Fishes

Boat shocking for Carolina RedhorseThe North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ collection of fishes comprises approximately 100,000 lots and over a million specimens and is one of the two or three largest regional repositories of fishes in the United States. The collection amply documents the biodiversity of fishes of North Carolina and of the surrounding region, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Gulf Stream and the depths below. It is a principal active repository of freshwater specimens from the mid-Atlantic states, from New Jersey to South Carolina, including West Virginia, as well as marine materials from the South Atlantic Bight. The collection also has comprehensive representation of fishes from the Southeast and throughout the U.S. and surprising collections from scattered marine and freshwater locales throughout the world.

Fish rangeThe collection is particularly notable for its complement of large marine specimens, approximately 3,000 tank and vat specimens, and it houses one of the better collections of sturgeons in the world. There are many rare freshwater species from throughout the U.S..  Special collections include an actively growing compilation of ethanol-preserved specimens for DNA studies (searchable as 95% ethanol specimens on collections page) and skeletal materials representative of many regional freshwater and marine species which are particularly useful in anatomical, zooarcheological and paleontological research.

The collection is currently housed in a climate-controlled range in the Museum’s Research and Collections facility located in west Raleigh. Efforts are underway to fund and construct a companion facility which would double the available storage for fish collections.  Early acquisitions were by H.H. and C.S. Brimley, the Museum’s first curators. Some specimens date to the early 20th century, but most were acquired beginning in the 1960s through the efforts of researchers such as William Palmer and Franklin Snelson. It also contains the important collections stemming from the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission’s (NCWRC) extensive Inland Fishes surveys of the early 1960s, thus documenting the historical distributions of many species.

Articulated skull of a Smooth PufferThe collection has grown tremendously in recent years due to acquisition of several regional collections, particularly in 1996 with the incorporation of the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Science’s collection comprised of nearly 18,000 lots. Other notable acquisitions include the collections of Duke University, North Carolina State University, Stockton State University (NJ) and Mars Hill College. Ichthyologists Wayne C. Starnes, Fred C. Rohde and Rudolph G. Arndt have also made large contributions to the collection. It is the repository of many important voucher collections from surveys conducted by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality’s comprehensive basin sampling program, the NCWRC and other agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Research Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other state and federal agencies in North Carolina and from West Virginia and Virginia to Florida.

Currently, a large effort is underway, in part aided by a substantial grant from the National Science Foundation, to fully curate and database collections. Locale information is being researched and enhanced to adopted standards and includes geographic subdivision information and coordinates, as well as drainage basin/subbasin assignments where appropriate. Verification of identifications and nomenclatural updates are being pursued to the degree possible within time constraints. As of early 2008, the number of fully databased lots is approaching one-half of total holdings.

Staff

For loan or other information, please contact Curator of Fishes Wayne Starnes at wayne.starnes@ncdenr.gov or 919.733.7450 x760.

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