Adult male Dracula minnow, less than 20 millimeters long. Photo: Mike Noren.

The Dracula minnow (Danionella dracula)
The Dracula minnow is a miniature fish, less than 20 millimeters long, from northern Myanmar, where it lives in relatively cool and fast-flowing streams. The name refers to the long “fangs” of the males, which reminded the scientist who discovered it of the canine teeth of the vampire Dracula. The “fangs” are, however, not used for blood-sucking, but may be used in fights between males, or perhaps during courtship and spawning. The Dracula minnow is one of a number of tiny miniature species of fish discovered in recent years, and without doubt many still await discovery.

Psychedelic frogfish. Photo: David Hall / seaphotos.com.

Psychedelic frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica)

Not all recently discovered species are small or inconspicuous, as the Psychedelic frogfish proves. Frogfish are small predators who spend most of their time among rocks, corals or algae, “walking” on their pelvic fins, or waiting in ambush for their prey. Although few frogfish are as spectacular as the Psychedelic frogfish, many are brightly colored but are still surprisingly hard to see when not moving. Not just frogfish, but numerous fish species of all kinds remain to be discovered on coral reefs, especially in the deeper areas of the reefs.

Omar’s banded knifefish (NRM 55841). Photo: Mike Noren.

Omar’s banded knifefish (Gymnotus omarorum)

Omar’s banded knifefish lives in rivers in Uruguay, where it uses electrical fields to communicate with each other, find its way, and detect food among the dense vegetation. For 30 years scientists have used this fish as a model organism for the study of electricity in fishes, all the time believing it to be Banded knifefish (Gymnotus carapo). It may seem odd that researchers could study a species for 30 years without noticing that it was, in fact, a completely different species, but it is common that species with large distributions on closer examination turn out to be several similar species mistakenly lumped together under one name. In the extreme case of the Banded knifefish, it turned out to really be 20 species!

LINKS

IISE Top Ten Species of 2009

Dracula minnow (Danionella dracula) on FishBase

Psychedelic frogfish (Histiophryne psychedelica) on FishBase

Omar’s banded knifefish (Gymnotus omarorum) on FishBase

As usual the FishBase Symposium is open for all. There is no registration fee, and lunch is included. Programme and information about registration will be posted soon. Mark 19 October for FishBase Symposium 2009!

First IUCN Red List assessment of all 116 species in the region

The release of the first ever IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ assessment of Northeast Atlantic sharks and closely related rays and chimaeras reveals that 26% are Threatened with extinction, and another 20% are in the Near Threatened category. The total number of threatened species may well be underestimated as there was insufficient information to assess over a quarter (27%) of the species.

The report, released by the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG), is the result of a regional workshop to evaluate the status of the Northeast Atlantic’s “chondrichthyan” species using IUCN Red List Categories and CriteriaTM. The findings reveal that the percentage of shark, ray and chimaera species classified as Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable) in the Northeast Atlantic is significantly higher than for the than the same statistic globally (26% v. 18%). Specifically, 7% of species in the Northeast Atlantic are classified as Critically Endangered, 7% as Endangered, and 12% as Vulnerable, primarily due to overfishing.

Silky shark, Carcharhinus falciformis. Global Red List Assessment: Near Threatened. Photo and Copyright © Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch.

“From angel sharks to devil rays, Northeast Atlantic populations of these vulnerable species are in serious trouble, more so than in many other parts of the world”, said Claudine Gibson, former Programme Officer for the IUCN SSG and lead author of the report. “Most sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing because of their tendency to grow slowly, mature late, and produce few young… “Those at greatest risk of extinction in the Northeast Atlantic include heavily fished, large sharks and rays, like porbeagle and common skate, as well as commercially valuable deepwater sharks and spiny dogfish.”

The European Union (EU) has provided species-specific fishing limits for only four of the region’s 116 chondrichthyans. Basking and great white sharks are legally protected in the EU; catch limits for spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks exist, but are regularly set in excess of scientific advice. There are broad EU limits on multiple species of skates and rays as well as deepwater sharks, but these are also not yet in line with scientists’ recommendations. The UK and Sweden are the only Northeast Atlantic countries to provide full national protection for certain shark and ray species. Beyond some agreements between the EU and Norway, there are no international catch limits for Northeast Atlantic chondrichthyans.

The coming weeks bring multiple opportunities to improve the status of Northeast Atlantic sharks and rays through meetings of international fisheries and wildlife bodies, the annual process for setting EU quotas, and a long-awaited European Community Plan of Action for sharks and related species. The report includes specific recommendations for conservation action based on scientific advice.

