A trawling collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central western Taiwanese coastal waters

Norhafiz Hanafi1, Chien-Cheng Lai1, Ming-Che Yang2, Chih-Wei Chang3, Meng-Hsien Chen2, Ming-Che Yang1, Meng-Hsien Chen1, Chih-Wei Chang4, Norhafiz Hanafi Ahmad Shah1

1 Department Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), 70 Lienhai Road, 80424, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 2 Department Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), 70 Lienhai Road, 80420, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 3 National Academy of Marine Research Marine Ecology and Conservation Research Center, National Academy of Marine Research, Kaohsiung 80661, Taiwan., 70 Lienhai Road, 80661, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 4 National Academy of Marine Research, Marine Ecology and Conservation Research Center, National Academy of Marine Research, Kaohsiung 80661, Taiwan., 80661, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Corresponding author(s): Norhafiz Hanafi (visxit00@gmail.com)Chien-Cheng Lai (visxit00@gmail.com)Ming-Che Yang (jaymcyang@gmail.com)Chih-Wei Chang (changcw1831@gmail.com)Meng-Hsien Chen (mhchenvic@gmail.com), Norhafiz Hanafi (hafizhanafi90@gmail.com)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Hanafi N, Lai C, Yang M, Chang C, Chen M (2023): A trawling collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central western Taiwanese coastal waters. v1.19. Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF). Dataset/Samplingevent. https://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=hafizhanafi&v=1.19

Abstract

Background: Sciaenidae is one of the most important coastal fisheries in Taiwan, both in production and economic value. It is also significant as the main targeted diet of Chinese white dolphins, especially genus Johnius, which is primarily found in central-western Taiwan coastal waters. Even though an abundance of Johnius occurrence has been reported (Mozambique, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Pakistan, Vietnam, and China) in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF), there are no specific datasets which properly document the regional distribution of this genus, especially in Taiwanese waters. Thus, this paper describes a dataset of the genus Johnius occurrences in waters on the central-western coast of Taiwan. The data collection for the present study was conducted from 2009 until 2020 and comprised 62 sampling events and 133 occurrence records. All fish specimens were collected by trawling at Miaoli, Changhwa, and Yunlin counties, Taiwan, and were brought back to the lab for identification, individual number count, and body weight measurement. These raw data have been integrated and established in the Taiwan Fish Database (http://fishdb.sinica.edu.tw) and published in GBIF (https://www.gbif.org). This dataset contains six Johnius species and 2,566 individuals, making it comprehensive Johnius fish fauna and spatial distributional data on the coastal habitat in central western Taiwanese waters.
New information: This dataset contains 133 occurrence records of Johnius species (Sciaenidae) with 2,566 specimens, making it the most extensive public dataset of Johnius distribution records in Taiwan. Publication of this dataset to the TaiBIF and GBIF dataset platform demonstrated that the number of Johnius spatial and temporal records in Taiwan waters is influenced by the topographical structure of the Changyun Rise (CYR) in combination with the cold current of the China Coastal water and the warm currents of the Kuroshio and the South China Sea on the central western coast of Taiwan. The data serve as the foundation for understanding the biogeography and Johnius species ecology in Taiwan's coastal waters which present a 2oC water temperature difference split at the CYR.

Keywords: Samplingevent; croacker; abundance; Chang-yun Rise; spatial distribution; 2 C water temperature

Project details

Project title: A trawling collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central western Taiwanese coastal waters
Personnel: Norhafiz Hanafi Ahmad Shah
Funding: National Science and Technology Council
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Recognizing the gap, this study initiative and extensive to collect the croaker specimens focusing on the occurrences of Johnius species in order to understand their distribution and abundance in western coastal Taiwan. This project ran from 2009 until 2020 and collected an abundance of samples at several sites (Miaoli, Changhwa, and Yunlin) along the coastline of western Taiwan. In addition to the occurrence reports, this study aimed to develop a dataset of Johnius profiles in central western Taiwan by identifying each individual fish using the morphological method to determine the distribution pattern in the Taiwan region. Thus, to encourage continuous reports of the occurrence pattern, we built up the distributional pattern in our database.
Design description: The purpose of preparing the current dataset was to publicly open the data for advancement, especially in the scientific and conservation communities. The data of genus Johnius Taiwan have allowed a basic understanding of the biogeography of the distribution pattern of the Johnius species in Taiwan and some ecological factors that influence their distribution and migratory patterns in the waters surrounding Taiwan.

