About the Division of Fishes

The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) fish collection contains more than 3 million catalogued specimens. It began in 1882, when the UMMZ was established, and took on its modern character when in 1920 the Division of Fishes was formed under the curatorship of Dr. Carl L. Hubbs. When Hubbs left in 1944, the collection numbered nearly 1.7 million in contrast to the few thousand specimens it contained when he began adding to the collection.

Subsequent curators added over a million more specimens contributing to its ranking of fourth among eight International Ichthyological Resource Centers in North America (Collette and Lachner, Copeia 1976:625-642). As a predominant teaching and research tool for North American ichthyology, the collection has served as a training ground for generations of ichthyologists and the basis for thousands of primary research papers.