Fishes of Texas Project Database (Version 2)

Abstract

The Fishes of Texas Project (www.fishesoftexas.org) compiled Texas fish species occurrence records from 42 museum collections and applied rigorous quality control and data normalization/standardization to result in 124,415 specimen-based records collected between 1851 and 2010 by 5,924 collectors. Though Gulf of Mexico and estuarine records are included, manual georeferencing of localities focused primarily on inland (freshwater) Texas records, resulting in 88,348 records from 7,868 unique Texas inland localities, all with estimates of placement error. Though not all georeferenced, 8,460 marine (Gulf of Mexico) and 18,923 inland records from neighboring Mexican and U.S. states have been partially processed. All georeferenced records were plotted and 4,107 geographic outliers flagged as potential identification or location errors. Most flagged specimens, and often related original documentation, were examined and identifications corrected or confirmed. Data curation methodology is thoroughly documented in the website, where the dataset can be queried in diverse ways, mapped, and data downloaded. Also online are a large set of high quality fish images, collectors' field notes, specimen photos, species distribution models derived from the data, accounts of species' biology and ecology, and digital identification keys. Users can comment on any record and upload images, field notes and other documentation.