FishBase
FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web. Over time it has "evolved into a dynamic and versatile ecological tool" that is widely cited in scholarly publications.
| 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 | GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, FishBase Consortium coordinator |
| Authors | Daniel Pauly, Rainer Froese |
| Access | |
| Website | fishbase.us |
| 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 | Latest version: 10/2023 |
| Curation policy | FishBase Consortium |
| Bookmarkable entities | Yes |
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.
As of October 2022, FishBase included descriptions of 35,400 species and subspecies, with 328,900 common names, 63,800 pictures, and references to 60,600 works in the scientific literature. The site has about 700,000 visits per month.