UC San Diego Marine Vertebrate Collection Database records for California

The Marine Vertebrate Collection of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (ASIH Collection Code: SIO) maintains approximately two million alcohol-preserved specimens in over 120,000 lots, representing more than 5,900 species of fishes. The majority of our collection is formalin-fixed and stored in 50% ISOPROPANOL. The Collection maintains worldwide holdings of deep-sea and pelagic fishes as well as extensive holdings of shore fishes from the entire eastern Pacific. The Collection includes primary types (holotypes) of over 200 species (type catalog), skeletal preparations (both dried and cleared-and-stained) for over 1,000 species (osteology catalog), otoliths from approximately 1,100 species (otolith collection), and tissues for DNA (mostly in 95% ethanol) from over 1,600 species.