Collection Overview
The collection of fishes at UMass contains 60,000 specimens in 5,121 lots. The fish collection had its first entry recorded in the 1930's for a brown bullhead catfish (Ictalurus nebulosus), collected by H. E. Warfel, but the fish collection was officially established in the 1950's by T. J. Andrews.
By the 1980’s, Andrews had collected and catalogued more than 1,800 lots. Our present collection of fishes includes freshwater fishes from Massachusetts state river basins and from 20 other states. Marine fishes from the Gulf of Maine are also represented. About 4,500 lots are preserved in fluids; about 160 are cleared and stained; 800 are skeletons. A highlight of our collection is a set of skeletons of marine fishes from the Gulf of Mexico, obtained during fishing tournaments in Alabama and prepared and deposited by Professor Emeritus Wiliiam E. Bemis and his collaborators (see Bemis et al. 2004 Copeia for details).
Recently an inventory of the fish collection was completed and its records are being organized to become avalable in SPECIFY.
Curator: Dr. Cristina Cox Fernandes
My work focuses on the ecology and evolutionary diversity of neotropical freshwater fishes of the Amazon River basin. Much of my research aims to provide basic information about the Gymnotiformes (electric fishes).
More Information
For more information about the Ichthyology Collection, contact Vertebrate Collections Manager, Katherine Doyle.