The Pelagic Invertebrate Collection at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO-PIC)

The Pelagic Invertebrate Collection at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO-PIC), University of California San Diego is a worldwide collection with particular geographic strengths in the Eastern North Pacific, Indo-West Pacific, and Southern Ocean. Samples have been collected from a wide variety of nets, trawls, and pumps from the surface to the bathypelagic zone. This collection is a long-term repository for specimens and invertebrate zooplankton time series sample sets including the remarkable California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), which has surveyed the California Current since 1949, the California Current Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research (CCE-LTER) program, and the Hawaii Ocean time series (HOT).

SIO-PIC contains unsorted mixed community net tow event samples as well as voucher specimens (fluid-preserved in formaldehyde, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, or glycerol). The voucher specimen data are available here through GBIF. Many samples are suitable for molecular analysis. We also maintain a searchable electronic database for our net tow event samples, including mapping features, accessible online at: https://sioapps.ucsd.edu/collections/pi/

This research and teaching repository represents the collection efforts of SIO scientists, federal and state agencies, and external researchers for over 120 years. This collection supports scientific research by providing specimens for study of the systematics, evolution, and ecology of pelagic invertebrates and their roles in marine food webs and ocean biogeochemical cycles. Specimens are available for examination at SIO and for loan to researchers at recognized institutions under the terms of our loan policies. The SIO-PIC staff and materials also support graduate and undergraduate courses, guest lectures, research, and school programming, in addition to the exhibits and education and outreach mission at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.