We have hidden several routines for advanced users under the Miscellaneous button of the Reports menu and in a separate database named ‘FishBase Advanced’. Some of these routines are still under development and might not function properly. We decided to include them here anyhow, if only to get feedback on their usefulness and on possible problems.

In ‘FishBase Advanced’ the Check Names button leads to a menu that guides the user through a procedure to check long lists of scientific names against FishBase and Eschmeyer’s (1998) Catalog of Fishes. The names can be imported from a variety of database, spreadsheet, or text formats. Non-matching names are verified against Eschmeyer’s GENERA and CATALOG tables (this vol.) and the ‘SYNONYMS table’ (this vol.). Several routines are applied to find misspellings that are not contained in the SYNONYMS table. The algorithm was initially described in Froese (1996) and in more detail in Froese (1997).

A variety of reports present the results of this exercise. This procedure has proven to be extremely useful for identifying errors and synonyms in scientific names. See the chapter on the SYNONYMS table (this vol.) for a discussion of this topic.

Under the Country Information button, you can access a variety of country-specific information described in more detail under the ‘COUNTREF table’ (this vol.). We are looking forward to comments that will help us complete and update this information.

This procedure creates a printed report on the use of finfish by humans. Over 7,000 species are used in fisheries, ornamental trade, game fishing or aquaculture. Over 500 species have been introduced to other countries and over 1,000 species are threatened with extinction. About 700 species are dangerous to humans. These numbers are based on reported cases, i.e., every record is based on a specific reference.

On the Internet version, this information is available if you click on the Fish Statistics radio button in the ‘Information by Topic’ section of the ‘Search FishBase’ page.

This button opens the MUSEUMS table as contained in Eschmeyer’s (1998) Catalog of Fishes databases (see below). It allows to create preliminary type catalogs for most museums that hold fish types.

This routine creates a printout with what might be called ‘fish pests’, i.e., a list of introduced species for which at least three countries reported adverse ecological effects.

On the Internet version, this report is available in the ‘Information by Topic’ section if you click on the Adverse Introductions radio button.

This button opens the ‘EXPEDITIONS table’ (this vol.), our attempt to begin structuring the more than 600,000 occurrence records we have compiled so far.

You get to the various routines in the Miscellaneous Menu by clicking on the Reports button of the Main Menu window and clicking on the Miscellaneous button in the REPORTS window.

Eschmeyer, W.N., Editor. 1998. Catalog of fishes. Special Publication, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 3 vols. 2905 p.

Froese, R. 1996. A computerized procedure for identifying misspellings and synonyms in checklists of fishes, p. 219. In D. Pauly and P. Martosubroto (eds.) Baseline studies of biodiversity: the fish resources of western Indonesia. ICLARM Stud. Rev. 23.

Froese, R. 1997. An algorithm for identifying misspellings and synonyms of scientific names of fishes. Cybium 21(3):265-280.

Rainer Froese