The fish collection housed at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of the College of William and Mary provides an important resource for taxonomic, systematic and ecological investigations of freshwater, estuarine and marine fishes. The uniqueness of the collection is in part due to its historical significance as well as a close coupling with a strong graduate program in ichthyology. The collection has internationally recognized holdings of Chesapeake Bay, middle Atlantic Bight and deep-water marine fishes, as well as freshwater fishes of the southern Appalachians. These collections have provided the basis for numerous graduate research projects and investigations by systematists from many institutions. In addition, rapidly expanding collections of early life history stages of fishes from Chesapeake Bay, middle Atlantic Bight and Caribbean localities offer an important and unique source of material for ontogenetic studies
