Online critter ID

Hi all, it is time that I update this and give it a new face. I want this to be more of a resource, so I will keep updating this top post with the most useful links, this way you don't have to scroll through all messages to find the links you need. You are welcome to post more and I will add to the list, but I will try to keep every link in this first message. So here is a compilation of what I consider the most useful and user friendly ones (the ones in bold are the most scientifically accurate, the others have mostly good IDs but they need to be double checked):

Fish:

FishBase http://www.fishbase.org/

Australian Museum http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/identify/

Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific http://www.neotropicalfishes.org/sftep/

Gobies http://www.gobiidae.com/

Fish Photo Database http://www.fishdb.co.uk/

Invertebrates:

Sea Slug Forum http://www.seaslugforum.net/

Nudibranch Identification http://www.nudipixel.net/

Mediterranean Slugs http://www.medslugs.de/

Cephalopods http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/

Crustaceans (links) http://www.vims.edu/tcs/crust_links.htm

Both:

Coral Reef Creatures http://www.reefimages.com/

Marine Life of the Philippines http://www.poppe-images.com/

Flora and Fauna of South California http://www.ladiving.org/fieldguide.html

SeaLifeBase http://www.sealifebase.org/

Thanks, Luis,

Good to see this compiled succinctly. Members should be aware that not all online resources can be counted on for utmost accuracy, so best to cross-check with ones created by museums or scientific organizations if possible.

Cheers,

Marli

A couple of months ago I published "A fieldguide to the marine fishes of Wales and adjacent waters" (which actually covers most of the UK and Ireland as well). I have now started the update - by creating a website which will add data in as and when it becomes available. It is designed in iWeb, is (hopefully) very simple and is intended to supply ADDITIONAL information (or clearer) to the book.

Its at www.welshmarinefish.org

I use the World Register of Marine Species a lot for detective work including establishing accepted species names http://www.marinespecies.org/

Some 33000 fish pictures with regional common as well as scientific names here

http://www.fishwise.co.za/

I live in Bali and i find http://lembehresort.com/critters.php very useful for this area as well.

for froggies: http://www.frogfish.ch/

Anybody have critter id iphone apps? I see they have Neville Coleman's Marine Life eGuide. I'd love to have an oppinion before i fork out $20

I stopped being cheap and bought it. 2000 pixs all seem clear and reasobable quality with a short write up including latin and common names, location and habits. I haven't searched exhaustively but have not found any obvious errors. Seems like a good start for an always on hand ID source for many classes of reef critters and plants. Now I have it does it stop being "Online critter ID"

I've just discovered Corals Of The World. Seems like the next best thing to Veron's book, which is way out of my budget. It's no good for browsing pics of corals, but if you have a good idea of what the coral is, then there are data, photos and distribution maps to help you confirm.

Anyone know of some good references for echinoderms and mainly sea stars? That's the big hole I have in my arsenal.

If we're talking online, I keep Teresa Zubi's sea star page bookmarked, as well as the World Astreroida Database, but the latter is no good for browsing through pics to ID. Humann & DeLoach's Tropical Pacific Reef Creature Identification has something like 50 sea star species in it, with loads of pics, and it nailed most of my undetermined species. Depending on your region, it's a fantastic book anyway for everything else.

Thanks, Nick. I think those sites will be useful for tropical species. There's a few species from around Sydney that I'm yet to nail. I have quite a few general books (e.g. Gosliner et al, for tropical inverts and Edgar for temperate Australia) but the more the merrier.

Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is available at www.stri.org/sftep.

Two new free ID guide apps for neotropical shore-fishes, both with English and Spanish interfaces have also just been released. Release info below:

• Fishes: East Pacific, version 2, with iPad optimization, several iPad-specific features & an updated database. Covers 1,297 species & includes 3,600+ images. https://itunes.apple...d494644648?mt=8 or search in iTunes store for fishes east pacific
  

• Fishes: Greater Caribbean, version 1 for iphone. Covers 1,599 species, & includes 5,500+ images. https://itunes.apple...d570048678?mt=8 or search in iTunes store for fishes greater caribbean
  

Together these apps cover 2,775 species, ~ 20% of the world’s known tropical shore-fishes.

While I don't presently have an iphone to check out the apps, the caribbean version includes a few of my photos so must be good!

Fishbase is the very first resource listed in this thread and for good reasons. There is one way I like to use it that may not be obvious so I thought I would post.

On the main page scroll down to Information by Country / Island

Pick the place you are going to for your next trip and click on the Reef-associated

bullet before it. This takes you to a table with all fish that have been reported from that region.

At the top in the sort by row select Family and then, at the end of that row, show photos

By default the results are shown on multiple pages. You can change it to show everything on one page by selecting all right above the table.

In your browser, select save-as and you get a copy of the table and all images on your hard disk. Now you have your own off-line copy of all regional fish with images that you can call up by typing file://wherever/you/stored/thefile/fishlist.php in the browsers address field.

The browser's find button let's you quickly jump to the fish/family you are interested in. If you do have an internet connection you can click the links and go directly to the relevant fishbase page with all the details.

I hope this is helpful

Bart

Here are 3 facebook groups that are good for getting stuff ID'd:

ID Please! General marine animals and plants ID: https://www.facebook.com/groups/idpls/

Nudibase - Sharing nudibranch information: https://www.facebook.com/groups/206426176075326/

Crustacean Identification Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/495449120535459/

It's a bit location specific, but we just put together this species ID video for some of the more common critters of Ambon Bay, Indonesia:

https://vimeo.com/234203208

It's nice to see reference links to marine critter identifications. I sorely need to use them to ID the many creatures I've photographed abroad.

For those of you in Southern California. I've been working on a local field guide for some years, particularly opisthobranchs/nudibranchs. The link is:

https://www.diverkevin.com/NorthAmerica

Though I signed up with WP long ago, I'm just beginning to use the site.

k;-)

diverkevin.com

I use this a bit:

http://skaphandrus.com/en/ocean-life-identification

if you contribute photos you get points to unlock some of the groups, others like nudis are free. The nudi key is successful maybe 50% of the time.

Rocha,

the site you have listed as:

Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific http://www.neotropicalfishes.org/sftep/

has been hijacked by a bank or loan company -  I could find no way to access this site if it even exists

and this site: Australian Museum  

is a clearing site for al kinds of games and other non UW ID sites

Is it just my computer or does anyone else find these two to be something else?

I checked a few others and they did reflect what is indicated.

Gary

13 hours ago, bikerschim said:

Rocha,

the site you have listed as:

Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific http://www.neotropicalfishes.org/sftep/

has been hijacked by a bank or loan company -  I could find no way to access this site if it even exists

and this site: Australian Museum  

is a clearing site for al kinds of games and other non UW ID sites

Is it just my computer or does anyone else find these two to be something else?

I checked a few others and they did reflect what is indicated.

Gary

Is this the site you are looking for?  https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/sftep/en/pages