Wednesday August 27, 2025
UC San Diego —
Marine biologists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have released a new database of size parameters for 1,308 species of Pacific coral reef fishes, advancing scientists’ understanding of fish health and population dynamics in the region.
By linking length to weight, scientists can use these parameters to create a non-invasive way to estimate fish biomass during underwater surveys, eliminating the need to capture fish. Fisheries managers rely on insights provided by length-weight relationships to guide sustainable fishing practices, set regulations and monitor the health of ecosystems.
While common or commercially important species often have many sets of published length-weight parameters, a large number of other species remain undersampled. In the tropical Pacific, wrasses and damselfishes in particular lack empirical data, though they are among the most frequently observed species. The new database aims to close that gap by providing parameters from closely related species in a reproducible way.
The team said the new database — now publicly accessible and citable — was designed to support a wide range of scientific and management needs. It was compiled over the past five years and will continue to evolve as more data are collected.
“This database is exciting because it brings together quality-controlled, standardized fish length-weight parameters that are often scattered, inconsistently reported or missing altogether,” said Anela Akiona, a Scripps Oceanography PhD student and co-first author of the study. “Our motivation was to make it easier for scientists, managers and conservationists to quickly and confidently estimate fish biomass, compare results across studies, and monitor reef fish communities over time.”
The study was published Aug. 14, 2025, in the journal Scientific Data. In addition to Akiona, Scripps project scientist Brian Zgliczynski served as co-first author of the study, with Scripps marine ecologist Stuart Sandin and six other researchers from the Sandin Lab contributing as co-authors.
Akiona’s graduate research is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the UC San Diego Tribal Membership Initiative and the San Diego ARCS Foundation. Additional support for the team was provided by the Waitt Institute.