Although the term ‘fishes’ has at one time or other been used for almost all aquatic animals, it properly refers to the vast array of aquatic vertebrates from which the terrestrial vertebrates, encompassing reptiles, birds and mammals, have arisen.
Fishes range in form from the primitive eel-like, jawless lampreys and hagfishes to sharks and rays, and ultimately the extraordinarily diverse groups of bony fishes.
Research on fishes at Museum Victoria is led by Dr Martin Gomon and focuses on the diversity of temperate Australian taxa, placing them in context with their relatives elsewhere in Australia and throughout the world.
Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast
The most comprehensive field guide to temperate Australian fishes yet written, Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast provides up-to-date information about the 865 marine species known to occur between Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria and the western edge of the Great Australian Bight in Western Australia.
Edited by Dr Gomon, Dianne Bray (Museum Victoria's Fish Collection Manager) and Honorary Associate Rudie Kuiter, this 2008 publication contains family treatments by 30 world authorities and provides descriptions, distribution maps and high colour images, wherever possible, for species treated.
Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 35 Fishes
This three volume annotated compilation of the more than 4000 species of fishes known to occur in Australian waters was published in December 2006, under the auspices of the Australian Biological Resources Study of the Australian Government.
Compiled and edited by a small team, which included Ms Bray as a major contributor, the resource will go online at the end of 2007 through the ABRS website and will be regularly up-dated as further work documenting Australia’s fish diversity is published.
Systematics of Australian fish families
Despite the great advance in our understanding of Australian fish diversity that has taken place over the last few decades, it is estimated that at least 10% of Australia’s species remain undescribed.
Fish groups, including gurnards (Triglidae), roughies (Trachichthyidae), jelly noses (Ateleopodidae), cucumber fishes (Paraulopidae), wrasses (Labridae), stargazers (Uranoscopidae) and others, are currently under investigation by the museum team to provide new names and to place them in evolutionary context within fish classifications.
OzFishNet
This web-based initiative, currently funded by the Australian government’s National Oceans Office and ABRS, and headed by Dr Gomon and Ms Bray, in collaboration with what is effectively the entire Australian fish taxonomic community, will provide a one-stop shop for information about Australia’s fish species. The initial stage is expected to go live at the end of 2007.