Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information

'Zooplankton samples collected during International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) 1960-65 are by far the largest and the most important collections from the Indian Ocean in the world today. Though several experts spent decades to study various groups of zooplankton, these valuable data have not been computerized to make permanent records. Hence a database for IIOE zooplankton is initiated as a cooperative project of CMarZ and a part of the IIOE data have been digitized.

During IIOE 1548 standard zooplankton samples were collected covering the entire Indian Ocean. The database is prepared based on published information on these zooplankton samples. Three sets of Tables are made (1) Basic data on zooplankton volume, total population and all the 54 taxa found in the collections. (2) Data emerged from subsorting of copepods, decapods and fish larvae (3) Species level data for chaetognaths for entire Indian Ocean and ostracods for northern Indian Ocean.' (from summary of CMarZ Cooperative Project final report)

Related data objects:

iioe_zoo V. Nair Zooplankton major groups collected during the IIOE, 1960-1965
iioe_chaetognaths V. Nair Chaetognath species recorded from the entire Indian Ocean
iioe_copepods V. Nair Copepods sub-sorted from zooplankton collected during IIOE, 1960-1965
iioe_decapods V. Nair Decapods sub-sorted from zooplankton collected during IIOE, 1960-1965
iioe_mysids V. Nair Mysidacea species recorded during the IIOE, 1962-1965
iioe_ostracods V. Nair Ostracod species from N. Indian Ocean, N. of 10o S.
iioe_pleuronects V. Nair Pleuronectiforms larvae from IIOE, 1960-1965

Although technically retired, Vijaya Nair remains the contact for anyone seeking information about these data.

Contact information:
Vijayalakshmi R. Nair
HB/50, Vijaya
South Bridge Avenue, Panampilly Nagar
Kochi 682036, Kerala, India
(telephone/fax) 00-91-484-2316999
vijayalakshmi40@hotmail.com

"It was recommended that each research vessel, every night between 2200 and 0200 hours local time, take one vertical haul from 200m to the surface, hauling in the net at a speed of 1 m/sec. The samples were then to be preserved in 10% formalin neutralized with hexamethylenetetramine. The displacement volume of the catch [was], if possible, measured at the earliest opportunity by an accepted method. The samples were then sent to the Sorting Centre for further processing. Many vessels took duplicate hauls, one for the Centre and one for the use of individual scientists in their respective countries." (Hansen, 1966).

Inventory is based on materials collected during IIOE and later collections made by NIO and other Institutions along the coastal and oceanic realms of the Indian Ocean.

References: Hansen, Vagn Kr., 1966. The Indian Ocean Biological Centre: The centre for sorting plankton samples of the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Deep-Sea Res., 13, pp.229-234.

Total number of mysid species digitized are 101. These come under 3 families, 5 subfamilies and 36 genera. 7 species are cosmopolitan in distribution, 34 confined to Indo-Pacific and the remaining are restricted to Indian Ocean. Among the Indian Ocean species 18 are endemic to Arabian Sea and 4 are endemic to Andaman Sea.

Thirty one species of Pleuronectiformes belonging to the family Paralichthylidae, Bothidae, Soleidae and Cynoglossidae are found in the Indian Ocean. 23 species of bothid larvae coming under the genera Parabothus, Crossorhombus, Engyprosopon, Bothus, Asterorhombus, Psettina, Arnoglossus, Laeops and Chascanopsetta have been digitized. 16 species of bothid larvae are new records for the Indian Ocean. The larvae of Engyprosopon is the dominant genus and the species E. grandisquamis predominated. Arnoglossus tapeinosoma showed a wider distributional range being found both in the coastal and oceanic waters as well as in the southern and northern latitudes but conspicuously absent along the west coast of India. Bay of Bengal appears to be favourable for the growth and distribution of flat fish larvae especially bothids. Arnoglossus imperialis, an Atlantic species is reported for the first time from the Indian Ocean.

