Australian National Fish Collection
Alastair Graham, Fish Collection Manager, Australian National Fish Collection
Photographic Index of Australian Fishes (PIAF)
PIAF is a valuable research and fishing industry resource. It encompasses all of Australia’s commercial seafood species, and contains the only photographs in existence of many bycatch species. It contains images of species from rivers and estuaries, from near-shore to the deep ocean, from the temperate regions to the tropics, as well as from remote offshore islands and the sub-Antarctic. CSIRO marine scientists have assembled PIAF over the last 30 years as a by-product of coastal and deep ocean surveys, which are estimated to have cost more than $30 million.
Specimens are usually photographed when fresh to capture the fish’s natural coloration. Sometimes they are photographed after thawing from a freezer. The fish are pinned out to display their fins and photographed on a lightbox using flash lighting to obtain the most detail.
Ongoing digitisation, databasing and enhancement of the PIAF image collection
PIAF will eventually contain at least one digitised image of every Australian fish species as well as shots that depict variation such as sexual dimorphism, ontogenetic changes and important taxonomic characters. The digital archiving and enhancement of 35mm slides in PIAF continues and digital images of freshly acquired specimens are being added. PIAF now contains over 2,500 Australian species.
See for yourself some of the fascinating images from PIAF.
The ANFC has also provided photographic and image support to a number of associated projects, including:
- a draft trawl guide to the pelagic fishes of the southern Tasman Sea
- a paper describing new species of handfish (Brachionichthyidae)
- assistance with illustration preparation for the recently published second edition of Sharks and Rays of Australia.
Digitisation of a unique slide collection from eastern Australia
This unique and irreplaceable collection of 35mm slides depicts inshore and deepwater fishes found in eastern Australian waters from Brisbane to the NSW/Vic border. High profile, recently retired Australian ichthyologist, Ken Graham (formerly NSW Fisheries) began compiling the collection in the early 1970s. These images represent the most comprehensive single collection of taxonomic images of eastern Australian inshore and deepwater fishes in existence.
More than 1500 slides, representing over 900 species, have been safeguarded through scanning into digital TIFF format. Most of the specimens photographed are held in the ANFC or the Australian Museum’s fish collection. The species represented were captured from inshore habitats to over 1200m depth with the majority coming from the mid-continental shelf and upper slope (50-1000m). The vast majority of images were of species taken in NSW waters.
Handfish species treatments for Fishes of Australia – Online (FOA-O)
The handfishes (Brachionichthyidae), some of which are endangered, will be included on FOA-O now that a paper describing three new genera and nine new species has been published. This website is being developed by the Australian ichthyological community with the support of the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS).
Building microphotography capacity
The lack of microphotography capacity has been a limiting factor in the taxonomic research at the ANFC. Louise Conboy, ANFC photographer, consulted with colleagues at the ANIC (Australian National Insect Collection) and the National Museum of Victoria about hardware and software options. A Leica microphotography system has now been purchased and Louise is familiarising herself with the equipment and microphotography techniques.
