For this Researcher and CALS Alum, Everything’s Fishy (in a Good Way)

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By Joe Wilensky

In a storage space at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, Katherine Bemis ’15 points out the skeletal jaws of a mako shark—specifically the neat rows of teeth lined up like tapered daggers.

“They replace their teeth more or less rapidly, depending on what they feed on,” explains Bemis, whose primary appointment is as a research zoologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“The ones out on the edges are the teeth the shark was using. And as they lose them or wear them down, the ones in the rows behind them move into place to become the main functional ones. So they never have to go to the dentist—they’re set.”

Bemis is standing among rows of temperature- and humidity-controlled cabinets deep within the collections of the museum, where she serves as curator of fishes and contributes to developing the DNA-based species reference libraries.

These thousands upon thousands of ichthyological samples—used for research, education, and outreach—include specimens of all shapes and sizes, from teeth and vertebrae to entire skeletons, collected over nearly two centuries.

“We can never go back in time to get more specimens from a specific place at a specific period,” observes Bemis, who majored in natural resources in CALS, “so each of these specimens is basically a time capsule.”

Bemis’s unusual dual position—working both with the Smithsonian and with NOAA’s National Systematics Laboratory—suits her research focus: the intersection of fish species identification and biology with the study of fishery sustainability and biodiversity.

She spends several months a year on the water, photographing fishes and collecting them and their DNA to identify species and add specimens to museum collections; in recent years, she has worked off the coasts of West and East Africa, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

We can never go back in time to get more specimens from a specific place at a specific period—so each of these specimens is basically a time capsule.

Her work helps ensure that fish are caught sustainably, that species are correctly identified in the marketplace, and that countries have accurate data on fishery health.

At the museum, Bemis curates the dry skeletal collections—which include bones, cartilage, scales, and teeth—kept in temperature- and humidity-controlled conditions.

(Thousands of other, “wet” specimens are preserved in alcohol and stored at a site in Maryland. All told, it’s the largest fish collection in the world.)

Bemis’s favorite species to study include the ocean sunfish; lacking a traditional tail, the huge, odd-looking creature uses a rudder-like structure called the clavus that, along with two fins, allows it to make deep dives.

In collaboration with Japan’s Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, she has also studied the three-tooth puffer—aiming to better understand the evolution of its inflation as a defensive behavior.

Her work helps ensure that fish are caught sustainably, that species are correctly identified in the marketplace, and that countries have accurate data on fishery health.

And recently, she and a colleague discovered a previously unknown species of barracudina in U.S. waters in the North Atlantic, news they published in the Journal of Fish Biology in spring 2026.

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For Bemis, ichthyology is the family business: her father is William Bemis ’76, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology in CALS, faculty curator of fishes for the University’s Museum of Vertebrates, and an expert in the comparative anatomy and evolution of sharks.

Growing up, she spent hours observing their home aquariums, which housed species like goldfish, tetras, and pufferfish—still among her favorites.

Her interest became a lifelong passion when, as a high schooler, she took two classes at Cornell’s Shoals Marine Laboratory, located on an island in the Gulf of Maine.

“I got to have hands-on experience with frozen specimens,” she recalls, “and it was awesome.”

While still in high school, she began working on research projects at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center; her studies on two species of deepwater dragonets eventually became her undergrad honors thesis.

After graduation, Bemis spent a gap year doing fishery surveys at sea with NOAA and working on specimens at the Smithsonian before earning a doctorate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

While still in high school, Bemis began working on research projects at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center; her studies on two species of deepwater dragonets eventually became her undergrad honors thesis.

And as it happens, when she was hired into her current job, she succeeded a retiring Cornellian: Bruce Collette ’56, PhD ’60, who remains a mentor.

As Bemis notes, less than half of the world’s roughly 37,000 fish species have been sampled for specimen-based reference libraries and genetic resources.

She hopes her work will inform future science, as that of her predecessors has spurred her own studies: specimens collected generations ago are now a rich source of modern genetic data.

“Some of these DNA extraction methods have only come around in the last 30 years—so who knows what we might be able to use our collections for in the future?” Bemis marvels. “That’s why it’s so important to keep our specimens, and the data associated with them, safe, so we can continue to learn.”

Bemis’s lab at the museum includes more than a dozen undergrads, grad students, and postdocs from various institutions.

Some of these DNA extraction methods have only come around in the last 30 years—so who knows what we might be able to use our collections for in the future?

In spring 2026, one of them is Matt Duggan, a Cornell PhD candidate studying ways to use fish sounds to determine the species and population in an area.

“She has made me excited not just about my current work, but about becoming a scientist in this field,” Duggan says of Bemis. “One of the most fun parts has been bringing specimens back and working with them together. It never feels like just work—it feels like discovery.”

Top: Bemis with a striped bass she caught while fishing in New England. (Matt Girard / Smithsonian Institution)

Published May 12, 2026

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