New Research App Puts East Indies' Reef Fish at Your Fingertips
19 October 2018 22:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Conservation International (CI) today announced the release of the “Reef Fishes of the East Indies” app, a digital guide to every known reef fish species in the most bio-diverse region on the planet, based on the book of the same name.The comprehensive information contained in this guide, includes over 2,500 reef fishes of which 25 species are new to science. It summarizes 60 years of research and exploration and brings greater understanding and valuation of the immense biodiversity of reef fish in the East Indies.
The authors, scientists Mark Erdmann and Gerry Allen, have spent much of their lives at sea discovering, studying and conserving some of the most rare and beautiful fish in the world. The proceeds of this CI produced app will support CI Indonesia’s marine conservation program.
Co-author Mark Erdmann, CI's senior advisor to the Indonesian Marine Program said that sharing this knowledge brings greater value to the biodiversity present in the region. He hopes that the availability of this app will increase motivation and momentum for its conservation to ensure that these species and their delicate ecosystems remain in balance.
"Maintaining this natural capital is key to the region’s important tourism industry, and other ecosystem services the ocean provides the people," Erdmann said according to a release Tempo received today, Oct.10.
The comprehensive information contained in this guide, includes over 2,500 reef fishes of which 25 species are new to science. It summarizes 60 years of research and exploration and brings greater understanding and valuation of the immense biodiversity of reef fish in the East Indies. The authors, scientists Mark Erdmann and Gerry Allen, have spent much of their lives at sea discovering, studying and conserving some of the most rare and beautiful fish in the world. The proceeds of this CI produced app will support CI Indonesia’s marine conservation program.
"This is the perfect digital guide for divers and nature lovers to use in the office, school, home or out on the open sea,” Erdman said. “We had originally simply created a book, but later thought it would be great to produce an app to bring this information to the masses in an easy to access, transportable format.”
The coverage area of the app includes the Coral Triangle (including Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands) which alone boasts 37 percent of the world’s coral reef fish species - more than anywhere else on the planet, as well as the South China Sea (including Brunei Darussalam to Vietnam and Singapore), the Andaman Sea (including Thailand, Myanmar, and the Andaman Islands of India) and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
Designed for iPad and Kindle Fire, REEF FISHES OF THE EAST INDIES doesn’t “stream” content, so you can be used out at sea, with no internet connection required. The app contains many useful and interactive features including search, note-taking and drawing features, detailed entries for each species, and photo-sharing by email and social media. It is available for purchase in the Apple store and volumes 1 and 2 are $17.99 USD each, and Volume 3 is free. (*)