“Never before have European countries had more reason or opportunity to safeguard the beleaguered shark and ray species of the Northeast Atlantic,” said Sonja Fordham, Deputy Chair of the SSG and Policy Director for the Shark Alliance. “Country officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays at national, regional and international levels. Such action is immediately possible and absolutely necessary to change the current course toward extinction of these remarkable ocean animals.”

Experts from government agencies, universities and private institutions in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Russia, Sweden, Canada and the USA participated in the regional workshop that formed the basis for the report. This and several other regional workshops have contributed to the development of the SSG’s ‘Global Shark Red List Assessment’, supported by Conservation International (CI).  “The completion of this global assessment of sharks and their relatives will provide an important baseline for monitoring the status of these keystone species in our oceans” said Roger McManus, Vice-President for CI’s Marine Programs.

In ICHTHYO The architecture of fish, by Stephanie Comer and Deborah Klochko, fish bones become art.

The book is a 189 pages collection of charming and beautiful X-rays of fishes from the Smithsonian Institution. The X-rays were made by Sandra Raredon and are interspersed with essays authored by Jean-Michel Costeau, Daniel Pauly and Lynne Parenti.

On page after page,  swimming skeletons reveal an amazing variety in the shape of fish, stripped of concealing scales, skin and colours. An art book, this is also an opus worth putting in the hands of students. The images are arranged in phylogenetic order, starting with a hagfish with no bony structures at all, and ending with a sweetheart pair of sunfish illustrating how evolution can also do away with the bone we associate with bony fishes.

Citation: Comer, S. & D. Klokcho. 2008. ICHTHYO. The architecture of fish. X-rays from the Smithsonian Institution. Chronicle Books, San Francisco.  ISBN 978-0-8118-6192-2.

In commemoration of Petrus Artedi – Father of Modern Ichthyology

5 December 2008, 8:30 – 13:30h

Beijer Hall, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

In 2005, FishBase Sweden and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences organized the Artedi Lectures in commemoration of the tricentennial of the birth of Sweden’s famous ichthyologist Petrus Artedi (1705-1735). Artedi reformed organismal systematics by applying a strict methodology to the study of fishes. He paved the ground for modern systematics, scientific nomenclature and classification expanded on by Carl Linnaeus.

The Artedi Lectures are given by ichthyologists of considerable scientific excellence and recognition, who have made a contribution to ichthyology by a broad approach combining discovery, description, analysis and synthesis in a way that has significantly inspired new generations of ichthyologists.
Artedi Lectures are planned to be given every three years. In 2005 the first Artedi Lectures were given by five renowned fish researchers, Drs. G. David Johnson, Maurice Kottelat, Richard L. Mayden, Lynne R. Parenti and Mutsumi Nishida.

The 2008 Lectures will be given on 5 December by Drs. Joseph Nelson, Gloria Arratia and Meemann Chang.

By organising the Artedi Lectures, we hope to inspire more systematic research, and highlight the importance of both the early Swedish contribution to the field by Artedi, Linnaeus, and the Royal Academy of Sciences (of which the Swedish Museum of Natural History was then a part), and the contemporary importance of systematics to the study of the biological diversity of the Earth.

The programme includes a half day of invited lectures. Participation in the symposium is free and includes lunch, but registration is required.

Participation is free, but registration is required and should be made no later than 27 November 2008. Coffee and lunch is included for all registered participants.

Inquiries and registration:
FishBase Sweden
PO Box 50007
SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
+46-8-51954123, +46-8-51954122
E-mail: fishbase@nrm.se

Whether in a restaurant, at the fishmonger or in the sushi bar, consumers in 17 countries can now quickly look up the latest consumption recommendations for over 4,000 sea foods, simply by visiting www.seafoodguide.mobi on an internet-enabled mobile phone.

The International Seafood Guide for mobile phones, developed by researchers in the European Union project INCOFISH, compiles all available seafood advisories and allows consumers to access them through an easy-to-use mobile phone interface. With just a few clicks, users can get advice on whether a certain seafood can be enjoyed without jeopardizing its future as a food source or harming the environment. Clicking on the ruler icon will alert users to the smallest acceptable size for the seafood (whole, headless, or fillet) to be respected in order to assure the fish was not caught before it could spawn.

