The Tulane University Fish Collection, a "National Center" category collection with 6.8 million fluid-preserved specimens in over 183,000 lots, is one of the largest collections of post-larvel fishes in North America. The type collection contains 42 holotypes, and 150 paratypes (44,395 type specimens total). The collection also contains 1352 skeletons, 2010 radiographs, and 2428 scale and otolith samples. The Tulane Fish Collection is unique among North American fish collections in having a large average number of specimens per lot, high numbers of large specimens from many taxa, comprehensive regional coverage, an extraordinarily high quality of preservation, and high repetition of material, mostly from long-term environmental-monitoring surveys of major rivers in the Gulf-South region. The long-term survey samples provide a wealth of material for population and community studies, and studies of feeding, reproductive biology, and toxicology, in addition to more traditional uses in fish systematics. Our Goals for the tenure of this project are:) recurate 53% ) (61,290) of the approximately 116,000 lots that remain in isopropanol, plus 963 large jugs; 2) consolidate 26% (30,645) of the jarred lots into smaller jars; 3) continue moving Long-Term Survey materials to the Large Speciment/Long-Term Survey facility; and 4) spread lots remaining in the fish range onto new and existing shelves and arrange the lots by drainage/ocean basin.
