Fish Collection
The UBC Fish Museum is home to the third largest fish collection in Canada, containing over 800,000 alcohol-stored whole fishes, cleared and stained specimens that reveal internal bony structure, skeletal preparations, and X-ray images.
The Collection also includes extensive tissue and DNA archives. There are over 5,000 individual DNA samples of mostly freshwater fishes from northwestern North America, many of which are paired with whole specimen collections. Together, these whole animal and DNA collections are used by members of the Native Fishes Research Group at UBC and visitors in various studies of fish systematics, taxonomy, conservation biology, and evolutionary genetics.
Over the years, collectors with particular research interests have enriched the Museum in certain areas. The Museum has excellent holdings of nearshore marine fishes, largely from the northeastern Pacific (including extensive collections from the Aleutian Peninsula), the Malay Archipelago, Mexico, and the Galapagos. The freshwater holdings include extensive collections from northwestern North America, Panama, and the Amazon Basin.
At present, there is no provision for the loaning of specimens from the Museum. Individual researchers, however, are welcome to visit the Museum to examine and collect data from the collection. The Collection has two adjacent rooms that can be used to examine specimens.
Collection Online
The UBC Fish Collection was the first to be deposited and indexed by FishBase, a web-based relational database containing information on practically all fish known to science. You can search the UBC Fish Collection using FishBase by clicking here. For access to pictures, drawings, distribution maps, catch data, graphs of body mass versus brain size, red list status, spawning and size data by geographic area, and much more, click here. You may also find this Field Key to Freshwater BC Fishes (PDF) helpful.
How is the Fish Collection Used?
The following studies are some recent examples of how fishes, tissue/DNA collections, or location records from the UBC Fish Collection have been used by colleagues in Canada, the USA, and abroad.
Using chemical signatures of fish species to study changes in feeding habits of sea birds
» L. Blight, Centre for Applied Conservation, UBC, feeding information
Monitoring Changes in Geographic Distributions of North Pacific Marine Fishes
» C. Mecklenberg, locality information
Studying Variation in Traits Used in Feeding in Sticklebacks Across the Eastern Pacific
» M. McGee, University of California-Davis, specimen loan
Evolution of Coronary Arteries in Early Vertebrates – Do Only “Athletic” Fishes Have Them?
» G. Cox, UBC Zoology, UBC-based research on museum specimens
Discovering New Species of Marine Fishes
» J. Orr and D. Stephenson, NOAA, visitor research, specimen loan
Understanding the Evolution of, and Threats to, Canadian Fish Biodiversity
» E.B. Taylor and D. Schluter, UBC Zoology, UBC-based research on museum specimens
Evolution of Smelt-Like Fishes from DNA
» C. Fu, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, DNA donation, tissue donation
Genetic Analysis of Endangered Longfin Smelt in the Sacramento River Delta
» C. Grant, US Fish and Wildlife Service, DNA donation
Stomach Loss in Fishes
» J. Wilson, Centre for Marine and Environmental Research, Proto, Portugal, specimen loan
Genetic Status of Montana Arctic Grayling
» D. Petersen, W. Ardren, E. Taylor, US Fish and Wildlife Service, UBC, DNA donation
DNA Barcoding of Canadian Freshwater Fishes
» N. Hubert, E. Taylor, et al., Laval University, UBC, specimen loan, DNA donation, tissue donation
History
The UBC Fish Museum started in the the mid-1940's with collections donated by Dr. C. MacLean Fraser, first head of the Department of Zoology at UBC. The first cataloguing system was initiated in 1945 and collections increased such that by 1953 the Collection had 973 entries representing over 1400 specimens.
A new era of expansion began in 1952 when the Institute of Fisheries was formed at the University of British Columbia. M.A. Newman was appointed as part-time curator of the Collection in 1953. He instituted a new cataloguing system, transferred the Collection from formalin to isopropyl alcohol, and built the first vats for storage of large specimens. Between 1953 and 1956 the collection increased rapidly, due to three expeditions to the eastern tropical Pacific at the invitation of H. R. MacMillan, the addition of extensive local freshwater material by members of the B. C. Game Commission, and several exchanges with institutions in other parts of the world. By the end of 1956 the Museum contained some 1970 catalogued collections, representing about 1180 species.
In 1960, the Museum was moved to the Biology building, where it continued to grow to its current size of 800,000 holdings.
Contact
Fish Collection
Curator
Dr. Eric Taylor
Department of Zoology
University of British Columbia
6270 University Boulevard
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6T 1Z3
etaylor@zoology.ubc.ca
Phone: 604.822.9152
Fax: 604.822.2416
Curator Emeritus
Dr. J. Donald McPhail
mcphail@zoology.ubc.ca
Phone: (604) 822-2131
Field Notes
