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: The Ecology of Climate Change

The boreal forest, which stretches across northern latitudes just south of the Arctic Circle, is a key region for studying climate change—and not just the impacts. Follow ecologists into Alaska’s boreal forest to learn more in this new Science Bulletins video.