The "GfI-Fischartenatlas" of the German Ichthyological Society (GfI) - A compilation of validated fish species occurrence records

Despite the urgent need for conservation, reliable data on the distribution of fish species across countries and federal states is limited for both freshwater and marine habitats. The German Ichthyological Society (Gesellschaft für Ichthyologie e.V. or GfI) aims to compile fish distribution data with a focus on Germany (including its marine areas), Austria and the marine areas of the Netherlands and Denmark. These data are openly available on the "GfI-Fischartenatlas" web portal which serves as an information platform at the intersection of science, practice and environmental education, promoting the conservation of fish biodiversity and their habitats. The GfI-Fischartenatlas is a joint project of the GfI and the City University of Applied Sciences Bremen. It was developed in cooperation between the biology and computer science departments at the university. The IT basis for collecting, managing and presenting the data online is the “Biodiversity Warehouse” software architecture. The data are hosted by the Biodiversity Informatics Department at the Museum Koenig Bonn, which is part of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). The GfI-Fischartenatlas consolidates fish distribution data from various cross-border sources into a unified platform. This includes both data collected specifically for the atlas and data integrated from other databases (in total n = 136,714, as of 13.03.2026). The data primary to the atlas are published as a dataset on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This dataset (ABCD archive) contains occurrence records (n = 62,545) for 264 freshwater and marine fish species, derived from scientific and grey literature as well as citizen0science observations, covering 16 European countries (with a focus on Germany and Austria).