Something Fishy
From the Royal BC Museum
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke writes about illustrating fishes.
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke writes about Assfish, Brotulas and Cusk-eels in “The ABC’s of the Royal BC Museum” in this electronic copy of What’s inSight. Read about them here and then watch a movie about the discovery of the Spiny-eared Assfish in watch.
Most fishes in the Royal BC Museum collection are from British Columbia, but a small portion of the collection comes from outside our borders. There are several exotic species in the collection to document the presence of species introduced by humans for angling, hunting, farming or from the pet trade. Hundreds of new specimens are added each year, including the latest exotic freshwater species to be found in BC, the Weather Loach, as well as two warm-water fishes found in BC in 2014—the Finescale Triggerfish and the Louvar.
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke writes about fishy research trips and discovering fish species new to British Columbia in this electronic copy of What’s inSight.
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Gavin Hanke writes about the Royal BC Museum handbooks that were richly illustrated by the talent of Frank Beebe. There is only one Beebe illustration of a fish in this article, but the value of scientific illustration applies equally to all animals.
Where to Begin Your Own Research
Search the Royal BC Museum website for more information and images from the Fish collection.
Outside Links
These links will take you away from the Learning Portal. Come back soon!
Check out the stunning fish art of Joseph Tomelleri.
Examine images of stained fishes at this site hosted by the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute in Lawrence.
Dr. Gavin Hanke co-authors this article in the journal Northwestern Naturalist (for scientists and fish-keeners only). New species occurrences and range records are being published in peer-reviewed journal articles such as Northwestern Naturalist and Canadian Field-naturalist based on specimens housed at the Royal BC Museum.
The study of ancient fishes may seem obscure, but it helps us understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth and the origins of patterns we see today in living organisms. The Devonian Period began about 419 million years ago and lasted about 60 million years. It is often dubbed the Age of Fishes because of the increase in diversity and abundance of fishes, especially jawed fishes. One of these ancient fish, Brochoadmones milesi, was first described in 1977 based on a poorly preserved fossil found in the Northwest Territories. Nineteen years later, two nearly complete fossils of Brochoadmones were uncovered during field work at the same site. These new fossils allowed Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Dr. Gavin Hanke, and Professor Dr. Mark Wilson to update and complete the description of the species. Their article, at the link above, was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in 2006 (for scientists and fish-keeners only). Learn more about some of the images in this article in look. Reprinted by permission of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Credit: Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2015. E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of British Columbia [www.efauna.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [August 12, 2015]