Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs about Fishes
Australian Museum staff are frequently asked questions about fishes. This section aims make widely available the answers to some of those questions.
- What is the biggest fish?
- What is the smallest fish?
- What is the second smallest species of fish?
- What is the deepest-living fish?
- What is the fastest fish?
- How fast are larval fishes?
- What is the longest bony fish?
- Why don't anemonefishes get stung?
- Why are the eyes of larval Black Dragonfish on stalks?
- Do fishes have tongues?
- What is the risk of shark attack in Sydney Harbour? (pdf file)
- Why do mullet jump?
- How often can a porcupinefish inflate?
- What is a Leatherjacket Louse?
- Can fishes hear?
- Why are they called triggerfishes?
- Why is it dark in the deepsea?
- Why are they called parrotfishes?
- Can fishes change sex?
- Do fishes feel pain?
- What is hypersostosis?
- What is a prawngoby?
- Do Fishes Sleep?
- How do Electric Rays produce electricity?
- Is the tsunami email factual or a hoax?
- Are Sea slugs goby hosts?
- Can fishes change colour?
- What is a swim bladder?
FAQs about the Fish Collection
Collection Manager, Mark McGrouther examining a specimen in the collection.
Behind the scenes of the public galleries of the Australian Museum resides one of its greatest resources, the research collections. These collections by any definition are immense: more than four million insects, 2,000,000 mollusc lots, 1,000,000 fishes, 200,000 archaeological and anthropological objects and 60,000 rocks and minerals. (Figures current in June, 1999).
The collections are only seen by the public at special times such as Open Day. At these times, visitors are fascinated by the size and scope of the collections. These pages aim to answer some of the questions that have been asked of the staff during tours of the fish collection.
- Why keep a fish collection?
- Why keep so many specimens?
- Why keep old specimens?
- Why is it necessary to have a specimen?
- What is the future of the fish collection?
- What is specimen fixation?
- What is oldest fish in the Collection?
Further reading
- Paxton, J.R. & M. McGrouther. 1991. Why so many specimens? Muse (Australian Museum News & Events) Aug -Sept. 1991:4, 11, 2 figs.
