Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Fish diversity
ichthos-in-comcast.net
Date: Tue Dec 21 2004 - 09:42:14 CST
>Is it true that 10% of fish species are found on the North American continent? (!)
Here’s how North America’s freshwater fish diversity stacks up against other
continental regions:
Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ 360 species
Australia & New Guinea . . . . ~ 500 species
North America . . . . . . . . . . ~ 1,135 species
Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .> 3,000 species
Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > 3,000 species
South & Central America . . . > 5,000 species
As you can see, North America has a small but still diverse fish fauna, with
roughly 9% of the world’s *freshwater* fish species.
There are an estimated 25,000 validly described species of fish worldwide, including marine, so North America's 1135 freshwater species are a tiny slice of the total diversity, about 4.5%
Chris Scharpf
Baltimore
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: Sat Jan 01 2005 - 12:42:01 CST