Fishes of Texas Project (FoTX) Database and Website - Darwin Core

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published by University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Collections on Mar 31, 2026 University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Collections
Publication date:
March 31, 2026
License:
CC0 1.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 895,586 records in English (85 MB) - Update frequency: monthly
Metadata as an EML file download in English (30 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (15 KB)

Description

<p>The Fishes of Texas Project (www.fishesoftexas.org) provides a centralized, quality-controlled, and open-access database of freshwater fish occurrences to enhance ichthyological research and aquatic resource management within the state of Texas and its shared basins. By aggregating over 895,000 records from museum specimens, agency reports, and citizen science platforms, the project employs rigorous data verification and georeferencing protocols to correct historical misidentifications and spatial outliers. The platform integrates interactive mapping, species distribution models (SDMs), and comprehensive species accounts to facilitate the visualization of temporal and geographic trends in biodiversity. These high-resolution data products have directly informed state conservation priorities, including the designation of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and the establishment of Native Fish Conservation Areas (NFCAs). Ultimately, this collaborative framework serves as a critical baseline for assessing the impacts of climate change, habitat fragmentation, and invasive species on Texas's diverse aquatic ecosystems.</p>

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 895,586 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:

Hendrickson D A, Cohen A E, Urban T (2026). Fishes of Texas Project (FoTX) Database and Website - Darwin Core. Version 1.18. University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Collections. Occurrence dataset. doi:10.17603/C3WC70

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Collections. 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: ba5b0f3a-73dd-459f-a7f1-9abc327aed00.  University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Collections publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF-US.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation; Occurrence; Fish; Texas; Biodiversity; Conservation; Voucher; Museum Specimen; Biogeography; Native Fish Conservation Area; Species Distribution Model; Data Improvement

Contacts

Dean A. Hendrickson
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Ichthyology Curator
University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Center
  • 10100 Burnet RD, PRC 176/R4000
78758-4445 Austin
TX
US
  • +01 512-471-9774
Adam E. Cohen
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Ichthyology Collections Manager
University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Center
  • 10100 Burnet RD, PRC 176/R4000
78758-4445 Austin
TX
US
  • +01 512-471-8845
Tomislav Urban
  • Point Of Contact
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center
  • 10100 Burnet RD, PRC 205/R8700
78758-4445 Austin
TX
US
Tomislav Urban
  • Point Of Contact
  • Senior Software Developer
Texas Advanced Computing Center
Austin
TX
US
Melissa J. Casarez
  • Processor
  • Ichthyology Collections Assistant Manager
University of Texas at Austin, Biodiversity Center
  • 10100 Burnet RD, PRC 176/R4000
78758 Austin
TX
US
  • +01 512-475-8171
F. Douglas Martin
  • Processor
University of Texas, Biodiversity Collections
Casey Hartsough
  • Programmer
  • Programmer
University of Texas, Biodiversity Collections

Geographic Coverage

Our study area includes Texas and shared drainage basins going into neighbor states and the Gulf of Mexico (north of a line drawn from the southeastern edge of Louisiana to the southeastern edge of Tamaulipas). Data were obtained by database searches or personal requests for data from that area. In many cases provider databases lacked the data fields to allow discovery of those records, in which case we requested data from larger geographic areas (e.g. country). All records that were acquired are provided in the database, but only those in our study area have received the full processing efforts (georeferencing, suspect flagging, specimen examination, date corrections etc).

Bounding Coordinates South West [24.447, -109.16], North East [40.914, -88.682]

Taxonomic Coverage

All fish taxa

Order Acipenseriformes, Amiiformes, Anguilliformes, Atheriniformes, Beloniformes, Characiformes, Clupeiformes, Cypriniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Esociformes, Gadiformes, Gasterosteiformes, Gobiesociformes, Lepisosteiformes, Mugiliformes, Myliobatiformes, Osmeriformes, Osteoglossiformes, Perciformes, Percopsiformes, Petromyzontiformes, Pleuronectiformes, Salmoniformes, Scorpaeniformes, Siluriformes, Synbranchiformes, Syngnathiformes
Family Goodeidae

Temporal Coverage

Living Time Period 1700s to recent

Project Data

This is the database of the Fishes of Texas Project (www.fishesoftexas.org). The project aims to bring together in one database all of the specimen data pertaining to fishes of Texas. Initial efforts focused on specimen data, which we believe should be the foundation of our knowledge about Texas fish biogeography, but recognizing the value of other types of data, later efforts include the addition of non-specimen data.

Title Fishes of Texas (FoTX) Project Database and Website
Identifier FoTX
Funding Funding has been provided primarily by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, University of Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the US Department of the Interior. See http://www.fishesoftexas.org/documentation/sponsors/
Study Area Description Texas and its shared drainages in neighbor states and the Gulf of Mexico north of a line drawn from the eastern edge of Louisiana to the southern edge of Tamaulipas.
Design Description Specimens are collected by various and often undocumented means. Information about sampling gear, methods and habitats is recorded in our database when available.

The personnel involved in the project:

Dean A. Hendrickson
  • Custodian Steward
Adam E. Cohen
  • Custodian Steward
Tomislav Urban
  • Programmer
Melissa Casarez
  • Processor
F. Douglas Martin
  • Processor
Ben J. Labay
  • Processor
Colton Avila
  • Processor
Casey Hartsough
  • Programmer
Ryan Rash
  • Processor

Sampling Methods

The Fishes of Texas Project is a data acquisition and improvement project and thus includes data collected by others using various means. More recent funding has allowed the Fishes of Texas Project team to collect specimens from data gaps detected in the database using various collection methods. See our documentation to learn more: http://www.fishesoftexas.org/documentation/

Study Extent Our study area includes Texas and shared drainage basins going into neighbor states and the Gulf of Mexico (north of a line drawn from the eastern edge of Louisiana to the southern edge of Tamaulipas). Data were obtained based on database searches or personal requests for data from that area. In many cases provider data lacked the data fields to allow discovery of those records, in which case we requested data from larger geographic areas (eg. country). All records that were acquired are provided in the database, but only those in our study area have received the full processing efforts (georeferencing, suspect flagging, specimen examination, date corrections etc).
Quality Control Records from many disparate sources have been brought into a common format and standardized (taxa names, dates, and collector names in particular) allowing them to be queried in a single database. Localities have been georeferenced (including error estimate) if possible. These steps allowed us to map the records of each species and detect spatial and temporal outliers, which we flagged as "suspect". Early versions of the database were strictly specimen based and we've made extensive efforts to find specimens that we flagged and examine them to correct determination errors. See our documentation to learn more: http://www.fishesoftexas.org/documentation/

Method step description:

  1. After data were acquired, either directly from source or via online data aggregator, they were (1) re-formatted; (2) georeferenced to coordinates with an error radius estimate (those then determined to be in our study area received the most complete data standardization); (3) standardized (when possible) taxa to AFS Common and Scientific Names of Fishes or the GBIF backbone; (4) standardized collector names when possible; (5) standardized dates to begin and end dates; (6) flagged records that we thought had erroneous data as "suspect" records; (7) examined "suspect" specimens, which usually turn out to be mis-identifications. See our documentation to learn more: http://www.fishesoftexas.org/documentation/

Additional Metadata

Purpose
Maintenance Description Data are refreshed monthly, but actual updates to those data are expected less-frequently.
Alternative Identifiers ba5b0f3a-73dd-459f-a7f1-9abc327aed00
https://ipt.tacc.utexas.edu/resource?r=fotx