NCEAS

Detailed biogeographical studies of Atlantic reef-fishes were always hampered by the lack of up-to-date faunal checklists. Although we have excellent references available for certain regions (e.g. the Caribbean, Bermuda, Azores), as well as a recent checklist for Brazil (Floeter et al., 2001), no comprehensive database has ever been assembled for the entire tropical and subtropical Atlantic. Recent fieldwork and taxonomic research focusing on West Africa, the Brazilian coast, and isolated oceanic islands, revealed new extant species, and added considerable new information about the geographical distribution of tropical reef fishes. Concurrently, new works on the tectonic, eustatic, climatic, and oceanographic characteristics of the tropical Atlantic, as well as works on phylogeography of Atlantic species are available. Taking advantage of Internet's dynamic exchange of information, a multi-institutional international team of researchers - from both sides of the Atlantic - assembled the most accurate checklist possible for the whole tropical Atlantic. The checklist also includes important adjacent subtropical areas such as the Mediterranean Sea and Southern Africa. The present work aim to reevaluate biogeographical affinities in the Atlantic based on the new database compiled as well as evidences from recent phylogeographic works. The database consists of binary presence/absence information of reef fish species. There are currently 27 columns of sites, and over 2000 rows of reef fish species. Each species was assigned a trophic category and major habitat.