Sargasso Sea - Ocean Biodiversity Information System

Sargasso Sea

Statistics

Occurrence records	143,800
Species level	74,958
Species	2,800
Taxa	5,026
Datasets	148
Time range	1849 - 2023

Data quality

Dropped records

Dropped records	0
Not marine	166
No WoRMS match	23,566
No coordinates	0
Zero coordinates	0

Taxonomic issues

Marine unsure	6,036
No accepted name available	895

Missing and invalid fields

Field	Missing	Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters	121,638	3,965
eventDate	13,879	0
maximumDepthInMeters	52,059	332
minimumDepthInMeters	44,884	332
occurrenceStatus	84,834	0
scientificName	722	0
scientificNameID	50,602	1,086

Spatial issues

Records on land	0
More than 20 km from shore	0
Depth exceeds bathymetric depth	44

Top datasets

Dataset	Records
Marine metagenomes from the bioGEOTRACES project (2010-2011) Published 2023-10-27	24,906
Marine metagenomes from the bioGEOTRACES project Published 2022-09-20	23,325
National Museum of Natural History Vertebrate Zoology Fishes Collections Published	10,594
TOPP Fish (TOPP) Published	9,069
Atlantic Anguilla surveys (1862-2007) Published 2024-09-09	8,247
NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Fisheries Log Book System (FLS) Commercial Pelagic Logbook Data Published 2021-08-25	7,830
PANGAEA - Data from the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Published 2025-03-20	7,492
FishNet2 Marine Data Published 2023-12-19	7,354
NOAA Southeast Fishery Science Center (SEFSC) Commercial Pelagic Observer Program (POP) Data Published	5,406
World Ocean Database 2009 Published 2020-11-17	4,905

Distribution

Disclaimer: EEZ boundaries based on Marine Regions (no endorsement).

Records

Composition

detailed (class) simple

Top taxa

Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa

Scientific name	Records
Thunnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) NT Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	9,069
Anguilla Schrank, 1798 Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	7,864
Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758 NT Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	4,465
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817) EN Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	4,135
Bacteria	2,679
Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1,916
Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839) VU Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1,801
Animalia	1,440
Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 VU Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia	1,305
Fregata magnificens Mathews, 1914 Phylum Chordata > Class Aves	1,268

Newest species

Scientific name	Records	Since
Squalus cubensis Howell Rivero, 1936 Phylum Chordata > Class Elasmobranchii	1	2016
Holacanthus bermudensis Goode, 1876 Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Sula leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783) Phylum Chordata > Class Aves	2	2016
Prognathodes guyanensis (Durand, 1960) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	2	2016
Bodianus rufus (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Holacanthus tricolor (Bloch, 1795) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Cantherhines macrocerus (Hollard, 1853) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Cephalopholis fulva (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Paranthias furcifer (Valenciennes, 1828) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016
Chromis enchrysurus Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2016

Data providers

Name	Records
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO	31,305
Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee	26,119
European Molecular Biology Laboratory	25,748
CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure	25,207
MIT	23,325
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution	14,648
U.S. Geological Survey HQ	13,076
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington	12,971
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea	11,948
Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute	7,354