Re: NANFA-L-- new North American fish list


Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- new North American fish list
From: James Smith (jim-in-fishiezoo.com)
Date: Sun Aug 08 2004 - 12:43:37 CDT


That is an awesome list! You should be commended for the work you did
to put it together! I just spent quite a while looking it over and while I
don't
know enough yet about natives to help with reviewing it for correctness, I
did find a lot of species that I had never heard of and I think my afternoon
just got devoted to researching them :-)

Jim

At 01:03 PM 8/8/2004, you wrote:
>Surprisingly, there is no comprehensive and taxonomically up-to-date list of
>native North American freshwater fish species on the web. To remedy this
>situation, I've compiled the following list:
>
>http://www.nanfa.org/members/Scharpf/NANFA_Checklist.html
>
>You'll notice that in addition to species, the list contains subspecies and
>undescribed forms. The list also includes whether the species is extinct, or
>is protected by the U.S., Canadian, or Mexican governments.
>
>The list is provisional, subject to peer review, and to some extent
>subjective: it is based on my review of the literature and reflects a
>synthesis of major systematic, taxonomic, and distributional works. The
>list, of course, is subject to change, and change it will -- especially when
>the American Fisheries Society list of all North American fish species
>(freshwater and marine) and other works (e.g., the Fishes of Mexico book)
>are published later this year. As new species are described and names are
>changed, the list will be updated to reflect the change (note the revision
>date-in-the beginning of the list).
>
>A few introductory comments:
>
>* With several exceptions, the fishes included on the list are obligatory
>freshwater fishes. The exceptions are marine or brackish water species that
>are naturally capable of spawning in fresh water, and, in some cases,
>maintain exclusively freshwater populations. Examples include bay anchovy
>(Anchoa mitchilli), mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), starry flounder
>(Platichthys stellatus), and various pipefishes, sleepers, gobies, and
>soles.
>
>* North America is herein defined not as the entire continent, but as the
>Nearctic zoogeographic realm. The Nearctic Realm includes the entire
>continental landmass, including Greenland, Alaska, Canada, the lower 48
>states, and Mexico south to the where the Mexican plateau breaks down into
>the lowlands of Central America. Specifically, this includes land north of
>18N on the Atlantic slope, and 16N on the Pacific slope of Mexico; the
>imaginary line drawn between these two latitudinal points corresponds
>roughly to the southern range limit of chiefly northern fishes such as
>minnows and suckers, and the northern range limit of the chiefly southern
>catfish family Heptateridae. This is not a discrete boundary, but a broad
>transition zone where the continental plates of North and South America
>began pushing against each around three million years ago (or later). Areas
>below this line, including extreme southern (tropical) Mexico, are in the
>Neotropical Realm. So, too, are the Greater Antilles. Even though Cuba is
>just 150 km off the coast of Florida, and Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of
>the United States, they're both giant peaks of a vast underwater mountain
>range that's part of South America. Fishes from Hawaii are also excluded in
>that they hail from the Oceania Realm.
>
>* The list does not include exotic species, although it probably should, and
>they will be added-in-a later date.
>
>A fully annotated version of the "NANFA" list is being prepared as a
>multi-installment article for American Currents.
>
>If you have any questions about the list, or any comments or corrections,
>either email me off list -- ichthos-in-comcast dot net -- or discuss them
>here.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Chris Scharpf
>NANFA HQ
>
>
>"Protecting species is the same intrinsic gesture as preserving the original
>documents and constitutions of an entire civilization, or the love letters
>of grandparents."
> -- Craig Childs, The Secret Knowledge of Water
>
>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
>/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
>/ visit http://www.nanfa.org . Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
>/ consistent with the guidelines as per
>/ http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/guidelines.html. To subscribe,
>/ unsubscribe, or get help, visit the NANFA email list home page and
>/ archive-in-http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/.

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org . Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/guidelines.html. To subscribe,
/ unsubscribe, or get help, visit the NANFA email list home page and
/ archive-in-http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/.



: Wed Sep 29 2004 - 12:24:17 CDT