A Global Information System on Fishes

Welcome to the world of fishes!
FishBase is a global biodiversity information system on finfishes. Its initial goal to provide key facts on population dynamics for 200 major commercial species has now grown to having a wide range of information on all species currently known in the world: taxonomy, biology, trophic ecology, life history, and uses, as well as historical data reaching back to 250 years.

At present, FishBase covers >33,000 fish species compiled from >52,000 references in partnership with >2,000 collaborators: >300,000 common names and >55,000 pictures. Our website gathers more than 700,000 visits monthly.

The breadth and depth of information in the database, combined with the analytical and graphical tools available in the web, cater to different needs of diverse groups of stakeholders (scientists, researchers, policy makers, fisheries managers, donors, conservationists, teachers and students). Its various applications aim for sustainable fisheries management, biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.

FishBase is currently hosted by the FishBase Information and Research Group, Incorporated with headquarters located in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. FIN is a non-stock, non-profit, non-governmental organization engaged in the development and management of global databases on aquatic organisms, including their distribution and ecology. It is scientifically guided by a Consortium of 10 international members (see below).

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With the help of >2,000 collaborators we update the database daily (internally), and bimonthly on the website. FishBase provides the database and web interface for free for 25 years thanks to a full-time dedicated team. However, we lack recurrent funding to maintain the information system up to date both in content and technological innovation. We gratefully acknowledge financial contribution to continue the service of this open resource.

Data statistics as of October 2015

33,230	Species	species-group taxa; 59 species have 95 subspecies 33,125 species
94,647	Synonyms	“synonyms” [88,015 names + 7,260 misidentifications]
306,369	Common names	common names in 344 languages for 253 “countries”
184,552	Reports in countries	for 293 “countries”
135,276	Reports in ecosystems	for 434 “ecosystems” [+505 in progress]
60,147	Reports in FAO areas	26 areas [continents and large ocean basins]
19,130	Species with morphology	morphological descriptions
1,668	Identification keys	for 8,205 species
56,557	Images	photos, drawings, ... for 18,999 species
52,100	References	bibliographic references [633,798 citation of names]
~3 million	Records in total	in >200 tables (~60 main)

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