The Ichthyology Collection has provided specimens to permanent and temporary exhibits in our public exhibits halls, as well as participated in events and educational outreach in our community and here on the University of Florida campus. Some highlights include:

Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating: 100 Years @FloridaMuseum

In 2017, the Florida Museum celebrated its 100th anniversary as the state museum of Florida. We provided a number of specimens for a special exhibit displayed that year. Although the physical exhibit closed, the accompanying online exhibit remains a popular resource for people to discover Museum collections.

From catfish to sharks, browse the ichthyology area of this online exhibit:

Inner Beauty

Skeletons Revealed from the Museum’s Fish Collection

Museum technology is shifting how fish skeletons are processed providing more accessibility for research, education, outreach and global collaboration. Zach Randall worked with the Museum exhibits team to create a gallery exhibit that explained clearing and staining and computed tomography (CT) scanning in a visually appealing way to the public.

Inner Beauty was on display in the Florida Museum from July 2021 through May 2023. It was so popular, it was reimagined as an online exhibit.

Museum in the Parks

Gabriel Somarriba participated with the Museum’s education team on the Museum in the Parks project aimed at encouraging exploration of our natural world with easy videos on local biodiversity.

Scientist in Every Florida School

We work with the UF Thompson Earth Systems Institute‘s Scientist in Every Florida School program to offer professional development for K-5 teachers by inviting educators into our collections. They were able to visit soon after we moved a portion of the collections to our new building:

UF Explore Research

Our scientists and research is sometimes featured in Explore: Research at the University of Florida and on their UF Research YouTube channel.