University of Washington Fish Collection

The University of Washington Fish Collection (UWFC) database includes the
taxonomic information and locality data for the cataloged lots of preserved
fishes held in our collection. The adult collection now totals over 296,000
specimens in over 40,700 lots, representing some 4,054 species in 1,331 genera,
and 306 families. Approximately 1000 new lots are added every year. About 25%
of the lots are freshwater fishes, collected primarily from the states of
Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. The remaining 75% are marine fishes primarily
from the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean, extending from Baja California,
across the Aleutian and Kuril island chains, to the Philippines. The
collection also includes smaller numbers of lots from many other localities
around the world.

Our early life history collection currently contains over 6.9 million specimens
in over 76,600 lots and is growing at a rate of 3,000 to 5,000 lots a year.
Fifty-four families, 178 genera, and 401 species are represented. Most were
collected in the eastern North Pacific, primarily from the Gulf of Alaska, the
Bering Sea, and off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Approximately 80% of
the lots were collected between 1965 and 1998 by the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), but significant material
has also come to us from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and
Fishery Sciences, the International Pacific Halibut Commission, and the
Vancouver Public Aquarium. Habitats ranging from near-shore reef and
intertidal communities to outer oceanic waters are represented.

More information about the UW Fish Collection can be found on our website at
http://uwfishcollection.org/