Invertebrates

Invertebrate Collections

This collection includes all invertebrates except insects, spiders and other terrestrial arthropods that are housed in the Entomology collection. The main constituents of this collection are marine, freshwater and some terrestrial invertebrates, such as molluscs, sea stars, worms, crustaceans and sea anemones.

The Invertebrate Collection consists of about 65,000 lots of marine and freshwater invertebrates. Marine mollusks, echinoderms, crustaceans and polychaetes are well represented for most of the province. Although the Royal BC Museum's mandate is to focus on the fauna of British Columbia, the RBCM has significant global collections of dried gastropods, chitons and bivalves.

Some of our notable collections are: Bernard (1950-60); Cowan (1950-60); Fraser (1920-30); Newcombe (to be catalogued); Taylor (recent); JFL Hart. We've also received a significant number of specimens from: Dan B. Quayle; Derek V. Ellis; Dobrocky (Seatech); Cyril and Edith Berkeley; and Katherine Hobson.