1. One of the most interesting “whales” on display in the American Museum of Natural History isn’t a whale at all—it’s actually the world’s largest fish.

    The whale shark (Rhinodon typus), which belongs to a group of cartilaginous fishes, earns the name “whale” solely because of its size. Despite their other name—shark—these giants are so gentle that snorkelers and scuba divers seek them out to swim alongside them.

  2. Today’s photo from the archives takes us inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection back in 1966. Explore more photos from the archives here. (c) AMNH Library/#332030

    Today’s photo from the archives takes us inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection back in 1966.

    Explore more photos from the archives here.

    (c) AMNH Library/#332030

  3. As the New York Times reports, researchers have decoded the genome of the coelacanth in hopes of learning more about how fish evolved limbs and made the step from sea to land. 

    The Museum’s Ichthyology Collection actually includes a coelacanth, along with more than 2 million fish specimens (!). Take a look in this video.

  4. Inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection (c) AMNH

    Inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection

    (c) AMNH

  5. Researchers from the Museum and Louisiana State University have discovered that two groups of blind cave fishes now separated by about 6,000 miles of open ocean are each other’s closest relatives. Read the full story after the link. Typhleotris pauliani (top), a previously known species of Malagasy cave fish, is the closest relative of the newly discovered pigmented species (bottom). Photo: AMNH\J.Sparks  

    Researchers from the Museum and Louisiana State University have discovered that two groups of blind cave fishes now separated by about 6,000 miles of open ocean are each other’s closest relatives.
    Read the full story after the link.

    Typhleotris pauliani (top), a previously known species of Malagasy cave fish, is the closest relative of the newly discovered pigmented species (bottom). Photo: AMNH\J.Sparks
     

  6. Inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection Photo by Rod

    Inside the Museum’s Ichthyology Collection

    Photo by Rod

  7. Our Tumblr followers are invited to a special after-hours event on Thursday, July 7 to view this and many other beautiful images created for scientific research in a new photo exhibition Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies. You’ll have the opportunity to visit cutting-edge research labs, meet Museum scientists, and more. (Beer and wine is on us). Sign up here for your chance to attend! Pictured here: Associate Curator in the Museum’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology John Sparks, an ichthyologist, highlights details of cichlids and other small fish, like the Atlantic Spotted Mackerel pictured here, using biological dyes. 

    Our Tumblr followers are invited to a special after-hours event on Thursday, July 7 to view this and many other beautiful images created for scientific research in a new photo exhibition Picturing Science: Museum Scientists and Imaging Technologies. You’ll have the opportunity to visit cutting-edge research labs, meet Museum scientists, and more. (Beer and wine is on us). Sign up here for your chance to attend!

    Pictured here: Associate Curator in the Museum’s Division of Vertebrate Zoology John Sparks, an ichthyologist, highlights details of cichlids and other small fish, like the Atlantic Spotted Mackerel pictured here, using biological dyes.