title: A Dataset of Deep-Sea Fishes Surveyed by Research Vessels in the Waters around Taiwan.
abstract: The study of deep-sea fish fauna is hampered by a lack of data due to the difficulty and high cost incurred in its surveys and collections. Taiwan is situated along the edge of the Eurasia fig, at the junction of three Large Marine Ecosystems or Ecoregions of the East China Sea, South China Sea and the Philippines. As nearly two-thirds of its surrounding marine ecosystems are deep-sea environments, Taiwan is expected to hold a rich diversity of deep-sea fish. However, in the past, no research vessels were employed to collect fish data on site. Only specimens, caught by bottom trawl fishing in the waters hundreds of meters deep and missing precise locality information, were collected from Dasi and Donggang fishing harbors. Began in 2001, with the support of National Science Council, research vessels were made available to take on the task of systematically collecting deep-sea fish specimens and occurrence records in the waters surrounding Taiwan. By the end of 2006, a total of 3,653 specimens, belonging to 26 orders, 88 families, 198 genera and 366 species, were collected in addition to data such as sampling site geographical coordinates and water depth, and fish body length and weight. The information, all accessible from the "Database of Taiwan's Deep-Sea Fauna and Its Distribution (http://deepsea.biodiv.tw/)" as part of the "Fish Database of Taiwan," can benefit the study of temporal and spatial changes in distribution and abundance of fish fauna in the context of global deep-sea biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang Dist., 115, Taipei, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Kwang-Tsao
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang Dist., 115, Taipei, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Coastal and Offshore Resources Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, COA, No.6, Yugang N. 3rd Rd., Qianzhen Dist., 806, Kaohsiung City, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Hsin-Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang Dist., 115, Taipei, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Mao-Yin
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang Dist., 115, Taipei, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Lee-Sea
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd. Nankang Dist., 115, Taipei, TAIWAN.
authors.forename: Hen-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lin
keywords: Barcode of Life; Beam Trawl; Catalog of Life; Deep-Sea Fish Fauna; Encyclopedia of Life; IKMT; Otter Trawl