The Fish Database of Taiwan

The Fish Database of Taiwan is centered on fish taxonomy and includes the following information: (1) basic information about each species of fish (including their scientific names, morphological characteristics, habitats and behavior, and so on) and images (including specimens and ecological photos, X-rays of fish skeletons, and otoliths); (2) specimen data of 10 institutes in Taiwan and those that have been archived overseas; (3) distributional data (about 230,000 entries); (4) bibliography of references related to the fish of Taiwan; (5) other information, such as a gallery of fish photos, rare Chinese characters with the “fish” radical, 9 e-books on fish, an illustrated glossary of fish terms, Taiwan seafood guide, and many others. With the funding from Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP), all the information is continually updated and can be accessed at http://fishdb.sinica.edu.tw. Currently, The Fish Database of Taiwan contains 3,115 species of fish in Taiwan from 298 families. These numbers do not include unidentified fish species, especially deep-sea fish. In collaboration with the global fish database, FishBase (http://www.fishbase.org), which was developed by the WorldFish Center, The Fish Database of Taiwan has established a Chinese mirror site, through which both databases can access each other’s fish data. Through this collaboration with FishBase, users of other global databases, such as Species 2000, Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and BioNet-International can also access the latest information about the fish of Taiwan.