Things not (yet) in FishBase

With over 25,000 known species, fish are the largest and most diverse group of vertebrates. Recording key information (taxonomy, biology and human uses) for all these species is a huge task and FishBase is by no means complete. Thus, we thought it would be fair to show a list of things that you do not (yet) get from FishBase:

  • Complete checklists (of 296 countries/islands, 70 marine and 140 freshwater checklists were complete in 2000);

  • Fish behavior (we only cover reproductive and trophic behavior);

  • Traditional distribution maps (as noted by several reviewers, our maps only highlight or mark countries from which a species is reported and plot the occurrence points currently available);

  • All references for all species (we only list publications that contain suitable information and that we have used so far, currently >20,000);

  • Pictures for all fishes (>25,000 pictures for >10,000 species in 2000).

However, with the help of our many collaborators, we plan to eventually have the above tasks reasonably complete. See the chapter on ‘How to Become a FishBase Collaborator … and Why’ if you want to join us in this effort.

Rainer Froese