"During IIOE 1548 standard zooplankton samples were collected covering the entire Indian Ocean. The database is prepared based on published information on these zooplankton samples. Three sets of Tables are made (1) Basic data on zooplankton volume, total population and all the 54 taxa found in the collections. (2) Data emerged from subsorting of copepods, decapods and fish larvae (3) Species level data for chaetognaths for entire Indian Ocean and ostracods for northern Indian Ocean." (from summary of CMarZ Cooperative Project final report)

CMarZ Cooperative Project: Database for Zooplankton collected during International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) 1960-65

The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life - past, present, and future - will be released in 2010.

The stated purpose of the Census of Marine Life is to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life. Each plays an important role in what is known, unknown, and may never be known about what lives in the global ocean.

First, diversity. The Census aims to make for the first time a comprehensive global list of all forms of life in the sea. No such unified list yet exists. Census scientists estimate that about 230,000 species of marine animals have been described and reside in jars in collections in museums of natural history and other repositories. Since the Census began in 2000, researchers have added more than 5600 species to the lists. They aim to add many thousands more by 2010. The database of the Census already includes records for more than 16 million records, old and new. By 2010, the goal is to have all the old and the new species in an on-line encyclopedia with a webpage for every species. In addition, we will estimate how many species remain unknown, that is, remain to be discovered. The number could be astonishingly large, perhaps a million or more, if all small animals and protists are included. For comparison, biologists have described about 1.5 million terrestrial plants and animals.

Second, distribution. The Census aims to produce maps where the animals have been observed or where they could live, that is, the territory or range of the species. Knowing the range matters a lot for people concerned about, for example, possible consequences of global climate change.

Third, abundance. No Census is complete without measures of abundance. We want to know not only that there is such a thing as a Madagascar crab but how many there are. For marine life, populations are being estimated either in numbers or in total kilos, called biomass.

To complete the context, it is important to understand the top motivations for the Census of Marine Life. Most importantly, much of the ocean is unexplored. Most of the records in its database are for observations near the surface, and down to 1000 meters. No observations have been made in most of the deep ocean, while most of the ocean is deep.

Another important issue is that diversity varies in space. Marine hot spots, like the rain forests of the land, exist off for large fish off the coasts of Brazil and Australia. The goal is to know much more about marine hot spots, to help conserve these large fish. Their abundance and thus their diversity is changing, especially for commercially important species. Between 1952 and 1976, for example, fishermen and their customers emptied many areas of the ocean of tuna.

The Census has evolved a strategy of 14 field projects to touch the major habitats and groups of species in the global ocean. Eleven field projects address habitats, such as seamounts or the Arctic Ocean. Three field projects look globally at animals that either traverse the seas or appear globally distributed: the top predators such as tuna and the plankton and the microbes. The projects employ a mix of technologies. These include acoustics or sound, optics or cameras, tags placed on individual animals that store or report data, and genetics, as well as some actual capture of animals. The technologies complement one another. Sound can survey large areas in the ocean, while light cannot. Light can capture detail and characters that sound cannot. And genetics can make identifications from fragments of specimens or larvae where pictures tell little.

This mix of curiosity, need to know, technology, and scientists willing to investigate the unexplored and undiscovered will result in a Census of Marine Life in 2010 that provides a much clearer picture of what lives below the surface around the globe. Several reasons make such a report timely, indeed urgent. Crises in the sea are reported regularly. One recent study predicted the end of commercial fishery globally by 2050, if current trends persist. Better information is needed to fashion the management that will sustain fisheries, conserve diversity, reverse losses of habitat, reduce impacts of pollution, and respond to global climate change. Hence, there are biological, economic, philosophical and political reasons to push for greater exploration and understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants. Indeed, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity requires signatories to collect information on living resources, but, as yet, no nation has a complete baseline of such information. The Census of Marine Life's global network of researchers will help to fill this knowledge gap, providing critical information to help guide decisions on how to manage global marine resources for the future.

[Text copied from the CoML web site, November 5, 2008]