The Florida Museum Fish Collection is second only to the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) in number of specimen records, as reported in the most recent survey of U.S. fish collections. The Florida Museum Fish Collection has added more records to its catalog during the interval between U.S. Fish Collection surveys than any other collection.
Although global in scope, principal strengths of the UF Collection are elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays), western Atlantic reef fishes, western and eastern Atlantic shelf and deep water marine fishes, North American freshwater fishes, and freshwater fishes from SE Asia. Also important are large collections of freshwater fishes from Central America, South America, and the West Indies.
Collection Announcement
The multi-year project of moving the ichthyology collection to our new special collections building is nearing completion. Improvements made to the collection in the new facility include a barcode inventory of all collection objects and a vastly more space-efficient, container size arrangement.
When fully complete, activities involving loans, identification and taxonomic updates will be conducted more quickly and efficiently. However, until the project is complete, and staff are freed from its demands (ca. January 2026) there will be continued delays with outgoing loans. Please contact us for new location details and visitor access.