IMIS

Similar to an encyclopedia, FishBase contains different things for different people. For example, fisheries managers will dive into the largest existing compilation of population dynamics data; taxonomists will enjoy the electronic version of Eschmeyer’s (1990) catalog of the genera of recent fishes; conservationists will use the lists of threatened fishes for any given country (IUCN 1994); policymakers may be interested in a chronological, annotated list of introductions to their country; research scientists, as well as funding agencies will find it useful to gain a quick overview of what is known and what is still unknown about a certain species; zoologists and physiologists will have the largest existing compilations of fish morphology, metabolism, gill area, eye pigment, or swimming speed at their fingertips; ecologists will likewise use data on diet composition, food consumption, prey and predators as inputs for their models; aquaculturists will be surprised to see functional on genetic traits and culture experiments, as well as the foundation for a global strains registry; the fishing industry will find proximate analyses, as well as processing recommendations for many marine species; anglers will enjoy a listing of all game fishes occurring in a particular country (IGFA 1994); scholars interested in local knowledge will find more than 50,000 common names of fishes together with the language/culture in which they are used and comments on their etymology.