Information about animals and plants (distribution, ecology, biology) is organized around species (kinds) in a classification. In fishes there are about 25,000 different species (but with 55,000 names). There is no effective summary about our accumulated knowledge of fishes, although yearly summaries of the increase in knowledge are available. But classifications are always changing, as when scientific species names are changed or species are moved to new genera or new species are found, thus complicating the task or keeping track of information. The information on scientific names and classifications is mostly published in scattered small scientific papers, and follows certain (nomenclatural) rules on a World basis. Computers allow the building of databases to manage both the problems of names (taxonomy) and the accumulation of prior knowledge. This project builds on a previous grant that allowed the successful preparation of a database for the 13,500 genera of fishes and about 6,500 literature citations having to do with the description or status of these genera. Preparing the "genera of fishes" for publication is one of the goals of the present project. The project also allows expansion to cover families, species (will be started but not completed), and more literature, and allows for an examination of new software and other techniques (including data standards) to better meet the objectives. The project will focus on designing a system that meets the needs of the scientific community but also can provide on-line access to the many users in need of current biological information. This project can serve as a model for other biological disciplines, and it should have significant value in the future, such that it will allow better availability of information, including better summaries of the World's faunal diversity.
