The goal of this project is to realise two volumes of a book (volume I: plates and volume II: text) on the diversity of Actinopterygians of the European Atlantic, the Mediterranean and bordering areas. In the end it will include about 1500 species. Updates are scheduled depending on the project progress. This one will be distributed on Pdf file until the publication of a final version as a book. In the text volume the redaction of the taxa will be done by the specialists of each group.
The greatest interests of this project are:
- to present standardised photos of all affected species.
- to present specimens, all deposited in institutional collections.
- to present specimens , all sampled for molecular biology and to provide these samples to others researchers.
- to use the results on cladistic analyses (molecular and morphological) to organise the classification within the book.
This provisional version and those that will follow are mostly for researchers working on systematics of Actinopterygians. The manuscript presents specimens recently collected and accessible in the institutional collection. Sub-samples of muscular tissue can be provided to researchers at justified request. It is requested to researchers that received samples to cite the collection numbers of the specimens in their papers and to send me a reprint of the papers citing the material. The best is also to cite these collection numbers during the capture data of molecular sequences in GenBank.

Samuel P. Iglésias