A grant has been awarded to Dr. Larry Page, Florida Museum of Natural History, Drs. John Lundberg and Mark Sabaj, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Dr. Carl Ferraris, California Academy of Sciences, Dr. Jon Armbruster, Auburn University, and Dr. John Friel, Cornell University, to inventory and describe the global diversity of catfishes. Catfishes are an extremely diverse, ecologically significant, and commercially important group of fishes. The group presently contains 2,734 recognized species, or one of every four species of freshwater fish. However, catfishes are most diverse in the least-explored parts of the world, and the actual number of catfish species is probably between 3,600 and 4,500. A team of 201 participants from 31 countries, including 57 students, has been assembled to discover and describe all undescribed species of catfishes within a five-year period. Products of the ALL CATFISH SPECIES INVENTORY will include a completed taxonomy with identification guides and regional checklists of species, studies of higher-level relationships and an improved predictive classification, large samples of fishes from poorly collected regions added to institutional collections, and a website (http://clade.acnatsci.org/allcatfish) for the dissemination of information to scientists, educators, policy makers, and the general public. The project also will result in the education and professional training of many of the next generation of fish systematists. Degradation of freshwater ecosystems is severe in many parts of the world, and aquatic species are among the most endangered. At the same time, catfishes have huge economic value and are fished around the world for human consumption, recreation, and the pet trade. Worldwide capture of freshwater and marine catfishes in 2000 exceeded 500,000 metric tons. Conservation biologists and fisheries managers depend on accurate identifications and distributional information for prioritizing areas for protection and for making informed management policies. Knowing all species and higher-level relationships in a group as diverse and widespread as catfishes will offer unprecedented opportunities for aquatic ecosystem management and protection, and research in evolution, ecology and conservation biology.
