Collections - Fish Types

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Fish types are specimens upon which the original scientific description of a fish species was based. In October 2004 the Australian Museum Ichthyology collection contained 4726 type lots (11302 specimens) and 2271 type species. Of these, 1565 are primary type lots (2039 specimens) and 2998 are secondary type lots (9065 specimens).

This site contains a database of the fish type holdings of the Australian Museum. The database lists types by the scientific name under which they were originally described. The senior synonym (current valid name of the species) is not given. Many of the scientific names listed are no longer in use. More information about types.

Each database record contains family name, family number, type name, type status, author, description date, AMS registration number, number of specimens and remarks. An example of a database record can be found for the specimen registered under number AMS I.13199. This fish is the holotype of a sole, Synaptura cancellata which was described in 1916 by A.R. McCulloch.

If a query results in more than one record, the types are listed in a short columnar format (top image, below). More detailed data can be found on each type by clicking on the type name. This will display the data in a long format (lower image) which displays one record per page. If only one record is displayed after a query, the data are automatically displayed in the long format.

For around 300 of the records an image is attached. These images are copies of those in the original publication. For many species, the original publication contained no image. For some of these, a photo of the type specimen has been taken. As considerable time and effort will be required to obtain images for all 4726 type lots, priority has been given to primary types of Australian species, and in particular those described by Australian Museum ichthyologists.

This type list has been evolving over some years. We take pleasure in acknowledging the considerable input of Dr W. Eschmeyer of the California Academy of Science, who has provided advice, information and encouragement. We also thank Ms K. Parkinson for her work on the project.

Considerable work has gone into producing this database. Understandably however, there are likely to be some errors. Use the information with discretion and if you would like further details, or have found errors, contact Mark McGrouther, the Collection Manager.

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