Yellow ray

Until 1973, the primary focus of the collection was freshwater specimens from Texas, the southern United States, and northern and central Mexico. From 1973 to present, large collections of marine fishes from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea were incorporated into the collection. The majority of the fish specimens were collected by Dr. K. Bonham, Dr. F.T. Knapp, Dr. R.J. Bauldauf, and Dr. J.D. McEachran. The Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University donated a large collection of marine fishes and over 10,000 additional lots were acquired from Dr. M. Chittenden's ten-year Department of Energy (DOE) research project in the Gulf of Mexico. Current research projects by Dr. Kirk Winemiller from the Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Department and his students have recently produced comprehensive collections of fishes from Venezuela.

Currently, the fish collection consists of approximately 41,600 catalogued lots and over 630,000 specimens from around the world. The holdings of the fish collection consist of over 3,399 species from 340 families, representing 54 of the 57 recognized orders of fishes. Fish representatives from 71 countries spanning the globe are included in the collection. A total of 57% lots in the fish collection (69.8% of the total number of specimens) come from the United States or U.S. waters, 23.95% from international waters, 9.33% from Venezuela, 3.40% from Costa Rica, and 3.14% from Mexico. Specimens are preserved in primarily 3 ways, 70% ethanol fluid preserved, skeletal representations, and cleared and stained. The majority of fluid preserved specimens are in glass jars, but oversized specimens up to 12 feet are stored in larger tanks. Whole voucher specimens and associated field data are commonly loaned to other institutions by request. Paratype specimens, larval fishes, otoliths, x-rays and illustrations make up some of the additional special resources available to researchers. Specimen records may be queried on-line at FishNetII.

Cleared and Stained Fish

Over the years, the collection of fishes has received support from the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and others. Continued support from Sea Grant Texas has provided for the reorganization and storage improvement for large specimens which will increase accessibility to specimens as well as their data.