The Inshore Fish Group heavily relies on facilities provided by the Science Centre, South Australian Museum,  for the identification of fish, and the lodgment and secure storage of material for our conservation programs.

The South Australian Museum occupies a prominent position on North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.  The museum had 710,000 visitors in 2005 of which 31,000 visited the Science Center.

Museums supply many resources to their communities.  Museums are homes to exciting exhibits which broaden our experience of the world.  In addition to information as text or images we can also see, and sometimes touch, associated natural physical objects, models, and displays.  The museums 'Collection' is the sum of all the objects registered at the museum.  Some of these objects which fit into exhibition 'themes' or that are of individual interest are on display.  However, many objects are in storage with some being researched, under loan, or undergoing maintenance or restoration.

At the South Australian Museum fish are displayed as symbolic images in anthropological collections including the 'Aboriginal Heritage Collection', in archeological collections as mummies and amulets from Egypt, as fossils, and as models. There are associated marine themes in the museum displays including opalised skeletons of Plesiosaurs from the deserts of South Australia and marine animals from recent surveys of off shore deep water habitats in Southern Australasia.

Museums make important contributions to conservation including exhibits with conservation themes, special conservation education and tours, and field surveys for new or endangered species.  A particularly important contribution museums make to conservation is by the description of species, their distribution and habitats, and studying the relationships between species. Recently most biological institutions, including the South Australian Museum, have developed a strong conservation ethic.  This has been accompanied by an increase in targeted surveys and surveys that include monitoring or the collection of biological information.  This type of information can tell us which fish populations are in trouble and how important it is to conserve each population.  

This work is completed in the Science Center.  Scientists at the Science Center at the South Australian Museum, among other things work on fish, frogs, and many other types of animals, plants, and fossils.  The Science Center has a large collection of specimens and samples stored frozen.  These frozen samples supply special molecular - particularly genetic - material for a wide variety of scientific studies. Examples of these studies useful for fish conservation are those that ascertain the status of fish species, and those testing the genetic variability of populations.

Museum collections consist of numbered samples, called vouchered specimens, collected over hundreds of years. Among other reasons these collections are invaluable as they contain the original specimen of a species (holotype). Holotypes are the specimens referred to as the standard of a species and are used for comparison when identifying new species. Museum specimens can also be used in studies of reproduction to find the number of eggs, breeding seasons, age and size at maturity etc.. Sometimes new species to science are hidden in museum collections as misidentified or unidentified specimens.

Dr Robert Browne studies specimens of fish from across a groups range to show new species and relationships. These 'molecular biology' programs assist sustainability by showing the relationship between and within species both through their ancestry and bio-geographical relationships.