Inside the Collections: Ichthyology

In the first of a new series of behind-the-scenes looks at the collections at the American Museum of Natural History, Melanie Stiassny, Axelrod Research Curator in the Department of Ichthyology, takes us through the Museum's vast collection of fishes.

The Department of Ichthyology, one of the four departments in the Museum's Division of Vertebrate Zoology, houses a collection that comprises more than 2 million specimens from around the world, with a special focus on African, Australian, Central American, Chinese, and Malagasy fresh water fishes as well as Bahamian and Gulf of Mexican shore fishes. The department's three curators, as well as postdoctoral fellows, students and staff, regularly conduct fieldwork to add to these collections.

Stiassny has carried out studies throughout the world's tropical waters to research the evolution, behavior, and conservation of fishes and has played an active role in raising public awareness of the biodiversity and conservation crisis. Her current projects include an exploration, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, of the freshwater fishes and mussels of the Congo.

Bio Bulletin: Oil Spill Poses Risks to Gulf Ecosystems

When the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, it set off an oil spill that may exceed the extent and impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Of grave concern is the oil's near- and long-term effects on both wildlife species and Gulf ecosystems at large. In this Bio Bulletin produced by the Museum, view satellite imagery of the shifting surface oil and learn what's at stake.