FishBase

FishBase
Content
Description A large and extensively accessed biological database about fish
Data types
captured		 Comprehensive species data, including taxonomy, biometrics, behaviour, distribution, habitats and photos
Organisms Adult fish species (finfish)
Contact
Research center Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, FishBase Consortium coordinator
Authors Daniel Pauly and Rainer Froese
Access
Website www.fishbase.org
Tools
Standalone Historic versions available on CD
Miscellaneous
License CC-BY-NC for data; various levels of licensing for media files (pictures, sounds, ...) to be checked case by case
Versioning Every even month of the year
Data release
frequency		 Continuously updated
Version Last current version: October 2016
Curation policy FishBase Consortium
Bookmarkable
entities		 Yes

FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish).[1] It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.[2] Over time it has "evolved into a dynamic and versatile ecological tool" that is widely cited in scholarly publications.[3][4]

FishBase provides comprehensive species data, including information on taxonomy, geographical distribution, biometrics and morphology, behaviour and habitats, ecology and population dynamics as well as reproductive, metabolic and genetic data. There is access to tools such as trophic pyramids, identification keys, biogeographical modelling and fishery statistics and there are direct species level links to information in other databases such as LarvalBase, GenBank, the IUCN Red List and the Catalog of Fishes.[5]

As of October 2016, FishBase included descriptions of 33,400 species and subspecies, 318,900 common names in almost 300 languages, 57,800 pictures, and references to 51,600 works in the scientific literature. The site has about 700,000 unique visitors per month.[6]

History

The origins of FishBase go back to the 1970s, when the fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly found himself struggling to test a hypothesis on how the growing ability of fish was affected by the size of their gills.[7] Hypotheses, such as this one, could be tested only if large amounts of empirical data were available.[8] At the time, fisheries management used analytical models which required estimates for fish growth and mortality.[9] It can be difficult for fishery scientists and managers to get the information they need on the species that concern them, because the relevant facts can be scattered across and buried in numerous journal articles, reports, newsletters and other sources. It can be particularly difficult for people in developing countries who need such information. Pauly believed that the only practical way fisheries managers could access the volume of data they needed was to assemble and consolidate all the data available in the published literature into some central and easily accessed repository.[8][10] Such a database would be particularly useful if the data has also been standardised and validated.[8] This would mean that when scientists or managers need to test a new hypothesis, the available data will already be there in a validated and accessible form, and there will be no need to create a new dataset and then have to validate it.[11]

Pauly recruited Rainer Froese, and the beginnings of a software database along these lines was encoded in 1988. This database, initially confined to tropical fish, became the prototype for FishBase. FishBase was subsequently extended to cover all finfish, and was launched on the Web in August 1996. It is now the largest and most accessed online database for fish in the world.[8] In 1995 the first CD-ROM was released as "FishBase 100". Subsequent CDs have been released annually. The software runs on Microsoft Access which operates only on Microsoft Windows.

FishBase covers adult finfish, but does not detail the early and juvenile stages of fish. In 1999 a complimentary database, called LarvalBase, went online under the supervision of Bernd Ueberschär. It covers ichthyoplankton and the juvenile stage of fishes, with detailed data on fish eggs and larvae, fish identification, as well as data relevant to the rearing of young fish in aquaculture. Given FishBase's success, there was a demand for a database covering forms of aquatic life other than finfish. This resulted, in 2006, in the birth of SeaLifeBase.[8] The long-term goal of SeaLifeBase is to develop an information system modelled on FishBase, but including all forms of aquatic life, both marine and freshwater, apart from the finfish which FishBase specialises in. Altogether, there are about 300,000 known species in this category.[12]

Current organization

As awareness of FishBase has grown among fish specialists, it has attracted over 1,700 contributors and collaborators. Since 2000 FishBase has been supervised by a consortium consisting of nine international institutions. The Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, functions as the coordinating body.[13][14]
The FishBase Consortium
The Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences coordinates the FishBase Consortium[15]
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece[16]
Chinese Academy of Fishery Science, Beijing, China
UBC Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia
Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
WorldFish, Penang, Malaysia

See also

References

  1. ↑ Froese R and Pauly D (eds) (2000) FishBase 2000: concepts, design and data sources ICLARM, Philippines.
  2. ↑ Marine Fellow: Rainer Froese Pew Environment Group.
  3. ↑ Stergiou KI and Tsikliras AC (2006) Scientific impact of FishBase: A citation analysis In: Palomares MLD, Stergiou KI and Pauly D (eds.), Fishes in Databases and Ecosystems. UBC Fisheries Centre, Research reports 14(4): 2–6.
  4. ↑ References Citing FishBase FishBase. Last modified 5 July 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  5. ↑ Gert B and Snoeks J (2004) "FishBase: encyclopaedia and research tool" Page 48, VLIZ Special Publication 17, Brugge, Belgium.
  6. ↑ According to the FishBase web page, accessed December 2016
  7. ↑ Bakun A (2011) "The oxygen constraint" Pages 11–23. In: Villy Christensen and Jay Maclean (Eds.) Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries: A Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-13022-6.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Palomares MLD and Bailly N (2011) "Organizing and disseminating marine biodiversity information: the Fishbase and SeaLifeBase story" Pages 24–46. In: Villy Christensen and Jay Maclean (Eds.) Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries: A Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-13022-6.
  9. ↑ Monro JL (2011) "Assessment of exploited stock of tropical fishes: an overview" Pages 171–188. In: Villy Christensen and Jay Maclean (Eds.) Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries: A Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-13022-6.
  10. ↑ LarvalBase: A Global Information System on Fish Larvae American Fisheries Society, Early Life History Section Newsletter, May 2002, 23(2): 7–9.
  11. ↑ Froese R (2011) "The science in FishBase" Pages 47–54. In: Villy Christensen and Jay Maclean (Eds.) Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries: A Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-13022-6.
  12. ↑ SeaLifeBase – home page Accessed 21 July 2011.
  13. ↑ FishBase Home page. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  14. ↑ "Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Fisheries: FishBase". IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR). Main web site.
  16. ↑ Fishbase and Aristotle University Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 5 August 2006.

Further reading

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