The Digital Fish Library (DFL) is a

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

project funded by the Biological Infrastructure Initiative (DBI) of the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF). The DFL creates 2D and 3D visualizations of the internal and external anatomy of fish obtained with

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and ...

(MRI) methods and makes these publicly available on the web. The information core for the Digital Fish Library is generated using high-resolution MRI scanners housed at the center for

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

(CfMRI) multi-user facility at UC San Diego. These instruments use magnetic fields to take 3D images of animal tissues, allowing researchers to non-invasively see inside them and quantitatively describe their 3D anatomy. Fish specimens are obtained from the Marine Vertebrate Collection at

Scripps Institute of Oceanography Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, California, La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma, San Die ...

(SIO) and imaged by staff from UC San Diego's Center for Scientific Computation in Imaging (CSCI). As of February 2010, the Digital Fish Library contains almost 300 species covering all five classes of fish, 56 of 60 orders, and close to 200 of the 521 fish families as described by Nelson, 2006. DFL imaging has also contributed to a number of published peer-reviewed scientific studies. Digital Fish Library work has been featured in the media, including two National Geographic documentaries: ''Magnetic Navigator'' and ''Ultimate Shark''.

References

External links

Digital Fish Library

National Science Foundation (NSF) Press Release 06-046

Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) Press Release: March 16, 2006

National Geographic Channel Video Featuring DFL
{{diversity of fish American science websites Zoology Marine biology Magnetic resonance imaging Fish anatomy University of California, San Diego