MYMENSINGH: The first-ever fish museum of Southeast Asia styled Fish Museum and Biodiversity Center is going to open at Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) Wednesday.

This is the first example of setting up an exclusive fish museum among the Southeast Asian countries although a few species of fish are preserved in the museums of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar as small varieties.

Dr Mostafa Reza Faruk, Director of the fish museum, told banglanews24.com.bd that some 230 species of fish, out of 270 in the country, have so far been preserved in the museum.

“Work on collecting the rest 40 varieties is going on in full swing at the last moment as the date for inauguration was fixed,” he said.

Works started 10 years ago to establish a fish museum for carrying on research work on the endangered local variety of fish, maritime biodiversity and under-water species.

Prof. Dr Mostafa Ali Reza Faruk Hossain of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics of BAU and Prof. ND Sin, University of Stirling, UK, have done the main job in this regard.

The infrastructure works of the museum started in June 2009.  Samples of some 230 species of fish and endangered varieties of under-water creatures have been preserved in the museum set up at Fisheries Science Faculty (field research).

Skeletons of shark, dolphin and crocodile and samples of tortoise and crab, and different varieties of fish those disappeared have been preserved in the museum.

Dr Mostafa Ali Reza Faruk said the museum put country’s fish history and varieties on display.

The samples have been collected from British Natural Museum in London, Sterling University, UK, and different districts of Bangladesh.
 
He also informed that the museum would be expanded in future and 30 ponds of BAU have been allotted for preserving fishes.

BDST: 1925 HRS, AUG 17, 2010