Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota

CAAB - Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota - is a continuously maintained and expanding 8-digit coding system for aquatic organisms in the Australian region maintained by CSIRO Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia (CMAR). Initially developed to cover fishes and selected other organisms of research or commercial interest, it has more recently been expanded to provide more comprehensive coverage of a number of aquatic groups, as information is available. CAAB is used by a large and expanding number of governmental and industry groups for marine biology and fishery purposes and has replaced almost all other national and locally designed coding systems.

CAAB currently contains codes and taxonomic information for the following aquatic organisms in the Australian region:

over 4,500 codes for fishes (CAAB category 37), representing virtually all known marine and freshwater species in Australian waters;
codes for other marine vertebrates (CAAB categories 39 - reptiles, 40 - birds, 41 - mammals), representing all currently recognised marine species in Australia;
around 20,000 codes for marine invertebrates (CAAB categories 10 to 36) in Australian waters, including sponges, stony corals, echinoderms, commercially important crustaceans and molluscs, tunicates, and other taxa;
codes for Australian seagrasses and mangroves (CAAB category 63)
codes for a representative selection of Australian seaweeds and microalgae (CAAB categories 52-55 and 70).