Keeping track of fish you've seen.

[Arbu]

So birdwatchers are very keen listers and there are packages for keeping those lists, particularly https://ebird.org/home

Do you keep a list of fish you've seen, and if so, in what format? I don't think there's an equivalent to ebird so I just have an excel spreadsheet. I have records of about 500 species around the world, nearly all tropical fish. It would be good to have a list of all fish species to base this off. There are about 23000 species of fish in the world so that might be a bit cumbersome, and I don't know if it can be downloaded anywhere. But I have the Collins Pocket Guide of Coral Reef Fishes which lists about 2000 species. Has anyone come across a download of all fish described in that?

Thanks

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I try to photograph and catalogue most of the species I see. I have millions more to go.
Southern California Marine Life’s albums | Flickr

 

[Esprise Me]

I keep a detailed paper logbook of my dives, and try to include notes about the critters I see. I also post my best pics on Facebook and try to ID what I can, and invite others to help with the ones I don't know.

 

[David Novo]

I register them on my logbook and have a google sheet just for this.

I also submit surveys to REEF, so I have a list of my sightings there too.

REEF has a lot of species in their database. If there is one missing that you have seen, you can just ask them to add.

 

[agilis]

I've been keeping a written record for several decades of tropical fishes I've seen and sometimes collected here in NJ. These summer Gulf Stream strays are almost all juveniles, some barely post-larval, and are surprisingly numerous and varied, though some I've seen only once or twice. I remember, for instance, a Blue Tang that was living in a rock jetty in Manasquan. It was part way through its change from yellow to blue, and it's the only one I've seen north of the Carolinas. Oceanic Tangs are fairly common, and three species of tiny Trunkfish are all over the place in August and September.

I've seen many Blue Angelfish, a few Queens and Black Angelfish here in NJ, but never a French Angelfish or a Rock Beauty. Spotfin Butterflyfish are here in the thousands every summer, along with a much more limited number of Four Eyed Butterflyfish, the occasional Banded and Reef Butterflyfish, but never an Atlantic Longnosed (Prognathodes aculeatus). The treasured specimen in my aquarium I collected in Dominica a couple of years ago. My records are written, copied into a notebook from each summer's notes. My life list now totals 37 species, if I include the Mola Molas I see from the surface while fishing. I don't count Seahorses as part of my life list, since they may be year round residents, but I see them only in summer and early fall.

 

[RogueClimber]

Macdive has a critters tab where I keep track of my sightings

 

[scubadada]

I used to keep track of Florida/Caribbean in the back of the Humann guide, a very exhaustive list.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've been keeping a written record for several decades of tropical fishes I've seen and sometimes collected here in NJ. These summer Gulf Stream strays are almost all juveniles, some barely post-larval, and are surprisingly numerous and varied, though some I've seen only once or twice. I remember, for instance, a Blue Tang that was living in a rock jetty in Manasquan. It was part way through its change from yellow to blue, and it's the only one I've seen north of the Carolinas. Oceanic Tangs are fairly common, and three species of tiny Trunkfish are all over the place in August and September.

I've seen many Blue Angelfish, a few Queens and Black Angelfish here in NJ, but never a French Angelfish or a Rock Beauty. Spotfin Butterflyfish are here in the thousands every summer, along with a much more limited number of Four Eyed Butterflyfish, the occasional Banded and Reef Butterflyfish, but never an Atlantic Longnosed (Prognathodes aculeatus). The treasured specimen in my aquarium I collected in Dominica a couple of years ago. My records are written, copied into a notebook from each summer's notes. My life list now totals 37 species, if I include the Mola Molas I see from the surface while fishing. I don't count Seahorses as part of my life list, since they may be year round residents, but I see them only in summer and early fall.

Agilis, the treasured specimen in your aquarium from Dominica; does this mean that no other divers in Dominica will see it now?

 

[agilis]

Agilis, the treasured specimen in your aquarium from Dominica; does this mean that no other divers in Dominica will see it now?

Yes, that's true, though it is of little consequence considering that there are so many of them and so few divers, virtually none in the area where I collected it. I catch and eat fish, and so do the people of Dominica. If the species was just scarce, not even threatened, I'd not have taken it. If I were not a proficient aquarist, I would not have collected it and gone through the difficult process of maintaining the fish while there and then carefully transporting it. My fish do extremely well, living for years. This butterflyfish is a plentiful species below 100 feet. Most divers have never seen one, since they are deep, not brightly colored, secretive, and very fast. I collected this small one while snorkeling in 8 feet of water just after fishermen had hauled in a huge seine, something they do early every morning in this remote area, a process that takes them a couple of hours, first to lay the seine in deep water, and then to haul it in. I like to snorkel after they are through because of all the deeper water fish that this fishing seine forces inshore. I make no apology for fishing or for collecting one or two fish every few years. I've been doing this sort of thing since Jesus was a boy.

 

[agilis]

Yes, that's true, though it is of little consequence considering that there are so many of them and so few divers, virtually none in the area where I collected it. I catch and eat fish, and so do the people of Dominica. If the species was just scarce, not even threatened, I'd not have taken it. If I were not a proficient aquarist, I would not have collected it and gone through the difficult process of maintaining the fish while there and then carefully transporting it. My fish do extremely well, living for years. This butterflyfish is a plentiful species below 100 feet. Most divers have never seen one, since they are deep, not brightly colored, secretive, and very fast. I collected this small one while snorkeling in 8 feet of water just after fishermen had hauled in a huge seine, something they do early every morning in this remote area, a process that takes them a couple of hours, first to lay the seine in deep water, and then to haul it in. I like to snorkel after they are through because of all the deeper water fish that this fishing seine forces inshore. I make no apology for fishing or for collecting one or two fish every few years. I've been doing this sort of thing since Jesus was a boy. Nature is astonishingly profligate in sending juvenile fish by the billions to float into regions where they must die, as all Gulf Stream tropicals do here in NJ when October drops water temps. It's how species extend their ranges as climate changes occur over thousands and millions of years.