The Tulane Fish Collection is the largest collections of post larval fishes in the/ world. It presently contains well over 6 million specimens in over 180,000 lots. The collection is arranged phylogenetically by family following Berg's (1940) classification scheme. Genera within the families and species within genera are arranged alphabetically. When the collection was moved to Riverside in 1968, there were attempts to arrange lots within species geographically by drainage basin, and chronologically within drainages, however this arrangement could not be maintained with the large volume of material that has since been added. Efforts are underway to arrange lots by drainage within species.

Type material is housed in a separate room along with a file of all of the original literature. The arrangement of material on the shelves follows Berg (1940). There is a color-coded, index card file in the Type Room with data on types and original literature arranged both chronologically and phylogenetically. In all, there are 33 holotypes and 38,835 paratypes representing 125 species. The first catalog of type specimens in the fish collection was published in 1970 (Suttkus 1970). An updated type catalog was published in 1993 and is available online. The Type Room also houses two specimens of the extinct harelip sucker, Lagochila lacera, on permanent loan from Cornell University, as well as specimens of certain rare or federally endangered species.

A separately catalogued osteological collection comprises 1352 specimens (271 species in 55 families) of which 638 (150 species, 20 families) are cleared and stained preparations. There are 2010 radiographs representing 21,988 specimens from 284 species and 8 hybrids in 36 families. In addition, there are 2428 scale and otolith samples (each in an envelope marked with species name, date of collection, locality data, and total and standard length measurements of the specimen from which the sample was removed) representing 26 species from 12 families, and 77 sets of branchiostegals of two species of Lepisosteus.

The majority of material in the collection is from freshwater river basins in the Gulf-South region (the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia) with diminishing representation northward, north eastward and north westward. The river systems most prominently represented in the collection are, from west to east, Neches, Sabine, Calcasieu, Red, Ouachita, Mississippi, Lake Pontchartrain drainages, Pearl, Pascagoula, small coastal rivers between the Pearl and Pascagoula, Tombigbee, Alabama, and Apalachicola. Colorado River fishes and fishes of other southwestern rivers are well represented. There is extensive representation of Central American (principally Costa Rican) fishes, good representation of the fishes of eastern and central Mexico, and even a few collections of South American fishes. Marine fishes in the collection are mainly from estuaries and inshore waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. However, the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Coast are moderately represented and there is a scattering of collections from the Pacific Coast of North, Central and South America. There are a few collections from the Indian Ocean off Thailand and Australia, and there is material (fresh and saltwater) coming into the Collection from Indonesia.

Specimens are contained in Museum-quality, glass jars ranging in size from 4 ounces to 3 liters. The vast majority of the jars are bail-top preserving jars of the highest quality. There are also more than 900 large glass jugs (2-, 3-, and 5-gallon); 160 stainless steel tanks (96 - 36" x 15" x 15" tanks and 64 - 18" x 15" x 15" tanks); 19 wooden tanks (7 - 48" x 20" x 20", 2 - 60" x 20" x 20", 7 - 72" x 20" x 20", and 3 - 96" x 30" x 30") and 52 plastic tanks (44 1/2" x 39 1/2" x 24"). All of the jars in the collection have labels of high quality parchment paper with the complete collection record (family number, catalog number, name of species, drainage or ocean basin, detailed locality, number of specimens, date of collection, field number, and collectors) written in permanent ink. Large specimens in tanks and large glass jugs are individually tagged with a complete record of collection data and a separate metal tag containing only the catalog number. Catalogs are 11 x 17 inches with high quality, 100% rag bond paper and bound with heavy board covers. The Fish Collection catalogs have been computerized and are available for online search. If you are going to request a loan, please take a moment to review our Museum Policy Statement.

Description of the Fish Collection Facilities

In the main fish collection bunker (A-3), two-thirds of the floor space (6,400 sq. ft) is devoted to specimen storage (the "fish range"), and the remaining 3,600 feet comprises offices and specimen preparation laboratory. The fluid-specimen storage in the fish range presently consists of 22 double-tier rows, and an additional single-tier row of shelving running along the side (west wall) of the range. All shelf units are 10 feet high. There are between 11 and 12 tiers per row (some rows are interspersed by the internal support columns of the building), and each tier contains 7, 24" x 36" x 18" shelves for a total of 4,437 shelves. Fish skeletons and fossils are contained in 34 steel cases in two rows near the front entrance of the fish range. An 8 x 8 x 10' walk-in freezer is located in an alcove at the very front of the fish range.

The western 1/3 of Bunker A-3 is partitioned into offices for the Curator, Collection Manager, and Secretary (656 sq. ft.), a large sorting and specimen preparation lab (384 sq. ft.), a type room (104 sq. ft.), a small in-house library/resource room (350 sq. ft.), an x-ray room (120 sq. ft.), a dark room (76 sq ft.), a loan preparation and illustration room (163 sq ft.), a small storage room, lavatories, utility closet and hallways. Bunker A-3 is adequately heated and air-conditioned for the moment (one of the two air-conditioning units is old and scheduled for replacement), but requires additional insulation and water proofing and to eliminate a persistent problem of high internal humidity. Dehumidifiers are used to control humidity in the library room and Curator's office.

Bunker A-15, renovated in 1996, is our Large Specimen/Long-Term Survey facility. One half of A-15 houses specimens too large or massive to fit in jugs or jars. The specimens are stored in tanks ranging from 18 inches to ten feet long. The large specimen facility includes more than 160 steel tanks on pull-out shelves, and 52 plastic titan bins that are moved with a walk-behind forklift, plus three ten foot tanks with fauceted drains. The other half of the building houses material from four long-term surveys (25-30 years) of three southeastern rivers. The surveys consist of Lower and Upper Pearl River, the Red River and the Alabama River and provides a unique opportunity for ecological and historical research of fish communities in these rivers. A new 8x10 foot walk-in freezer will soon be installed in the new facility to replace the aging freezer in A-3.

The history of the fish collection is tied closely to the history of the entire museum. More can be learned by reading about the Museum history.

Type Specimens of Fishes in the Tulane Museum of Natural History

• Introduction
• Type List
• Bibliography