Based on the analysis of the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH) fish collection database, a current status report of the ZMH fish collection is provided with a focus on Elasmobranchii and Actinopterygii. Therein, development of the collection, systematic and geographic coverage of the collection material, and the volume and structure of the ZMH type collection are presented and analysed. The majority of the specimens in the ZMH fish collection is preserved in 70% ethanol and arranged in phylogenetic order. The basis of the collection originates from the former Natural History Museum in Hamburg. Initially low in numbers, in 1850 amounting to only 119 lots, the fish collection increased markedly during the second half of the 19th century. By the end of 1875 the number of registered lots was 550, surpassing the 4400 mark in 1900. Expeditions exploring unknown habitats and territories were the main source of material during the first half of the 20th century. The first two decades of the 20th century marked a period of relatively rapid expansion in the number of fish species and specimens collected at the ZMH, with about 11.1% of the material indexed in the collection database originating from 1901 to 1920. Much of the additional expansion derived from the 1993 takeover of 23 860 marine fish lots from the former ISH (Institut fu¨r Seefischerei, Hamburg) collection, the main reason for which about 74.6% of all actual catalogued lots were stored in the ZMH fish collection during the 1951-2000 period. In February 2008, the number of catalogued entries reached 45 640, with about 257 967 specimens. Some 8100 nominal species in 60 orders and 378 families are represented in the ZMH fish collection. The collection maintains worldwide coverage, with large numbers of lots originating from the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Caribbean Sea, from Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and Middle America. Actinopterygii and Elasmobranchii together comprise more than 93% of the known orders, more than 98% of the families and more than 99% of the lots and individuals represented in the collection database. The collection contains about 1321 type series (lots) and 3656 type specimens; 41.8% of the type lots are primary types. Actinopterygians contribute 90.6% to the type series and 94.6% to the type specimens. Elasmobranchs are represented with 8.1% of the type series and 4.7% of the type specimens in the ZMH fish collection. Sharks are represented with 27 type series (25.2%), whereas the contribution of batiods amounts to 80 type series (74.8%). Comprising 69.2% of all elasmobranch types, the family Rajidae is the most important group of batoid fishes represented. The family Scyliorhinidae with 14.0% of all elasmobranch types is the best-represented shark family in the ZMH type collection.Further development and future research of the ZMH Ichthyology Group is discussed and is to include modern taxonomic and biogeographic approaches important in present global biodiversity research, thereby rendering the ZMH fish collection as...

Four new species of Careproctus (Cottoidei: Liparidae) are described from the Bussol Strait (the deepest channel of the Kuril archipelago) and two neighboring abyssal basins of the Western North Pacific. Careproctus laperousei sp. nov. from the northern slope of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench (depths of 4796–4803 m) has the following characters: vertebrae 57, pectoral-fin rays 26, principal caudal-fin rays 8 and pore pattern 2-6-7-1; it differs from the most similar congeners from the North Pacific in having a black peritoneum, short head (22.5 % of standard length, SL) and large disk (37.0 % of head length, lc). Careproctus brevipectoralis sp. nov. from the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk (depths of 3301 m) has the following characters: vertebrae 55, pectoral-fin rays 26, caudal-fin rays 9, pore pattern 2-6-7-1 and peritoneum black; it differs from congeners by the absence of pleural ribs, deep and compressed leaf-like body (greatest depth 119 % lc, depth above anal-fin origin 113 % lc), small head (18 % SL), short pectoral fin (11 % SL) and cartilaginous-like tissue surrounding the dorsal fin. Careproctus pulcher sp. nov. and Careproctus globulus sp. nov., both having 46 vertebrae, are found on the Pacific side of the Bussol Strait at depths of 2350–2358 m. Careproctus pulcher sp. nov. is characterized by pectoral-fin rays 31–32, caudal-fin rays 10, pore pattern 2-6-7-1 and peritoneum pale; it differs from the most similar congeners in having a shorter head (25.5–26.3 % SL in adults) and gill opening reaching ventrally to 4th pectoral ray. Careproctus globulus sp. nov. has the following characters: pectoral-fin rays about 24, caudal-fin rays 8 and peritoneum black; it differs from other species in having a globular body, deep curve of vertebral column and pore pattern 2-5-6-1. Thus, based on these collections, the underwater sill of the Bussol Strait is inhabited by different species of Careproctus than the neighboring abyssal plains, Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and the Kuril Basin of the Sea of Okhotsk. Careproctus laperousei sp. nov. is the most deep-water Careproctus in the North Pacific.

A new species of eelpout genus Lycenchelys Gill, 1884 is described based on seven specimens caught at a depth of about 2350 m in the Bussol Strait, southwest of the Kuril Island Simushir. The species differs from its congeners in the following combination of characters: vertebrae 26-28 + 100-102 = 126-130; interorbital and occipital pores absent; postorbital pores 3-4; suborbital pores 7 (rarely 6); preoperculomandibular pores 4 + 4; gill rakers 11-16; dorsal fin rays 118-122; anal fin rays 105-108; pelvic fin rays 2; middle and lower ray tips of pectoral fin very slightly exserted; lateral line double with mediolateral and ventral branches; pyloric caeca not developed. The new species is morphologically most similar to Lycenchelys micropora and Lycenchelys jordani, which differ from the new species in having three pelvic-fin rays (vs. two pelvic-fin rays in the new species). L. micropora has the pectoral-fin origin below body midline, whereas the new species has the pectoral-fin origin at body midline. Middle and lower ray tips of pectoral fin are very slightly exserted in L. lenzeni sp. nov., whereas they are well exserted in L. jordani and L. micropora. Mitochondrial COI sequences were analyzed from four paratype specimens and all show the same haplotype sequence. The DNA barcodes allowed discrimination of L. lenzeni sp. nov. from other species of Lycenchelys where sequence data were available. The nearest match with already published sequences was Lycenchelys antarctica, with a sequence similarity of 98.25%, followed by Lycenchelys aratrirostris (sequence similarities 97.95-97.96%) and L. jordani (sequence similarity of 97.81%).