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The INHS fish collection contains more than 1.3 million catalogued specimens and 170,000 lots, which makes it one of the largest collections of preserved fishes in the U.S., and the 6th largest collection of Neotropical fishes in North America.

The collection represents about 170 families and over 2,500 species. The value of the collection is greatly enhanced by the large number of old specimens, many of which were collected in the late 1800s from areas where they no longer occur. The type collection contains 1220 specimens representing 93 nominal species. Name-bearing type material consists of 26 holotypes (24 nominal species, 2 subspecies), 5 lectotypes, and 5 series of syntypes (39 specimens). Additional type material includes paratypes of 125 nominal species (1,198 specimens).

We also maintain a tissue collection that contains over 1000 high-quality tissues from a portion of our vouchered specimens. Detailed data about our holdings is available; contact the Collection Manager/Interim Curator, Enrique Santoyo-Brito, Ph.D.