Collections

An Extensive Collection of Marine Species

The Atlantic Reference Centre (ARC) is a research museum for aquatic organisms from Atlantic Canada. Specimens are available for research and education purposes through both loan or visit. Our location near the Bay of Fundy means that we have excellent access to a wide variety of marine species, and our facilities have made the process of storing these samples much easier, further improving the quality of our extensive collection. The quality of our collection can also be attributed to our Collections Manager, Lou van Guelpen, who brings skill and passion to his job at Huntsman.

Collection Coverage:

• Algae, invertebrates and fishes, chiefly marine
• Davis Strait to Cape Cod, freshwater to the deep sea

Holdings:

147,000 catalogued lots in nearly 5000 taxa

• Percent georeferenced – 88%
• Type of specimens – 47
• Countries represented – 40
• Algae – nearly 3,600 samples
• Invertebrates – organisms from sponges to tunicates, representing 3,400 species in 29,219 lots

• annelids – 5,000 lots
• molluscs – 7,000 lots including 3,100 lots of mostly mesopelagic squids and octopuses (118 species in 32 families)
• crustaceans – 12,400 lots, including shallow water and deep-sea crustaceans
• freshwater insects
• fish parasites
• Fishes – 118,000 lots with 1,600 species in 272 families including extensive holdings of ichthyoplankton and midwater and deep-sea bottom fishes.

Ocean Biogeographic Information System

ARC collections may be viewed online through the Ocean Biogeographic Information System by following these steps:

1. Search Data
2. Choose “Click to search and browse datasets“
3. Search & Select “OBIS Canada”
4. Search & Select “Atlantic Reference Centre”