diff --git a/app/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller.rb b/app/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller.rb
index e14a4fe0f..db8a70789 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ class Api::V1::SubjectsController < Api::ApiController
   before_action :check_subject_limit, only: :create
 
   def index
+    params[:sort] = 'id' if params[:sort].blank?
+
     case params[:sort]
     when 'queued'
       queued
diff --git a/app/serializers/subject_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/subject_serializer.rb
index 7615397ae..da96fe5df 100644
--- a/app/serializers/subject_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/subject_serializer.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ class SubjectSerializer
 
   preload :locations, :project, :collections, :subject_sets
 
+  can_sort_by :id
+
   def locations
     @model.ordered_locations.map do |loc|
       {
diff --git a/spec/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller_spec.rb
index 703d58c39..cf5abfcc5 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/api/v1/subjects_controller_spec.rb
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@
           get :index
         end
 
+        it 'defaults sort parameter to id' do
+          expect(controller.params[:sort]).to eq('id')
+        end
+
         it_behaves_like "an api response"
 
         it "should return 200" do
@@ -85,6 +89,10 @@
               get :index, params: request_params
             end
 
+            it 'does not default sort parameter to id' do
+              expect(controller.params[:sort]).not_to eq('id')
+            end
+
             it "should return 200" do
               expect(response.status).to eq(200)
             end