Fishes in a Pan

Scientists, specifically taxonomists, discover new species in two different ways. One way is by studying plant and animal specimens at the Academy of Natural Sciences and in other museums. The Academy’s collection of more than 18 million specimens are archives of life on Earth. Each specimen is like a book. The more the taxonomist reads and compares one specimen to others, the more he or she is able to distinguish a known species from one not yet discovered.