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EveryFish

Holotype

The single preserved specimen that a species name is based on, kept in a museum as the reference.

Also: type specimen

When a scientist describes a new species, they choose one specimen as the holotype and lodge it in a museum or research collection. It is the anchor for the name: if experts later disagree about what a species is, they go back to the holotype. Other specimens examined at the same time may be listed as paratypes. Many Indian fish holotypes are held at the Zoological Survey of India in Kolkata, and many older ones at the Natural History Museum in London.

See also

Taxonomy and scientific names Species Ichthyology

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