The National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) announced that it published the third edition of an illustrated guidebook 「Commercial Fishes in Korea」 containing the information on 272 fish species, which are useful for Koreans among the fish species living in Korean coastal waters. 

The illustrated guidebook was made in preparation for the changes in fisheries environment and for the utilization of commercial fishes, with taking into consideration of the research outcomes accumulated since after the first (1994) and second (2004) editions were published as well as of the changes in scientific name and classification system for fish species. 

The guidebook, in particular, covers the information on total 272 fish species; newly including subtropical fish species* that are projected to appear more often and commercial fishes in East Sea of Korea** that had drawn relatively little attention, while excluding the rare species and ones with low economic value that used to be found in the 1st and 2nd editions. 

    *Semicossyphus reticulatus, Lethrinus haematopterus (Chinese emperor), Lobotes surinamensis (Tripletail), Pseudocaranx dentex (White trevally), Euthynnus affinis, 

    Thunnus tonggol (Longtail tuna), Auxis thazard (Frigate tuna), Parupeneus chrysopleuron (Yellow striped goatfish), etc.

    **Sebastes owstoni (Owston's rockfish), Sebastes steindachneri (Yellow body rockfish), Myxocephalus stelleri (Steller's sculpin), Liparis ochotensis, Chirolophis japonicus (Fringed blenny),       

    Lycodes toyamensis (Blackedged fin eelpout), Lycodes tanakae (Tanaka's eelpout), etc. 

It also contains the schematic diagram including real photos and major taxonomic characters, as well as the ecological information such as the distribution, migration, spawning, inhabitation, and growth of each fish species. Based on the illustrated guidebook, the institute is going to contribute to making on-site species identification much more easy. 

To that end, NIFS will distribute 400 copies of the guidebook to relevant organizations and universities while posting it in the form of PDF file available for download on its website (www.nifs.go.kr/rsh). The file applies to Korea Open Government License (KOGL) Type 2; the user can freely use the public work without fee, and can change it to create secondary work, but it is not permitted to use for commercial purpose.