About this portal. The Marine Species Identification Portal is an initiative of ETI BioInformatics in the KeyToNature programme (a project in the EC e-contentPlus Programme). This website provides open access to scientific information on marine species including identification keys to support the scientific community in activities such bio-monitoring programs, and to provide students and other interested parties with general information on marine biodiversity.
This portal unlocks information on 9900 marine species and 5553 higher taxa, most of which with a description and one or more illustrations. A total of 7941 taxa are keyed out in 52 identification keys. Furthermore, 18850 synonyms plus 2782 vernacular names in English and 8389 names in 25 other languages facilitate searching.
The information presented here was compiled over a period of 10 years by a global network of collaborating taxonomists that was started with UNESCO support. Currently 31 species documentation projects are included; information on the authors and other contributors can be found for each section under the menu item 'Credits'. Most projects are also available on CD-ROM published in ETI's World Biodiversity Database series. Over the years many scientists and users urged us to also provide web access to these data. The information and identification systems presented here were constructed using the Linnaeus II taxonomic data management package that is downloadable from the ETI website. Differences in geographic coverage and taxonomic treatments are the consequence of the decentralized, fully author-driven mechanism that ETI set up for species documentation; a process that is still ongoing.
Great care was taken to properly reference the information displayed in this website to the authors and contributors. However, if you find we have made an error in this please notify us and we will correct the mistake as soon as possible.
The following projects are included in this portal:
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Aetideidae of the World Ocean Brachiopoda of the North Sea Chaetognatha of the World Crabs of Japan Euphausiids of the World Ocean Fishes of the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean Harmful Marine Dinoflagellates Interactive Guide to Caribbean Diving Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Anthozoa Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Crustacea Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Echinodermata Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Miscellaneous worms Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Nemertina Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Platyhelminthes Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Polychaeta Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Pycnogonida Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Sipuncula Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Tunicata Marine Lobsters of the World Marine Mammals of the World Marine Planarians Marine Planktonic Ostracods Mollusca of the North Sea North Australian Sea Cucumbers Pelagic Molluscs Reef Corals of the Indo-Malayan Seas Sharks of the World Sponges of the NE Atlantic Turbellaria of the World Zooplankton and Micronekton of the North Sea Zooplankton of the South Atlantic Ocean |
 
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