Ichthyology Collection - Royal Ontario Museum

The ROM ichthyology collection has over one million specimens of approximately 7,000 species from around the world. The collection currently holds over 93,000 catalogued lots, including 124 holotypes and 1,045 paratypes, with additional types being added regularly through both in-house and collaborative research. The ROM houses the largest and most diverse collection of Canadian freshwater fishes in existence. Of the 232 known fish species in Canada, the ROM collection presently holds 212, or over 91%, and provides a critical tool for studies on disappearing wildlife. Highlights of the fish collection include the last Atlantic Salmon specimens from Lake Ontario before their extirpation in the 1850s; a Coelacanth from the Comore Islands; the world record Lake Trout from Lake Athabasca, Alberta; the Canadian record Muskellunge from the Moon River, Ontario; and one of the world’s smallest vertebrates, Trimmatom nanus from the Indian Ocean.