Eschmeyer: Catalog of species of fish

[Tom Moritz]

A preliminary version of "A CATALOG OF THE SPECIES OF FISHES" by William N.
Eschmeyer, Carl J. Ferraris, Jr., Mysi Dang Hoang, and Douglas J. Long was
placed on the California Academy of Sciences WWW site this week
(http://www.calacademy.org/).

This is a file created from a database containing about 53,500 described
species and subspecies of fishes.  Approximately 4000 of the names
included are not available for use because of technical reasons.  About
25,000 species are thought to be valid ones, and about 25,000 are
synonyms.  About 200-300 new species are still being described each year.
Presented is the alphabetical part of the catalog, i.e., taxa arranged
alphabetically.

The other two parts are the species arranged in a classification and the
references (neither of which is included here).  It is anticipated that a
printed version, accompanied by a CD-ROM, will be available in about 6
months.  This will consist of (a) the second edition of the "Genera of
Recent Fishes" consisting of parts A and B of the original edition in 1990
[see earlier version on same WWW site; out of print], (b) the Catalog of
the Species of Fishes in two parts (alphabetically arranged and in a
classification), (c) the bibliography of about 15,000 references, (d) an
Interpretation of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature --
expanding on that found in the "Genera", and (e) Opinions by the ICZN
(Appendix B) of the "Genera".

This is the first treatment of all fishes since the early 1800s.  Nearly
all original descriptions have been located and proofed by one or more of us.
Many names not in current use have been found.  Many mistakes in current
literature are noted.  We have also tried to determine the location of type
specimens, entering information from available type catalogs, and the first
author made visits to most major museums.  An introduction and acknowledgments
will appear with the publication; many ichthyologists and collection managers
have assisted in one way or another.

During the next six months we will be finding missing references, changing
the classification, standardizing museum acronyms, removing date conflicts,
and especially adding status references from recent literature, and correcting
mistakes.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation (grants BSR
8416085, 8801702 and 9108603) to the California Academy of Sciences.