Background: Sciaenidae is one of the most important coastal fisheries in Taiwan, both in production and economic value. It is also significant as the main targeted diet of Chinese white dolphins, especially genus Johnius, which is primarily found in central-western Taiwan coastal waters. Even though an abundance of Johnius occurrence has been reported (Mozambique, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Pakistan, Vietnam, and China) in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF), there are no specific datasets which properly document the regional distribution of this genus, especially in Taiwanese waters. Thus, this paper describes a dataset of the genus Johnius occurrences in waters on the central-western coast of Taiwan. The data collection for the present study was conducted from 2009 until 2020 and comprised 62 sampling events and 133 occurrence records. All fish specimens were collected by trawling at Miaoli, Changhwa, and Yunlin counties, Taiwan, and were brought back to the lab for identification, individual number count, and body weight measurement. These raw data have been integrated and established in the Taiwan Fish Database (http://fishdb.sinica.edu.tw) and published in GBIF (https://www.gbif.org). This dataset contains six Johnius species and 2,566 individuals, making it comprehensive Johnius fish fauna and spatial distributional data on the coastal habitat in central western Taiwanese waters.

New information: This dataset contains 133 occurrence records of Johnius species (Sciaenidae) with 2,566 specimens, making it the most extensive public dataset of Johnius distribution records in Taiwan. Publication of this dataset to the TaiBIF and GBIF dataset platform demonstrated that the number of Johnius spatial and temporal records in Taiwan waters is influenced by the topographical structure of the Changyun Rise (CYR) in combination with the cold current of the China Coastal water and the warm currents of the Kuroshio and the South China Sea on the central western coast of Taiwan. The data serve as the foundation for understanding the biogeography and Johnius species ecology in Taiwan's coastal waters which present a 2oC water temperature difference split at the CYR.

GBIF url: https://www.gbif.org/dataset/9962b976-7eab-452f-acd5-3f772cc0ab25
Citation: Hanafi N, Lai C, Yang M, Chang C, Chen M (2023). A trawling collected dataset of Johnius (Actinopterygii, Sciaenidae) species in central western Taiwanese coastal waters. Version 1.19. Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility (TaiBIF). Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/cnpayh accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-04-08.