gives it a pre-eminence
among international collections.
Updated:
7/11/08
|
|
