Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences Vol. 40(4), August 2011, pp. 502-508 A data repository website on marine ornamental fin fishes and shell fishes from Indian waters A K Pathak*, S P Singh, U K Sarkar, R Soundararajan, R. Dayal, Reeta Chaturvedi & Ravi Kumar Division of Fish Taxonomy and Resources, National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Canal Ring Road, Post – Dilkusha, Lucknow -226002 (U.P.), India * [Email: akpathak@nbfgr.res.in] Received 02 February 2010; revised 30 July 2010 An online data repository on marine ornamental fin fishes and shell fishes of Indian waters was developed in the form of interactive web-database using SQL Server 2008 relational database management system integrated web interface using Microsoft’s .NET technology. The website of the database provides information on classification, synonyms, distinguishing taxonomic features, biology, distribution and other key references for 333 species of ornamental finfishes, 121 molluscan and 84 crustacean species. Data on these groups of species were collected trough primary surveys from Indian coastal regions followed by Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, published literatures and other databases. The website also includes the multimedia digital photo library of the species that displays the pictures of the fishes along with few important details. [Keywords: Online data repository, Database, Species, Finfishes, Shellfishes] Introduction In a pioneering study of ornamental fish resources of the country, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, India carried out the study for Lakshadweep islands. One hundred and sixty five (165) species were identified from this region and the biology and stock of 40 species studied and documented in the publication “Marine Ornamental Fish Resources of Lakshadweep”. In Gulf of Mannar, a total of 113 marine ornamental finfish species, have been recorded and their biodiversity and standing stock biomass were also assessed 1 The fish fauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands contributes more than 1200 species of which over 250 species are of ornament in nature. With the rise of computer systems and information technologies, databases are playing key role in storing the large amount of information and making such information easily accessible to the end users to link to knowledge. A database is convenient method of vast amount of information that allows for proper storing, searching and retrieving of data. Biological databases represent invaluable resource in support of biological research and have also been invaluable for managing biological data/data sets and making them accessible 2 . This paper describes about one of the categories of biological database on marine ornamental finfishes and shellfishes of Indian waters integrated with web interface. Materials and Methods Data source The data on classification, synonyms, distinguishing taxonomic features, biology, distribution and other key references corresponding to each species of different groups were collected from Indian coastal regions followed by Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands. We also used the online FishBase, well known fisheries database of ICLARM for collecting information. The publication “Marine Ornamental Fish Resources of Lakshadweep” published by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, India was also used as viable data source for ornamental fishes of Lakshadweep islands. Implementation and architecture The architecture of the database consists of a relational database developed using SQL Server 2008 integrated with Microsoft’s. NET technology framework for developing the database-backed web application. The Microsoft’s .NET technology framework provides ideal grounds for efficient development of user-friendly and attractive web applications. This application operates on Internet Information Web Server on Windows 2008 Server Enterprise edition system. The system is running successfully on the intranet of NBFGR and only the authorized users are allowed to view the database. Following fig. 1 shows the screen print view of the