LarvalBase is a global online

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

of information about

fish egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

larvae A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect developmental biology, development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typical ...

and fry. It includes detailed data on the identification of very young fish and the rearing of fish species important for fisheries and aquaculture. , it included descriptions of 2,228

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, 4,229 pictures, and references to 4,513 works in the

scientific literature Scientific literature encompasses a vast body of academic papers that spans various disciplines within the natural and social sciences. It primarily consists of academic papers that present original empirical research and theoretical ...

. The database is under the supervision of Bernd Ueberschaer at the

Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences The GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), formerly known as the ''Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences'' (German language, German: ''Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften'', IFM-GEOMAR), is a research institute in Kiel ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, Germany. LarvalBase is an offshoot of, and follows the same format as

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

, a comprehensive online database about

finfish Fishery can mean either the Big business, enterprise of Animal husbandry#Aquaculture, raising or Fishing, harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place (wikt:AKA, a.k.a., fishing grounds). ...

. Whereas FishBase is a database about adult finfish, LarvalBase is a database about the juvenile stages of fish. Juvenile fish often feed differently and occupy different habitats than the adults do. LarvalBase complements FishBase by providing information about these early stages of life. LarvalBase aims to include all the key data on finfish larvae, with an emphasis on standardising the data, making it easy to extract and combine data with other data, and offering powerful presentation tools. It draws on the traditional

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an Artifact (archaeology), artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was cre ...

s found in papers, books and reports, gray literature and unpublished but reliable data from sources such as practicing aquaculturists. The data includes information such as

identification key In biology, an identification key, taxonomic key, or frequently just key, is a printed or computer-aided device that aids in the identification of biological organisms. Historically, the most common type of identification key is the dichotomous k ...

s, morphometrics, broodstock,

spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

and nursery behaviour, prey and predators, and growth stages and rates.LarvalBase: A Global Information System on Fish Larvae
''American Fisheries Society'', Early Life History Section Newsletter, May 2002, 23(2): 7–9. It also includes information of specific interest to aquaculturists, such as how long it takes egg to hatch, diagrams charting changes in anatomy at different larval stages, analysis of larval diets, and techniques for rearing fish fry.Database: Fish Fry
''Science'', 16 June 2006, 312(5780): 1577.

Background

It can be difficult for

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

and

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ''ex situ'' conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled ...

scientists and managers to get the information they need on the species that concern them, because the relevant facts can be scattered and buried across numerous journal articles, reports, newsletters and other sources. It can be particularly difficult for people in developing countries who need such information. An answer to this situation is to consolidate all the available information, drawn from the global sources, into an easily accessed database. The database will be particularly useful if the data has also been standardised and validated.Palomares MLD and Bailly N (2011
"Organizing and disseminating marine biodiversity information: the Fishbase and SeaLifeBase story"
Pages 24–46. In: Villy Christensen and Jay Maclean (Eds.) ''Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries: A Global Perspective'', Cambridge University Press. . It was with such considerations that the

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

project was born in 1988. FishBase is now the world's main database on finfish with over 30 million hits a month.FishBase
Search page. However, FishBase does not include detailed information on fish eggs and juvenile fish. In 1998 the LarvalBase project was launched to remedy this.

Notes

References

LarvalBase
. Presentation at conference, "Aqualex, A Multilingual Glossary In Support Of Multimedia And Online Products And Programmes Related To Fisheries And Aquaculture", May 10–12, 2001, ''Agriculture University of Szczecin'', Poland.
Biological Information Systems
''IFM-GEOMAR'', Retrieved 28 July 2011. * Ueberschär, Bernd (2000) tp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/inco/docs/rep_9_chinafish.pdf LarvalBase: base and knowledge gaps.{cbignore, bot=medic ACP-EU Fisheries Research Report, 9: 78.

External links

LarvalBase online

''LarvalBase''.
Critical times for fish larvae
Bernd Ueberschär, '' IFM-GEOMAR''. Presentation to Summer school, Qingdao, 2008. Introductory lecture on larval ecology. Fish reproduction Online databases Fisheries databases Biology websites

Background

See also

Notes

References

External links