The Fish Collection has grown tremendously in the past 30 years as a result of
substantial commitments from the NSF, the College
of Ocean and Fisheries Science, and
the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. In the
recently published "Second Survey of Fish Collections in the United States and Canada" we were ranked fifth
among "Regional Centers" in terms of importance, and ninth among 118
North American collections in number of NSF dollars received (Poss and
Collette, 1995). Had our extensive egg and larval collection been included in
the survey, we would have been ranked among top "National Centers" in
terms of importance, and if our most recent grant had been included we would
have ranked fourth in NSF support among all 118 collections surveyed. The Fish
Collection was also ranked highly for biodiversity (12th overall), accessioning
activity (10th overall), exchange activity (5th overall), and number of
visitors (18th overall). We are awaiting
the results of a similar survey conducted in 2006 which should reflect the
growth and improvements to the collection.
Poss, S.G. and Collette, B.B. 1995. Second Survey of Fish
Collections in the United States
and Canada.
Copeia 1995: 48-70.