The Florida Museum Fish Collection at the University of Florida is nearly 3 million preserved fish specimens and the research scientists who study them.
The Florida Museum Fish Collection at the University of Florida is ranked in the top five most important fish specimen resources in North America, including the second-highest "National Center" ranking by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (POSS, S.G. AND B.B. COLLETTE. 1995. SECOND SURVEY OF FISH COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. COPEIA 1995: 48-70). Since that survey was completed, the 65,000-lot University of Miami collection was transferred and is being integrated into the Florida Museum of Natural History. The Florida Museum of Natural History now warrants recognition as an International Center.
The collection contains more than 221,000 cataloged lots (approximately 2,370,740 specimens), representing more than 9,400 species. The Museum also has an unsorted backlog of about 9,000 lots (about 90,000 specimens). Most of the uncataloged and backlog material was acquired through transfer of the important collections previously housed at the National Marine Fisheries Service biological laboratories in Miami; Pascagoula, MS; and the University of Miami. The Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Collection contains primary and secondary types of more than 600 taxa of freshwater and marine fishes.
Understanding, preserving and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage to ensure their survival for future generations.
"The Florida Museum of Natural History inspires people to value the biological richness and cultural heritage of our diverse world and make a positive difference in its future. The museum is based on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, with research sites throughout the world. It is Florida's official state natural history museum and one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing natural history museums."
