Occurrence

A Dataset of Deep-Sea Fishes Surveyed by Research Vessels in the Waters around Taiwan

Latest version published by Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF) on 16 July 2020 Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF)
Publication date:
16 July 2020
License:
CC-BY-NC 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 3,653 records in English (172 KB) - Update frequency: unknown
Metadata as an EML file download in English (16 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (14 KB)

Description

The study of deep-sea fish fauna is hampered by a lack of data due to the difficulty and high cost incurred in its surveys and collections. Taiwan is situated along the edge of the Eurasia plate, at the junction of three Large Marine Ecosystems or Ecoregions of the East China Sea, South China Sea and the Philippines. As nearly two-thirds of its surrounding marine ecosystems are deep-sea environments, Taiwan is expected to hold a rich diversity of deep-sea fish. However, in the past, no research vessels were employed to collect fish data on site. Only specimens, caught by bottom trawl fishing in the waters hundreds of meters deep and missing precise locality information, were collected from Dasi and Donggang fishing harbors. Began in 2001, with the support of National Science Council, research vessels were made available to take on the task of systematically collecting deep-sea fish specimens and occurrence records in the waters surrounding Taiwan. By the end of 2006, a total of 3,653 specimens, belonging to 26 orders, 88 families, 198 genera and 366 species, were collected in addition to data such as sampling site geographical coordinates and water depth, and fish body length and weight. The information, all accessible from the “Database of Taiwan’s Deep-Sea Fauna and Its Distribution (http://deepsea.biodiv.tw/)” as part of the “Fish Database of Taiwan,” can benefit the study of temporal and spatial changes in distribution and abundance of fish fauna in the context of global deep-sea biodiversity.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 3,653 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
3653
MeasurementOrFacts 
21918

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 8c7571ee-8515-4b68-afc0-6f20da6a8a68.  Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility.

Keywords

Deep-Sea Fish Fauna; Otter Trawl; Beam Trawl; IKMT; Catalog of Life; Barcode of Life; Encyclopedia of Life

Contacts

Kwang-Tsao Shao
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
Research Fellow
Biodiversity Research Center Academia Sinica, Taiwan
No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang, Taipei, TAIWAN, R.O.C.
115 Taipei
Taiwan
TW
886-2-27887330 ext 200
Hsin-Ming Yeh
  • Content Provider
Research Fellow
Coastal and Offshore Resources Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, COA
Coastal and Offshore Resources Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, COA, No.6, Yugang N. 3rd Rd., Qianzhen Dist., 806, Kaohsiung City, TAIWAN
80672 Kaohsiung
Taiwan
TW
Jack Lin
  • Metadata Provider
Software Engineer
Biodiversity Research Center Academia Sinica, Taiwan
No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang, Taipei, TAIWAN, R.O.C.
115 Taipei
Taiwan
TW
886-2-27899579

Geographic Coverage

Seas around Taiwan.

Bounding Coordinates South West [20.648, 117.295], North East [25.384, 123.012]

Taxonomic Coverage

The coverage of this dataset includes Class Actinopterygii (3,496/3,653), Class Chondrichthyes (156/3,653) and Class Myxini (1/3,653). The top 10 orders are Gadiformes, Myctophiformes, Anguilliformes, Stomiiformes, Ophidiiformes, Pleuronectiformes, Argentiniformes, Perciformes, Beryciformes and Squaliformes. The top 10 families are Macrouridae, Myctophidae, Ophidiidae, Sternoptychidae, Cynoglossidae, Synaphobranchidae, Muraenesocidae, Gonostomatidae, Alepocephalidae and Neoscopelidae.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Actinopterygii, Chondrichthyes, Myxini
Order Albuliformes, Anguilliformes, Argentiniformes, Aulopiformes, Beryciformes, Carcharhiniformes, Chimaeriformes, Gadiformes, Gasterosteiformes, Gonorhynchiformes, Lamniformes, Lophiiformes, Myctophiformes, Myliobatiformes, Myxiniformes, Ophidiiformes, Perciformes, Pleuronectiformes, Rajiformes, Saccopharyngiformes, Scorpaeniformes, Squaliformes, Stephanoberyciformes, Stomiiformes, Tetraodontiformes, Torpediniformes
Family Acropomatidae, Alepocephalidae, Aphyonidae, Aploactinidae, Bathyclupeidae, Bathylaconidae, Bothidae, Bramidae, Bregmacerotidae, Bythitidae, Callionymidae, Caristiidae, Centrophoridae, Cepolidae, Ceratiidae, Champsodontidae, Chaunacidae, Chiasmodontidae, Chimaeridae, Chlorophthalmidae, Colocongridae, Congridae, Cottidae, Cynoglossidae, Dalatiidae, Diretmidae, Ereuniidae, Etmopteridae, Eurypharyngidae, Gempylidae, Gonorynchidae, Gonostomatidae, Halosauridae, Himantolophidae, Hoplichthyidae, Ipnopidae, Linophrynidae, Lophiidae, Macrouridae, Melamphaidae, Melanocetidae, Melanonidae, Microstomatidae, Moridae, Muraenesocidae, Muraenidae, Myctophidae, Myxinidae, Nemichthyidae, Neoscopelidae, Nettastomatidae, Nomeidae, Notacanthidae, Ogcocephalidae, Oneirodidae, Ophichthidae, Ophidiidae, Ostracoberycidae, Paralepididae, Paralichthyidae, Percichthyidae, Percophidae, Peristediidae, Phosichthyidae, Poecilopsettidae, Priacanthidae, Pseudocarchariidae, Rajidae, Rondeletiidae, Scopelarchidae, Scorpaenidae, Scyliorhinidae, Serrivomeridae, Sparidae, Squalidae, Sternoptychidae, Stomiidae, Synaphobranchidae, Syngnathidae, Synodontidae, Tetraodontidae, Torpedinidae, Trachichthyidae, Triacanthodidae, Trichiuridae, Triglidae, Urolophidae, Zoarcidae

