The Art Newspaper

Museum sues airline for lost...fish

By The Art Newspaper. From In The Frame
Published online: 07 May 2010

Something fishy is going on the Upper West Side. Or rather it isn’t, which is the problem. The American Museum of Natural History is suing American Airlines for purportedly dumping two barrels of fish, according to documents filed in a Manhattan federal court. The museum claims the preserved fish were to be studied as part of its "Congo Project" and is seeking at least $25,000 in damages and the "loss of research”. The airline allegedly destroyed the aquatic specimens when the plane carrying them stopped in Brussels on its way from Africa because the barrels they were packed in were leaking and “full of maggots”. But the museum says that “explanation is not credible because the fish specimens had been preserved in a solution of formalin and then double-bagged, creating an environment in which no maggot or pest could survive”.