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Mr Oliver Crimmen

oac and Darwin spmn
  • Senior Curator, Fish
  • Life Sciences department
  • LS Vertebrates Division
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 5BD

Biography

Education

1992    B.Sc. (1st Class Honours), Biological Sciences, University of London.

Career

2007    Curator, (Band 4), Division of Lower Vertebrates, NHM

1996    Curator, (Band 5), Division of Lower Vertebrates, NHM

1993    Higher Scientific Officer, Fish Section, NHM

1983    Scientific Officer, Fish Section, BMNH

1973    Assistant Scientific Officer, Fish Section, BMNH

Professional Roles

External committees

  • British Record Fish Committee 
    • responsibility for ratifying British marine fish identifications.
  • Food Standards Agency's Fish Expert Group

Fellowships

  • Linnean Society of London
  • Zoological Society of London

Curation

Collections

Lead curator in the Fish section

Responsible for

  • the maintenance and enhancement of the fish  collections
  • special responsibility for fish enquiries 
  • line management of the fish curation team
  • collections PR 
  • public understanding of science
  • activities associated with the Museum's extensive fish collection
  • expert identification of fish specimens for legal cases.

Publications

Selected publications

  • Fierstine, H.L. & CRIMMEN, O.1996. Two erroneous, commonly cited examples of "swordfish" piercing wooden ships. Copeia 1996: 472-475.
  • CRIMMEN, O. 1992. [Fish entries.] Guinness Encyclopaedia of the Living World. London, Guinness Publishing, 360pp.
  • CRIMMEN, O.1992. A fish in a million [xanthochroism in eels] . BBC Wildlife [Feb 1992]: p.14.
  • Howes, G. & CRIMMEN, O.1990. A review of the Bathygadidae (Teleostei: Gadiformes). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History. (Zoology series) 56:155-203.
  • CRIMMEN, O. 1990. Fish frauds: jenny Hanivers and "sea bishops" In: Jones, M. (Ed). Fake? The Art of Deception. British Museum Publications, London, pp. 85-86.
  • Cooper, R. & CRIMMEN, O. 1989. Muraena Linnaeus,1758 (Osteicthyes, Anguilliformes); proposed confirmation of Muraena helena Linnaeus,1758 as the type species so conserving Anguilla Shaw,1803. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 46: 259-261.
  • Harrison, K., CRIMMEN,O., Travers,R., Maikweki, J. & Mutoro, D.1989. Balancing the scales in Lake Victoria. The Biologist 32: 189-191.
  • CRIMMEN, O. 1989. Phenoxetol: an unsatisfactory preservative for fishes. Biology Curators Group Newsletter 5: 26-27.
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