10 of the weirdest fishes at the Burke

By Katherine P. Maslenikov

As Collections Manager of the Burke Museum’s Ichthyology Collection, I spend my days surrounded by millions of preserved fish specimens. We have plenty of the local species that are familiar to most people, like salmon, cod, and flounder, but I find myself more interested in the unusual species with strange adaptations to harsh environments.

Fishes display a fascinating array of specialized anatomy that has evolved over millions of years, leading to the amazing biodiversity we see today. I’ve picked 10 of my favorites to show just a taste of the variety of species represented in the Burke collections. Enjoy!

1) A shark with two heads

This Spotted Spiny Dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) specimen has been in our collection for decades, but no one knows where it came from. If I had to guess, I would say it was found inside the mother during a dogfish dissection in a biology lab. Dogfish females give birth to live young, so they are commonly used in biology labs to show the developing embryos. These ‘conjoined twins’ would not have made it far in the wild, since they would be easy prey. We’re just glad someone thought to preserve it (them)!

A Spotted Spiny Dogfish (Squalus suckleyi) specimen with two heads. Photo: Burke Museum

For the love of "grotesque" deep-sea fishes

Imagine a creature in the ocean with huge, gnarly teeth, a protruding dorsal fin spine and the ability to expand its mouth and stomach to consume creatures larger than itself.

While this may sound like a terrifying deep-sea monster, Dr. Theodore (Ted) Pietsch, Burke Museum curator of fishes and University of Washington (UW) professor, has grown to love them, having spent a lifetime of study on a group of fishes known as the deep-sea anglerfishes.

Stewart's Footballfish, Himantolophus stewarti, about 6 inches long, described by Ted as new to science in 2011.

“I would have missed out on a lot”
I recently sat down with Ted in his office at the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Science building to discuss his history with these fascinating creatures.

Like many researchers, Ted started down his particular path thanks to a serendipitous moment and a push from a mentor.

Two million fish ear bones contain new environmental insights

 

The rings on a fish otolith.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Eustatic
Creative Commons license

The rings in a tree stump can tell us a lot about the age and growth patterns of the tree, but did you know similar records are hidden inside the tiny ear bones of fishes?

The Burke Museum's fish collection is currently cataloging and moving a collection of nearly two million of these fish ear bones, called otoliths, to join our rapidly expanding collections and provide valuable information to researchers.

Most fishes have three small ear bones, called otoliths, located on each side of the rear of the skull, which aid in balance and hearing. Like a tree, the largest of the otoliths develop rings that contain all kinds of valuable information: where the fish was born, what it ate and the conditions and depth of the water that it swam in—all of which provide clues about environmental factors such as climate change and how they impact species and populations. Some fishes, such as the rockfishes, can live 100 years or more—giving researchers an entire century’s worth of data to study.