Abstract:
The University of Washington Fish Collection (UWFC,
http://uwfishcollection.org/ ) database includes the taxonomic information and
locality data for the cataloged lots of preserved fishes held in the
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. Roughly 75% of the
collection is made up of 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.
The 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 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. 