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.taibif.tw/resource?r=hafizhanafi

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Six species of Johnius were recorded in the dataset based on site collection and Johnius species composition, namely Bearded croaker, Johnius amblycephalus (Bleeker, 1855) - Bearded croaker, Belanger's croaker, J. belangerii (Cuvier, 1830) Belanger's croaker, Sharpnose hammer croaker, J. borneensis (Bleeker, 1850), Sharpnose hammer croaker,  croaker, J. distinctus (Tanaka, 1916), Distinct's croaker, Taiwan's croaker, J. taiwanensis Chao et al., 2019, Taiwan's croaker, and Trewavas croaker, J. trewavasae Sasaki, 1992, Trewavas croaker. Only one sole Johnius species, J. grypotus Sasaki, 1990, described by Yu and Shen (1987) occurrences in Keelung, northern Taiwan, and resurrected by Sasaki (1990), was not found in this study. The most abundant species in the dataset were J. belangerii, J. distinctus, and J. taiwanensis (23.2%, 29.7%, and 30.4%). A photograph of sample material of Johnius species was cited by Hanafi et al. (2023b). Comparison data with Shao et al. (2012) collection sample are also provided, as comprehensive information on Johnius spatial distribution stretching from northern to southern western Taiwanese coastal waters was integrated into the present study. A finding of the present study was the occurrence of J. trewavasae in Miaoli and Changhwa, which Shao et al. (2012) did not collect in their sampling survey. In addition, the collection data did not acquire any J. grypotus samples occurrences in Taiwanese coastal waters during the sampling survey series.
Taxonomic ranks
Species: Johnius amblycephalus, Johnius belangerii, Johnius borneensis, Johnius distinctus, Johnius taiwanensis, Johnius trewavasae
Common names: 鈍頭叫姑魚, 皮氏叫姑魚, 婆羅洲叫姑魚, 鱗鰭叫姑魚, 臺灣叫姑魚, 屈氏叫姑魚

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Description: We downloaded the Landsat8 satellite image on 18 September 2022 and drew the investigation scope by using the ArcGIS 10.7 software. Our survey covered central western areas of Taiwan Island, such as inshore and offshore coastal waters.
Coordinates samplings site: Changhwa: 24.1579N, 120.3837E; Miaoli: 24.6179E, 120.6221E; and Yunlin: 23.7029N; 120.1022E.
Coordinates: 22°47'45.6''N and 25°20'38.4''N Latitude; 119°49'1.2''E and 121°14'42''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: June 10, 2009 - March 14, 2020

Methods

Method step description: 
- . 	Data collection. The integration of Johnius distributional data started in 2009 to 2010 in Changhwa county, while data from 2012 to 2016 were acquired from the master’s dissertation of Liou (2016). Data from both were collected seasonally by trawling method. Meanwhile, from March 2019 to March 2020, the samples collected in Miaoli were collected monthly by either trawling in the coastal waters of Taiwan or from fish markets. A total of 2,566 Johnius samples were used to investigate their spatial distribution in Taiwanese waters. After the sample collections had been sorted, all the specimens were identified to the species level (Chao et al. 2019, Hanafi et al. 2023), and their length (in mm) and weight  (in g) were measured.
- . 	Open data preparation: We converted the occurrence data into Darwin Core Archive standard in Google Sheets, an online spreadsheet tool, using the Darwin Core Archive Assistant Add-on (Salim and Saraiva 2020). The data were then made available on the IPT TaiBIF and GBIF for the public to access.
Study extent description: All of the Johnius samples included in the dataset were obtained and derived by trawling on the central western coast of Taiwan.
Sampling description: The sampling design for collecting bottom trawl harvest from coastal waters around central western Taiwan is shown. The abbreviations of locality names of the sampling sites are outlined below. Several series of extensive monthly samples collected from Miaoli, Changhwa, and Yunlin were analyzed starting in 2009, followed by the Yunlin collection from 2012-2016, and Miaoli fish landing ports in north-western Taiwan waters between March 2019 and March 2020. The fresh fish samples were used as identification species by morphological characters with specimen vouchers.
Quality control description: All the scientific names of fish samples were validated by the updated fish checklist in the Taiwan Fish Database before being added to the database. Afterwards, the data were validated again by matching them against FishBase, Catalog of Fishes, and California Academy of Sciences, as well as referring to Chao et al. (2019) and Hanafi et al. (2023) for further verification. The latitude and longitude of trawling routes were plotted on Google Maps, and outliers were shown in occurrences datasets in GBIF.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive A trawling collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central western Taiwanese coastal waters
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.taibif.tw/archive.do?r=hafizhanafi
Publication date of data: 2023-12-25
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-02-08
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
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Johnius belangerii (Cuvier, 1830) in GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-02-08.
Johnius borneensis (Bleeker, 1851) in GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-02-08.
Johnius distinctus (Tanaka, 1916) in GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-02-08.
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