Mumbai's natural history museum reopened its fish and reptile gallery

The Times of India reported on November 6, 2026, that the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Fort, Mumbai, has reopened its Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles Gallery after nearly four years, in time for the Diwali holidays. Director general Sabyasachi Mukherjee said the gallery was brought back because young visitors kept asking for it. On view again are a whale shark about 28 feet long, listed as endangered, and a largetooth sawfish about 20 feet long, listed as critically endangered, along with an Indian barramundi, a zebra shark, a guitarfish, a giant tree frog, an Indian star tortoise, and a king cobra from Northeast India. Snakes are grouped as non-venomous, venomous, or mildly venomous.

Curator Manoj Chaudhari said most of the collection was documented and preserved before the 1930s, and that restoration is not finished. A silver pomfret is still in the last stage of the work. He said clay is used as stuffing, and that for some fish the original fins and tails are kept while the body is rebuilt and painted. The animals come from around Mumbai and Nashik as well as Northeast India. A section made with the Coastal Conservation Foundation will use photographs and video of marine and intertidal life along Mumbai's own coast. The news is this reopened gallery. It is not a census of the animals still living offshore.