Te Papa’s Fish Team is responsible for collection, identification, registration, management, curation and researching the National Fish Collection for the nation. An active programme of collecting by museum scientists in association with exploratory fishing surveys, biodiversity surveys, and collecting by MFish Scientific Observers and recreational anglers, has more than doubled the known fish fauna of the New Zealand region from 600 to 1,300 species in the last 30 years. The number of fish species continues to grow as new areas and depths are explored and new discovered specimens are sent to the museum.