KU Ichthyology collection reaches milestone with Missouri Department of Conservation partnership

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Ichthyology Division at the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum has reached a milestone of more than 45,000 cataloged lots, aided by a substantial collection from the Missouri Department of Conservation. 

Unlike most natural history collections, which catalog specimens individually, ichthyology collections are organized by lots, in which all specimens of a single species collected at the same place and time are preserved together in a single jar. These collections function as research libraries of preserved fish specimens and tissues.

As a result, the 45,000 lots represent more than 555,000 freshwater and marine specimens acquired through field collections, donations and the incorporation of orphaned collections. 

The most recent acquisition came from an orphaned collection assembled by the Missouri Department of Conservation through statewide stream surveys conducted between 1980 and 1996. The addition strengthens KU Ichthyology’s Missouri holdings and its standing as one of the most important repositories of Midwestern freshwater fishes. 

Once fully identified and digitized, the Missouri collection is estimated to add more than 78,000 additional specimens. 

The specimens are being incorporated into the collection through the coordinated efforts of the division’s curator, collection manager and a graduate student, with additional assistance from a staff member at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment who oversees the state’s stream survey program. Seven undergraduate students have been hired to assist with sorting and identification, while alumni and volunteers also contribute through a weekly collaborative event called “Fish Sort Friday.”

The milestone lot, KUI 45000, is a specimen of Brook Silverside, Labidesthes sicculus, collected in August 1994 from the Spring River in Jasper County, Missouri. This fish species lives in slow moving, clear rivers and lakes from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi Basin and Gulf Coast plains. 

The survival of these and other freshwater fishes is increasingly threatened by habitat destruction, pollution from agricultural runoff and damming of riverways. Natural history collections, including KU’s, are increasingly used to monitor habitat changes associated with pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.