United States: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands of the United States - Ocean Biodiversity Information System

United States: Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands of the United States

Statistics

Occurrence records	552,979
Species level	440,854
Species	3,480
Taxa	4,912
Datasets	119
Time range	1842 - 2025

Data quality

Dropped records

Dropped records	0
Not marine	1,109
No WoRMS match	13,594
No coordinates	0
Zero coordinates	0

Taxonomic issues

Marine unsure	998
No accepted name available	409

Missing and invalid fields

Field	Missing	Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters	2,004,793	31,780
eventDate	14,896	0
maximumDepthInMeters	137,658	0
minimumDepthInMeters	130,978	0
occurrenceStatus	157,409	0
scientificName	6,571	0
scientificNameID	15,195	6,280

Spatial issues

Records on land	13,408
More than 20 km from shore	39
Depth exceeds bathymetric depth	31,039

Top datasets

Dataset	Records
U.S. Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database (USVI-TCRMP) Published 2022-06-01	163,220
Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database Compilation Published 2022-02-13	74,892
Puerto Rico Reef Visual Census (RVC) 2016 - 2021 Published 2023-05-01	57,610
St. Croix, USVI Fish Assessment and Monitoring Data (2002 - Present) Published	39,288
University of Liverpool seabird tracking in Anguilla 2012-2015 Published 2021-04-24	31,220
St. John, USVI Fish Assessment and Monitoring Data (2002 - Present) Published	28,123
NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Coral Demographic Data Published 2025-02-24	22,332
St. Croix, USVI Benthic Composition and Monitoring Data (2002 - Present) Published	20,735
La Parguera, Puerto Rico Benthic Composition and Monitoring Data (2002 - Present) Published	16,915
FishNet2 Marine Data Published 2023-12-19	11,497

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
Fregata magnificens Mathews, 1914 Phylum Chordata > Class Aves	30,039
Porifera Grant, 1836 Phylum Porifera	13,475
Sparisoma aurofrenatum (Valenciennes, 1840) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	13,318
Plantae Haeckel, 1866	13,268
Porites astreoides Lamarck, 1816 Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	12,804
Thalassoma bifasciatum (Bloch, 1791) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	12,026
Acanthurus coeruleus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	10,088
Stegastes partitus (Poey, 1868) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	9,811
Siderastrea siderea (Ellis & Solander, 1786) CR Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	9,796
Halichoeres garnoti (Valenciennes, 1839) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	9,790

Newest species

Scientific name	Records	Since
Ameripathes pseudomyriophylla Opresko & Horowitz, 2024 Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	2	2023
Aphanipathes puertoricoensis Horowitz & Quattrini, 2023 Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	3	2022
Euthynnus alletteratus (Rafinesque, 1810) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2021
Bodianus pulchellus (Poey, 1860) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2021
Donax variabilis Say, 1822 Phylum Mollusca > Class Bivalvia	1	2019
Muraena retifera Goode & Bean, 1882 Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2019
Nicholsina usta (Valenciennes, 1840) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	1	2019
Ptereleotris calliura (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882) Phylum Chordata > Class Teleostei	8	2019
Antipathes caribbeana Opresko, 1996 Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	1	2019
Bartholomea annulata (Le Sueur, 1817) Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia	2	2019

Data providers

Name	Records
Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System	246,226
U.S. Geological Survey HQ	195,186
University of the Virgin Islands	163,220
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO	142,846
Federal Government of the United States of America; Department of Commerce; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Ocean Service; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (NOAA-CCMA)	114,848
NOAA, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Miami Laboratory	91,087
Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources	74,892
Duke University	32,479
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	31,564
National Coral Reef Monitoring Program	31,564