For centuries people have used ocean resources as if they were endless. Small-scale traditional fishing has transformed into an industry with gigantic factory vessels replacing small fishing boats. Global fishing fleets have also been improving fish-finding and capture technology, ever-increasing their capacity to track down the last schools of fish in the far reaches of the ocean. Atlantic Cod and other species which have helped build cultures in the past are now severely threatened, as are the livelihoods of fishers around the world. Marine researchers have been documenting the trend of overfishing for years. Their advice to moderate resource use has been falling on deaf ears, as governments continue setting catch quotas well above sustainable levels and condoning damaging fishing practices. With the International Seafood Guide for mobile phones, consumers can now easily circumvent this lack of political will for change by raising their voices and voting with their wallets.

“We would like the consumers to set the rule, to be able to use the ocean resources in a responsible manner,” said Dr Rainer Froese, project leader and fisheries biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Marine Research (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany. “When the demand for over-fished or juvenile fishes sinks, it is not worthwhile to catch them anymore. Our hope is that this instrument can serve all and everyone that wants to be involved in an active protection of our oceans”.

INCOFISH is an international scientific collaboration and European project with the goal to improve coastal zone management, and with a special focus on fisheries. Future development also includes releases of national guides in countries that lack seafood guides at present.

The International Seafood Guide for mobile phones will be presented under the theme “Global Challenges, Local Solutions” at the exhibition of this year’s Seafood Summit, in Barcelona, Spain, January 28 and 29 between 9am-7pm. The INCOFISH team will demonstrate this new information package and respond to questions. Venue is Hall Cataluna and Hall Mediterraneo on Floor -2, the main conference floor, Gran Hotel Princesa Sofía, Plaza Pio XII, 4, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. +34 93 508 10 00 phone, +34 93 508 10 01 fax.

For additional information on seafoodguide.mobi or INCOFISH project please contact:

Amanda Stern-Pirlot, INCOFISH WP7 Coordinator; Sustainability indicators
Phone: +49 431 600 4580, after Feb 4, 2008: +44 20 7811 3327, Email: amanda.stern-pirlot (at) msc.org

Charlotta Jarnmark, INCOFISH WP1 leader; Data, Tools and Outreach
Phone: +46-761602331, Email: cjarnmark (at) gmail.com

Rainer Froese, INCOFISH Project coordinator
Phone: +49 431 600 4579 Email: rfroese (at)  ifm-geomar.de

On the first millisecond of 1 January 2008, Hawai’ian ichthyologist and informatics scientist Richard Pyle has organised a landmark event in biodiversity informatics.

The event includes both the launch of ZooBank with the first formal registration of zoological names , and the publication online of descriptions of a number of new species of fish that are also included in other biodiversity informatics initiatives, not least FishBase.

Chromis abyssus, one of the new species described by Pyle et al.
Photo copyright 2007, Richard L. Pyle and Brian D. Greene

The new species are published in the New Zealand-based journal Zootaxa, with the following reference and ZooBank LSID:

Pyle, R.L., J.L. Earle & B.D. Greene. 2008. Five new species of the damselfish genus Chromis (Perciformes: Labroidei: Pomacentridae) from deep coral reefs in the tropical western Pacific. Zootaxa 1671: 3-31. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:68376390-7809-46FF-9EC4-1371B4AAD0FF

They are five new deepwater species of the pomacentrid fish genus Chromis, and consequently entered in FishBase. Besides morphological descriptions, short mitochondrial sequences, so called barcodes were established and deposited with the Barcode of Life Data System. Specimens were deposited in museum registered with the Biodiversity Collections Index. The species themselves are the first to be registered in Zoobank, with the following global unique identifiers (LSIDs) and links (FB) to FishBase:

Chromis abyssus (FB),urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8BDC0735-FEA4-4298-83FA-D04F67C3FBEC
Chromis brevirostris (FB),urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:2BD7CAEF-F09B-4647-B92F-62CBBC0E565C
Chromis circumaurea (FB),urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8ADC4817-8F1C-4C88-8B8A-5372A84CAEC9
Chromis degruyi (FB),urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1859B68B-340C-44F9-BEAB-D75BAED300F2
Chromis earina (FB),urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:269D61C2-50B3-4A8C-BEFB-D9CFBCF91BA4

A short guide to major facilities concerned in this publication:

ZooBank is the World Register of Animal Names, maintained by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. It is anticipated that future Codes of Zoological Nomenclature will include mandatory registration of new names. ZooBank will be the registry site. ZooBank also appoints global unique identifiers (GUIDs) to names. GUIDs are short codes intended to be read by computers and which provide a unique identifier to each name. The GUID standard adopted by ZooBank is called Life Sciences Identifier (LSID) and has been worked out by an organisation called Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), and adopted by GBIF

Biodiversity Information Standards was known as the Taxonomic Database Working Group (TDWG). It is a not for profit scientific and educational association that is affiliated with the International Union of Biological Sciences. Its missions are to develop, adopt and promote standards and guidelines for the recording and exchange of data about organisms, promote the use of standards through the most appropriate and effective means, and act as a forum for discussion through holding meetings and through publications. TDWG standards underlie the work of GBIF and all other biodiversity informatics projects in the world.

