Ichthyology

Collection Overview

The fish collection of the UMass Amherst Natural History Collections was established in the 1950’s by ichthyology professor Thomas J. Andrews. Within the collection, the oldest specimens date back to the early 1900s. By the 1980’s, Andrews had collected and catalogued more than 1,800 lots. From its early days, our fish collection has been used for teaching labs in ichthyology, and more recently in courses of evolution and biodiversity.

At present, the collection houses 62,318 specimens (about 1,000 species), both fluid and skeletal. About 5,015 lots or so are preserved in fluids, all of which can be accessed by Specify software. Its greatest strength is freshwater fishes, from Massachusetts state river basin and from rivers from 20 other states. Marine fishes include collections from the Gulf of Maine. A highlight of our collection is a set of 628 skeletons (lots) of marine fishes from the Gulf of Mexico, obtained during fishing tournaments at Dauphin Island, Alabama, prepared and deposited by Professor Emeritus Willy Bemis and his collaborators.