Research at the University of Liège on fish and the aquatic environment date from the middle of the 19th century, creating the public Aquarium at the beginning of the 1960s followed by establishing the STARESO Marine Research Station (Corsica) and Aquaculture Research and Training Center served to launch fundamental and applied research in many domains belonging to ichthyology and marine biology : eco-ethology, morphology, biochemistry, physiology, embryology, eco-toxicology, virology as well as genetic.
In an attempt to increasingly federate their expertise around the internationally recognized Tihange research and educational station and one of the most representative showcases – the Zoology Institute’s Aquarium-Museum – fish laboratories have joined in a single official operational structure. Within this perspective, in its December 2012 session, the University of Liège’s board of governors ratified the creation of a fundamental and applied research thematic entity on fish, AFFISH-RC.