Fishbase.org is a popular reference website for fish researchers and enthusiasts; It is simply the largest, most scientific, most complete, and most accessible online database for finned animals.  If you want to learn a fish’s maximum size, natural distribution, depth range, etc., you turn to Fishbase.org. But we know oceans and lakes contain more life than just fish.

Enter SeaLifeBase.org.  From Tridacna maxima to Acropora millepora, Lysmata amboinensis to Entacmaea quadricolor, SeaLifeBase.org provides data on non-finned species in the same familiar format of Fishbase.org.  If you don’t recognize any of the Latin names we just listed, use SeaLifeBase.org!

The long-term goal of this project is to create and maintain a FishBase-like information system for all aquatic living organisms (marine and freshwater), ca. 400,000 spp. Of these, marine organisms (about 240,000 spp) are the target of the current project phase. It will not provide yet another authority list of species, but rather, for each species included, make available the biological information necessary to conduct biodiversity and ecosystem studies, taking advantage of lists of species already available on paper and electronically, and using the scientific names as ‘hook’ to organize biodiversity information.

SeaLifeBase.org was started in 2006 so it is still relatively unknown amongst aquarists, even seasoned aquarists.  Advanced Aquarist hopes to bring SeaLifeBase.org out of obscurity; This website is an excellent reference tool that all marine life enthusiasts should use.