The species synopsis is a standardized report based on the format suggested for such documents by Rosa (1965). Information in this document is printed directly from FishBase, without any subsequent editing. Thus, it must be treated only as a working document and not as a publication.

Two types of synopses are available in the SPECIES SYNOPSIS window: Short and Full. A short synopsis will give a standardized output of basic information on a given species from selected entries in FishBase, i.e., information extracted from the FAMILIES, GENERA, SPECIES, SYNONYMS, COMMON NAMES, STOCKS, COUNTRY, REFERENCES and COLLABORATORS tables. A full synopsis extracts information from all FishBase tables. It must be noted that for well-researched species, e.g., Oreochromis niloticus niloticus, Clupea harengus or Oncorhynchus mykiss, a full species synopsis will print more than 200 pages.

The accuracy of information in these two types of working documents is not guaranteed and we are aware that they will be incomplete. Thus, we invite readers to send complementary information and/or corrections, preferably in the form of reprints or reports to the FishBase Project.

Doing so will make you a FishBase collaborator and earn you a free copy of FishBase.

You get to the synopsis routines by clicking on the Reports button in the Main Menu window and clicking on the Species Synopses button in the PREDEFINED REPORTS window. Since FishBase will ask for the picture CD-ROMs when you click on the Print button, keep the picture CD-ROMs at hand.

On the Internet, the ‘Species Summary’ page provides some of the information contained in these synopses.