 | |
| 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: 04/2025 |
| Curation policy | FishBase Consortium |
| Bookmarkable entities | Yes |
FishBase is aglobal species database offish species (specificallyfinfish).[1] It is the largest and most extensively accessedonline 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][5]
FishBase provides comprehensive species data, including information ontaxonomy, geographical distribution,biometrics andmorphology, behaviour and habitats, ecology andpopulation dynamics as well as reproductive, metabolic and genetic data. There is access to tools such astrophic pyramids,identification keys,biogeographical modelling and fishery statistics and there are direct species level links to information in other databases such asLarvalBase,GenBank, theIUCN Red List and theCatalog of Fishes.[6]
As of February 2024[update], FishBase included descriptions of 36,100species and subspecies, with 332,100common names, 65,300 pictures, and references to 67,600 works in thescientific literature. The site has about 700,000 visits per month.[7]
The origins of FishBase go back to the 1970s, when thefisheries scientistDaniel Pauly found himself struggling to test a hypothesis on how the growing ability of fish was affected by the size of their gills.[8] Hypotheses, such as this one, could be tested only if large amounts of empirical data were available.[9] At the time,fisheries management used analytical models which required estimates for fish growth andmortality.[10] It can be difficult forfishery 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.[9][11] Such a database would be particularly useful if the data has also been standardised and validated.[9] 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.[12]
Pauly recruitedRainer 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 allfinfish, and was launched on theWeb in August 1996. It is now the largest and most accessed online database for fish in the world.[9] In 1995 the firstCD-ROM was released as "FishBase 100". Subsequent CDs have been released annually. The software runs onMicrosoft Access which operates only onMicrosoft Windows.
FishBase covers adult finfish, but does not detail the early and juvenile stages of fish. In 1999 a complementary database, calledLarvalBase, went online under the supervision of Bernd Ueberschär. It coversichthyoplankton and the juvenile stage of fishes, with detailed data on fisheggs andlarvae, fishidentification, as well as data relevant to the rearing of young fish inaquaculture. 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 ofSeaLifeBase.[9] 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.[13]
As awareness of FishBase has grown among fish specialists, it has attracted over 2,480 contributors and collaborators. Since 2000 FishBase has been supervised by a consortium of nine international institutions. The FishBase consortium has grown to twelve members. TheGEOMAR – Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) in Germany, functions as the coordinating body[14][15] and, since February 2017, Quantitative Aquatics, Inc. functions as the administrative body.[16]
The FishBase Consortium | |
 TheGEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel coordinates the FishBase Consortium[17] | |
| Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece[18] | |
| Chinese Academy of Fishery Science, Beijing, China | |
| Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries,University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada | |
| 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 | |
| Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristóvão – SE, Brazil | |
| University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia | |
| Quantitative Aquatics, Incorporated, Laguna, Philippines | |