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 2001-05-20 / 2006-08-27

Project Data

No Description available

Title Survey of Deep-Sea Fish Diversity by Research Vessels in Taiwan Waters
Funding Ministry of Science and Technology, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. (Taiwan)
Study Area Description Taiwan is located on the eastern edge of Asian continental shelf. To the west of Taiwan is the shallow Taiwan Strait, to the northeast is the Okinawa Trough (maximum depth 2,716 m), to the east the complex and diverse Philippine Sea (with deep oceanic trenches), and to the south the South China Sea (maximum depth 5,016 m). These deep-water environments were where the surveys were carried out.
Design Description This study focused on Taiwan’s deep-sea fish fauna which so far hasn’t been investigated much, and hoped to learn if the fauna varies depending on sea area, current and water depth. The specimens caught all went through taxonomic identification and had their collection time, water depth and coordinates recorded. A geographic information system (GIS) on their distributions was established in order to provide references for future academic researches as well as for resource development, management and assessment. One or several specimens per fish species were selected to have their photos taken in color. Keeping to the Barcode of Life tissue preservation techniques, a small piece of tissue was then excised, preserved in 90-95% alcohol and stored at BRCAS in liquid nitrogen canisters. Backup tissue samples were also stored at Livestock Research Institute, COA so that in the future they can be used in the study of molecular biology and genetics. The voucher specimens and whole fish specimens were stored at BRCAS too. All the specimen information was entered into Taiwan Fish Database and is freely accessible to all.

The personnel involved in the project:

Kwang-Tsao Shao
  • Author

Sampling Methods

The research vessels used were “R/V Fishery Researcher I,” “R/V Ocean Researcher I” and “R/V Ocean researcher III.” Constrained by limited cable length, the maximum depth sampled was 4,460 meters. Major equipment used were otter trawl, French type beam trawl of 4 m span, ORE type beam trawl of 3 m span and Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl (IKMT). Once the nets reached the sea bottom, they were towed for one hour at a ground speed of 1.5-2.5 knot for otter trawls and 1.0-1.5 knot for others.

Study Extent The surveys were carried out from 2001 to 2006 in waters off northeastern Taiwan (Okinawa Trough), eastern Taiwan, southeastern Taiwan (Western Pacific) and southwestern Taiwan (South China Sea).
Quality Control All the scientific names of fish samples were validated by the updated fish checklist in the “Fish Database of Taiwan” or TaiCOL (http://col.taibif.tw; formerly TaiBNET, http://taibnet.sinica.edu.tw) before they were entered into database. Afterward, they were validated again by matching against FishBase and Catalog of Fishes, California Academy of Sciences for further correction. If a specimen was rare or it might belong to an undescribed or new species, it was photographed in fresh and then both the specimen and its tissue sample were catalogued and deposited at the Biodiversity Research Museum of Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica (ASIZP of BRCAS). The latitude and longitude of trawling routes were plotted on Google Maps and outlier detection was conducted.

Method step description:

  1. Step1: Sampling locality and water depth were recorded. Step2: Specimens were roughly classified and counted either right on board or when they reached the shore. Step3: Specimens were shipped back to the lab for species identification, body length and weight measurement, and picture taking. Step4: Specimens were fixed in 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin for one month. Next, they were cleaned with water and preserved in 70% alcohol.

Additional Metadata

Alternative Identifiers 8c7571ee-8515-4b68-afc0-6f20da6a8a68
http://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=deep-sea-fishes