Ichthyological Field Data of Raroia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, 1952

Data as a DwC-A file	download 1,035 records in English (145 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file	download in English (12 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file	download in English (12 KB)

Description

This dataset is from an ichthyological investigation by the Office of Naval Research and Pacific Science Board. The choice of Raroia Atoll in the heart of the Tumotu Archipelago for the third low island in the Coral Atoll Program (1952 SIM Project of the Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council) provided the first time that ichthyological research had been sponsored in French Oceania by the U.S. Government since the Wilkes Expedition of 1838-1842, and the Albatross expeditions of 1899-1900 and 1904-1905. The resumption of this interest in a then little-known region of the tropical Pacific proved very worthwhile.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,035 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Harry R R (2024). Ichthyological Field Data of Raroia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, 1952. Version 1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Occurrence dataset. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=raroia_fishes_1952&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 9ddc81b2-2c50-4ab3-b225-bb9e08cfa1ef. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Robert R. Harry

Metadata Provider ●
Originator ●
Point Of Contact

Researcher

Academy of Natural Sciences

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Geographic Coverage

Raroia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia

Bounding Coordinates	South West [-16.242, -142.535], North East [-15.931, -142.314]

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date	1952-06-01 / 1952-09-30

Sampling Methods

A variety of sampling methods was employed during the survey. At various times sailing canoes, outrigger canoes, outboard motorboats, an outboard motor, and a small cutter were made available by the natives for transportation. Generally, three native assistants helped with the handling of the boats and the collecting. Dr. Newell made available his shallow water diving equipment for four stations in 20 to 40 feet of water. Many types of hooks and lines were tried, and the natives were most helpful in providing this type of fishing gear. About three-fourths of the time at Raroia was spent in the field by the fish crew, and the remainder was used in preserving and packing the fishes and taking notes. The gear that was actually available for fish collecting is listed below.

Study Extent	Raroia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia

Method step description:

Transportation: 35 horse outboard motor; anchors.
Spear fishing gear: Champion rubber sling gun; Hawaiian slings (2); spear shafts with simple hinged barbs (6); simple spear loaned by natives.
Swimming gear: Depth gauges (2); Swim fins (2 pr.); Snorkels (1); Tabe shoes (2 pr.); Squale face masks (2); Diving underwear (1 pr.).
Ichthyocide gear: Rotenone-powdered (app. 385 lbs.); Cloth sacks (6); Inner tube floats (2); Galvanized buckets (3); Dipnets-small (6); Dipnets-large (6); Shark repellent (20 pkgs.).
Fishing Tackle: Navy survival fishing kit; Assorted nylon lines; Assorted hooks loaned by natives.
Preservation: Formaldehyde (35 gals.); Washtubs (3); Porcelain and plastic trays (3); Museum jars S oz. (24); Screw top vials (50); Canning machine and 50 cans; cone soft string; Sodium borate (2 qts.); Cheese cloth 50 yard bolts (4); Burlap sacking 3 x 100'; Numbered tin tags.
Steel Drums: 54 gal. (5); 35 gal. (4).
Records: Collection resistall labels (4OO); Field data sheets (100); Record Books (3); Higgins Eternal ink and pens.
Fish Books: Tinker: Hawaiian fishes (1914); Schulte: Fishes of the Phoenix and Samoan Islands (1943); Fowler: Fishes of Oceania (1928).
Photographic Equipment: 35 mm. Kodak Signet, accessories, and film; 4 x 5 Speed Graphic, accessories, and film.

Bibliographic Citations

Harry, R. 1953. Ichthyological Field Data of Raroia Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago. Atoll Research Bulletin, No. 18, 190 pp .

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Alternative Identifiers	https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=raroia_fishes_1952