CAAB currently contains codes and taxonomic information for the following aquatic organisms in the Australian region:

• over 4,500 codes for fishes (CAAB category 37), representing virtually all known marine and freshwater species in Australian waters;
• codes for other marine vertebrates (CAAB categories 39 - reptiles, 40 - birds, 41 - mammals), representing all currently recognised marine species in Australia;
• around 20,000 codes for marine invertebrates (CAAB categories 10 to 36) in Australian waters, including sponges, stony corals, echinoderms, commercially important crustaceans and molluscs, tunicates, and other taxa;
• codes for Australian seagrasses and mangroves (CAAB category 63)
• codes for a representative selection of Australian seaweeds and microalgae (CAAB categories 52-55 and 70).

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Interested persons can use this web site to do the following:

• Search the CAAB database by scientific name, common name, or taxon code, or produce a list of taxa in the database for any category
• For species on the CAAB list:
  • obtain a code for any desired species for use in your own or agency's database, if required
  • obtain the currently recognised scientific name (and common name, if a vailable) for any code
  • obtain a family name for any CAAB taxon (where alternative treatments exist, this will normally be noted)
  • show the recognised authority (author and date) for most species names, plus the source of this information (in many cases)
  • show approved marketing names for seafood species
  • where available, cross-reference to an ITIS (US "Integrated Taxonomy Information System") code for the organism, and cross directly to the ITIS database for further information
  • for fish species, cross directly to the "FishBase" www-accessible compendium of species-level information for fishes maintained by World Fish Centre in the Philippines
  • readily access further parts of the CAAB database via links to family lists, parent or child codes, etc.
  • search the world wide web for further information on any species using pre-configured links.

For the current version of the published Australian Standard Fish Names List (Australian Fish Names Standard AS SSA 5300-2007), refer to this product page on www.seafood.net.au, or the searchable database version at http://www.fishnames.com.au/.

CAAB Codes for fishes (category 37) have previously been published as a printed list, as updated to December 1994 (see below). However, users should note that some species names in CAAB have changed since that report was compiled, and that this on-line version will contain the most recent information, as well as supplementary information (common names, organism type, taxon notes, family information, etc.) which was not included in the published report.

CAAB version 1 was developed by Peter Last and Graeme Morris of CSIRO Division of Fisheries over the period 1990-1995, with major responsibility for content (Fishes section) by Gordon Yearsley. This new, web-accessible version of CAAB, with upgraded and extended content (version 2.0) has been developed by Tony Rees, CSIRO Marine Research Data Centre, over the period 1998-1999, with additional input from Karen Gowlett-Holmes, CSIRO Marine Research.

The following persons are presently responsible for entering/maintaining CAAB content:

• Fishes - category 37: John Pogonoski, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Fish Taxonomy section
• Other vertebrates - category 38 (Amphibia) to 41 (Mammalia): Tony Rees, CSIRO Marine Research Data Centre
• Invertebrates - category 10 (Porifera) to 36 (Chaetognatha, Cephalochordata etc.): Karen Gowlett-Holmes, curator, CSIRO Marine Research Invertebrate Collection
• Algal and plant groups - category 52 to 63: Tony Rees, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Data Centre

The CAAB database and web application are maintained by Tony Rees.

More detailed information regarding this and previous versions of CAAB is available here.

Previous information on the structure and content of CAAB version 1, as at end 1994, is contained in the following report:

Yearsley, G.K., Last, P.R. and Morris, G.K. (1997). Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota (CAAB): an upgraded and expanded species coding system for Australian fisheries databases. CSIRO Marine Laboratories Report no. 224, available on request from Gordon Yearsley at the email address above, or write to Gordon Yearsley, CSIRO Marine Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.
(NB: Sections of this report are now somewhat outdated, compared with the latest information in the CAAB database).