Life Science Identifiers (LSID) are persistent, location-independent, resource identifiers for uniquely naming biologically significant resources including species names, concepts, occurrences, genes or proteins, or data objects that encode information about them.

Biodiversity Collections Index is a collaboration involving TDWG, GBIF, The Natural History Museum (London), Royal Botanical Garden Edinburg, and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute. It aims to facilitate the understanding, conservation and utilisation of global biodiversity by creating a single annotated index of all collections of biodiversity materials used in research.

Zootaxa is an online journal for publishing primarily animal systematics, with focus on species descriptions. In addition to a small print copy, articles are published online, and are available through Open Access if the author has paid for release of the article. Starting in December 2001, Zootaxa has quickly become one of the major publishers of animal taxonomy papers.

Open Access is free online access to scientific material in digital format, primarily research publications. There are different levels of open access, but in principle it means that either the publisher, the author, or other copyright owners make available research articles for free on a web site. The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities may be consulted for details.

The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is an international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as a global standard for the identification of biological species. DNA barcoding uses a short DNA sequence as a molecular diagnostic for species-level identification. DNA barcode sequences are very short relative to the entire genome and they can be obtained reasonably quickly and cheaply. DNA Barcodes are stored in the BOLD (Barcode of Life Data System) database.

FishBase is the world’s most complete encyclopedia on fishes, free on the Internet. FishBase provides information and tools for ichthyologists, and others in any way concerned about fish. FishBase is maintained by a consortium of nine institutions, including FAO, WorldFish Center, Aristoteles University, Afrika-Museum, Swedish Museum of Natural History, National Museum of Natural History in Paris, University of British Columbia, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Fisheries.

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a major international project to assemble all the world’s biodiversity information in a common search portal. This work started in 2001, and GBIF now serves over 140 million specimen observations and museum objects. In connection with this work, GBIF takes a prominent role in developing the standards and technology for biodiversity informatics.

Read more about biodiversity informatics integration and the many technical aspects of this feast on the first species to be described in 2008 in the original publication by Pyle et al.

How much fish have we got? Shifting Baselines in fisheries management hinder a clear scientific view of the resource.

What were fish stocks distributions like when they were once pristine? To find out scientists need to turn back time or look into the past. To be able to judge the resilience of current fish stocks there is a need to be familiar with the history of the resource. One problem of fisheries management is the lack of historical monitoring of stocks distributions. Where can such data be found? A new toolset is released online at www.incofish.org

The Shifting Baselines Toolset is presented to the public and press on Wednesday 14 to Friday16 this November 2007.
When: Public symposium 1pm to 5:15pm, Wednesday 14th November
Where: Owen Glenn Building, Wynyard Street, University of Auckland city campus.
The meeting will be launched with a public symposium on Wednesday 14 November. Scientists will be available for interviews on the 14th and on other days by arrangement.
For more information and images, see:
Presentation website

With evidence in hand we can see that a multiple of human impact factors interfere with fish stocks distribution patterns. The vivid case study examples from a research group called Shifting Baselines form a package or a toolset that illustrate the problems. With flash animations for a good comprehension of each problem their “Back flash files” are made available online:
Baselines Toolset

Examples of their research highlights are listed below:
eru: Spatial Distribution: Peruvian Hake since 1970 (IMARPE)

• Colombia: Abundance: “Then and Now”: decline in demersal fish biomass in the Colombian Caribbean Sea (UNAL)
• UK: Size of Individuals: Size Matters! The rapid decline of whiting in the North Sea, (UNIABDN)
• Denmark: Species Diversity: Highlighting 400 years of shifting species distribution, (RUC)

Data collected by the Shifting Baselines group has highlighted temporal change in the spatial distribution, abundance, diversity and individual size of selected species in particular ecosystems.

