Resources on Fish ID's

[Sarah]

For the taxonomists amongst us, one of the most respected resoruces in the scientific community for identifying all those cool, colorful fish we see diving is called Fish Base.

So if you ever ran into that odd fish that you can't seem to name, then access Fish Base by clicking here (http://www.fishbase.org/search.php)

[drdiver]

Fishbase is a useful tool, but can be difficult to use for identifying a fish from a photograph as most of the images it has are scientific illustrations and the scientific descriptions are a bit abstruse for the casual user. It is very useful for finding out alternative names for various fish however. As far as Caribbean fish, the reefnet software http://reefnet.ca is probably the best, although a bit pricey. They now offer the software based on the Humann books which is very good although not as complete as their own.

[Sarah]

Hi Doc,

Good tip....

I like the price of fishbase though...free! lol.

Now, if only they had something similiar for shrimpies.......

[drdiver]

Invertebrates are always a problem. The sea slug people have a great forum, but all the other stuff is so diverse, I've always had a hard time finding good on-line sources. There's this worm from California I'm still trying to find out what it is, for example. One thing to beware of in animal ID is don't just google an image of a creature--many of those IDed in individual's photos are incorrect.