The 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 with many thousands of freshwater and marine specimens from the mid-Atlantic states, from New Jersey to South Carolina, including West Virginia, as well as 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.

The collection is particularly notable for its complement of large marine specimens and it contains many rare freshwater species and one of the better collections of sturgeons in the world. There are actively growing special collections of ethanol-preserved specimens for DNA studies and skeletal materials of many regional species.

The collection is currently housed in a 6,500 square foot 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 NC Wildlife Resource Commission’s extensive Inland Fishes surveys of the early 1960s, thus documenting the historical distributions of many species. The collection was cared for by herpetological curators William Palmer, Alvin Braswell, and Jeffrey Beane and grew steadily for 30 years even though the Museum did not gain a full-time ichthyologist until 1996, when Wayne Starnes was hired into that position.

The 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 NC Division of Water Quality, U.S. Geological Survey Biological Research Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies in North Carolina and the Southeast from Virginia to Florida.

Currently, a large effort is underway, aided by a substantial grant from the National Science Foundation, to fully curate and database collections. Locale information is being researched and enhanced to include geographic subdivision information and coordinates, as well as drainage basin/subbasin assignments where appropriate. Verification of identifications and nomenclatural updates for all species lots are being rigorously pursued. As of early 2006, a major portion of locale data has been fully processed and databased and about one-forth of species lots are captured in an Access relational database. Searchable web accessibility is currently under construction. In the meantime, we encourage potential users of our collection to contact Wayne Starnes to schedule visits or loans.

Care of the collection is the responsibility of the permanent staff of the fishes unit, consisting of Research Curator Wayne Starnes and Collection Manager Gabriela M. Hogue. Currently, they are assisted by several term appointed technicians and occasional volunteers.

Catalog of Fishes - How to get your hands on the "most comprehensive ichthyological reference ever completed."

Duke Marine Laboratory - A "unit within the Nicholas School of the Environment. Its mission is education and research in the basic ocean processes, coastal environmental management, marine biotechnology and marine biomedicine."

NC Aquariums - Official page of the Roanoke Island, Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher Aquariums.

NC Chapter of the American Fisheries Society

NC Division of Marine Fisheries - Detailed information on recreational and commercial fishing in North Carolina, catch limits, artificial reef guides, and kids pages.

NCDWQ Stream Fish Community Assessment Program - Distribution information about freshwater species in North Carolina organized by river basin.

Southeastern Fishes Council - A "nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to the study and conservation of freshwater and coastal fishes of the southeastern United States."