The Calypso Ichthyological Database numbering system is an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

free repository allowing the unique identification numbering of all

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

with a six- numeral fixed number. This number remains the same throughout any alterations or

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

changes to the species' accepted current

scientific name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

and allows for recording of species data in 32 unique

data field In computer science, data that has several parts, known as a '' record,'' can be divided into fields (data fields). Relational databases arrange data as sets of database records, so called rows. Each record consists of several ''fields''; the fi ...

s including all previous names in 32

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s. It has been in use since 1994 and was pioneered by its inventor,

Gerald H. Jennings Gerald Jennings (born 1946) is a British aquarist and ichthyological Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). Accor ...

, with the technical assistance of Terry Hall. It is accompanied by a vast photographic library of fish species and is free at the point of use to all researchers and academics. Much of the data is also available in published format and online.

References

* Hall, T.R. and Jennings, G. (1996) The Calypso Ichthyological Database. Calypso Publications. {{ISBN, 0-906301-47-5

References

See also