For a deeper look into the background data or further exploration, the datasets behind the case studies are made available to the public online:
Baselines dataset

The “Shifting Baselines” workpackage addresses the ’shifting baseline syndrome’. In essence, this problem has emerged as each generation of fisheries and environmental scientists has accepted existing stock size and species composition as the baseline against which temporal changes are measured.
However, if stocks are progressively depleted, a shift in the baseline occurs over time.
This results in an accommodation of the creeping disappearance of resource species, and the application of inappropriate reference points for the evaluation of economic losses due to over fishing, and the identification of targets for rehabilitation policies.
To resolve this problem, criteria for selecting key aquatic resources (stocks) within particular large marine ecosystems have been developed:

• Examine the patterns of long term change in selected coastal ecosystems and thereby establish targets for the restoration and sustainable use of living marine resources.
• Identification, validation and assembly of historical data (e.g. biomass, mean size, maturity, fecundity) relating to key aquatic resources in selected large marine ecosystems (LMEs).
• Collation, analysis and dissemination of the historical data collected and processed.
• Establish baselines against which the current status of aquatic resources and LMEs can be evaluated and restoration goals can be set.

Historical data on catch and effort, biomasses, length-frequencies, maximum sizes, size and age at maturity, growth rates, natural mortality, etc. are assessed, collated and analyzed to establish baselines against which the current status and restoration goals of key aquatic resources are assessed.

Likewise, historical data on catch and effort, production, biomasses, predator-prey interactions, flows, and habitat change are mined, assessed, collated and analyzed to establish baselines against which the current status and restoration goals of selected marine ecosystems can be assessed.

The development of this work has now come to its peak by developing the searchable datasets online and the Back flash files that explains and verifies that shifts in baselines have taken place and the causes behind them.

Shifting Baselines research group is the Workpackage 2 of the large scale research project INCOFISH. It is an EU funded project with scientific participants from 35 institutions and private enterprises from 22 nations worldwide.

The objectives of INCOFISH are to conduct specifically targeted strategic research suitable to contribute to the goals set by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, such as restoring healthy fish stocks and ecosystems by 2015. The portal to information from INCOFISH is found at www.incofish.org.

Web portal:
www.incofish.org

Contacts:
Dr David J Starkey
Director MHSC
D.J.Starkey (at) hull.ac.uk
Maritime Historical Studies Center, MHSC
University of Hull, UK
+44 7932 782135

Charlotta Jarnmark
INCOFISH Workpackage 1 Leader, Data, Tools and Outreach
cjarnmark (at) gmail.com
+46-8-6458483 (home)
+46-737857424 (CP Sweden)
Skypename:ljarnmark
www.incofish.org

Gland, Switzerland, 1 November, 2007 (IUCN) - The diversity of life in European freshwater ecosystems is rapidly declining, according to a new scientific study.

The research is published in the new book Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes, in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN). It shows that 200 of the 522 (38%) European freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction and 12 are already extinct, using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Speciesâ„¢ categories and criteria. This is a much higher level of threat than is facing either Europe’s birds or mammals.

William Darwall, Senior Programme Officer, IUCN Species Programme, said: “With 200 fish species in Europe facing a high risk of going extinct we must act now to avoid a tragedy. Many of these species, not considered as “charismatic” or with any apparent “value” to people, rarely attract the funds needed for their conservation - they risk disappearing with only a dedicated few noticing the loss. These species are an important part of our heritage and are critical to the freshwater ecosystems upon which we do depend, such as for water purification and flood control. Many of these species can be saved through relatively simple measures. All we need is the public and political will to make it happen.”

The main threats behind the high level of extinction risk stem from the development and population growth in Europe over the past 100 years. The most serious single threat is water abstraction, particularly in the dry Mediterranean areas, which has led to some rivers drying up in the summer months which is becoming more acute with the impacts of climatic changes. Large dams built for irrigation, flood control and power generation have had major impacts upon species in large rivers, and have led to local extinction of numerous migratory species. Inappropriate fisheries management has led to overfishing and the introduction of alien species (and their diseases). Areas subject to the highest levels of threat include the lower reaches of the rivers Danube, Dniestr, Dniepr, Volga and Ural, the Balkan Peninsula, and southwestern Spain.

The Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes was written by Maurice Kottelat (Cornol) and Jörg Freyhof (IGB, Berlin). The threat assessment was conducted in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Species Programme and Species Survival Commission Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, with financial support from the North of England Zoological Society (Chester Zoo). During the seven years of research for the preparation of the book, 47 new fish species were discovered. Some of the assessments are provisional and are to be reviewed before they are included in the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Gordon Reid, Director General of the North of England Zoological Society and Chair of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group, said: “This comprehensive work allows us to see for the first time the true diversity of Europe’s freshwater fishes. At 546 species (including 522 freshwater and 24 marine species that are found in freshwater), the diversity is about twice the number that is often recognised by popular and scientific literature, this has led to many rare and threatened species being ignored.”

Maurice Kottelat, former president of the European Ichthyological Society and Jörg Freyhof, scientist from Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology said: “It is not too late and saving all species is still possible if Europe’s governments and EU would start to act now. Lack of concern is the greatest threat to our European fish fauna. Fish conservation should be managed in the same way as conservation of birds and mammals, by agencies in charge of conservation, and not as a crop by agencies in charge of agriculture. All species are part of the human heritage, just as, for example, Acropolis; the difference is that if Acropolis were destroyed one could still re-build a duplicate, but an extinct species cannot be duplicated. “

The Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes has information on the habitat, biology and ecology, distribution, methods of identification and conservation status of all 546 European native species (including 522 freshwater and 24 marine species that are found in freshwater) and 33 introduced freshwater fish species. It also contains a key to genera and species, colour photographs of nearly every species and an assessment of their conservation status and distribution.

Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Head of IUCN’s Species Programme, said: “This new study shows that we are far from achieving European governments’ targets to halt biodiversity loss by 2010. The status of fish populations reflects the condition of European lakes and rivers. This handbook highlights that freshwater ecosystems are probably the most threatened. This is worrying as water increasingly becomes a scarce resource around the world. Protecting and conserving biodiversity is vital, as people’s health and livelihoods rely on these systems for basic necessities such as food and clean water.”

Human population in Europe has almost doubled since 1900, and agriculture and industry have developed massively. According to the UN Environment Programme this has led to the destruction of nearly 60% of Europe’s wetlands, leaving freshwater species declining at a great rate. Freshwater ecosystems are incredibly valuable and provide Europe with many essential products and services including fish for food, clean water, flood control, tourism and leisure activities. Their sustainable management and the conservation of freshwater species depend upon accessible, reliable and comprehensive information. Even smaller scale conservation activities at a local level can make a significant impact on species, helping to tackle the serious issue of biodiversity loss in Europe’s freshwater fish.

Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes:

Maurice Kottelat & Jörg Freyhof. 2007. Published by the authors. ISBN 978-2-8399-0298-4, 2007, xiv+646 pp., 17.5 x 26 cm 87.00 Euro. Available from publications_kottelat@bluewin.ch

About The World Conservation (IUCN)

Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 84 States, 108 government agencies, 800 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 147 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

The Union is the world’s largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1,000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.

http://www.iucn.org

About the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Species Programme

The Species Survival Commission (SSC) is the largest of IUCN’s six volunteer commissions with a global membership of 7,000 experts. SSC advises IUCN and its members on the wide range of technical and scientific aspects of species conservation and is dedicated to securing a future for biodiversity. SSC has significant input into the international agreements dealing with biodiversity conservation. Web: www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/

FishBase has a list of species for which images are missing: Missing photos

Many FishBase users want to contribute their own images. With these contributions we can certaintly come loser to a FishBase with images of all fish species.

As many have noticed, up to now it has not always been straightforward to add images to FishBase. It often takes a while before they are displayed. From now on, all and everyone can easily upload their images.

The service is so far available only on the US and Taiwanese servers, but expected to run on all servers during October, at the latest November.

Here is how to:

Alternative 1:

1. Find the list of missing images (Missing photos)
2. Click a name, e.g., Ammocryptocharax lateralis.
3. The summary page displays. At the top there is a link “NEW! Upload your photos for this fish”. Click on it.
4. A new page is shown with a form. Follow the instructions to find the image of Ammocryptocharax lateralis (or whichever species the summary page shows) on your harddrive, and complete the form with requested information. Click Submit, and you are done!

Alternative 2:

1. Search for the species you are interested in from the FishBase search page (FishBase)
2. Proceed with 3-4 above

Alternative 3:

1. Search for the species you are interested in from the FishBase search page (FishBase)
2. If the Summary page contains an image (top right), click on it, to take you to the thumbnail page
3. On the thumbnail page there is a link “NEW! Upload your photos for this fish”. Click on it if you have photos of your own to contribute.
4. Proceed with 4 above.

Within at the most a few days your image will show on the thumbnail page or the summary page.