Marine Biological Reference Collections: CBMR-General (ICM-CSIC)

Occurrence Specimen
Latest version published by Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) on Jun 17, 2025 Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC)
Home:
https://www.icm.csic.es/en/service/marine-biological-reference-collections
Publication date:
17 June 2025
License:
CC-BY-NC 4.0

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 15,681 records in English (590 KB) - Update frequency: as needed
Metadata as an EML file download in English (55 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (21 KB)

Description

The Marine Biological Reference Collections (CBMR) are located at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain. The CBR are a Unit of Service where around 15000 referenced species are preserved, catalogued and maintained for their study. The most represented marine groups at the CBMR are fish, crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms, but also other groups are present. The studies based on the CBMR specimens are focused on biodiversity, biogeography, taxonomy (type species), invasive and alien species, and genetic analysis. Several PhD theses have also been carried out in collaboration with the CBMR. The CBMR are a reference point for the marine biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea, but in their facilities the CBMR also hold specimens from all the oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Antarctic and Arctic). The Collections are constantly receiving new specimens and updating. The main sources of specimens are oceanographic surveys and different kind of sampling programs carried out by the research projects run by the ICM-CSIC. However, the CBMR have also received (in the past and currently) different collections donated by naturalists, researchers, other institutions, and particulars. The CBMR were created in 1981, in the earlier history of the ICM-CSIC, by Jaume Rucabado, Domingo Lloris and Concepción Allué. The Collections were later recognized and catalogued by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1990. In the last decade, the CBMR initiated a new stage where the information was digitized and the physical preservation of specimens updated to the new rules (such as change from formaldehyde to ethanol). The CBMR are now part of GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), thus making public and available all data collections and their metadata. We have also incorporated the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to monitor and study the geographical distribution of our specimens and moreover, the CBMR started to act as repository of DNA voucher collections for genetic analyses. As a unit of service of the ICM-CSIC we think that education and outreach of marine science is of crucial importance for the society and for that reason the CBMR take active part in several outreach activities with schools, universities and general public. For more information or details you can visit our webpage (http://cbr.icm.csic.es/en/node) and send us an e-mail (cbr@icm.csic.es). We will be happy to help you.

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 15,681 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:

Guerrero E, Abelló P, Lombarte A, Villanueva R, Ramón M, Sabatés A, Santos R (2025). Marine Biological Reference Collections: CBMR-General (ICM-CSIC). Version 1.32. Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC). Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.15470/qlqqdx

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 1d743188-1e65-4d99-a814-fa3fd51f1490.  Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Spain.

Keywords

Occurrence; specimen; marine; animalia; protista; chromista; Chordata; Arthropoda; Annelida; Cnidaria; Echinoderma; Mollusca; Nemertea; Sipincula; fish; crustaceans; echinoderms; tunicata; Occurrence

Contacts

Elena Guerrero
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Curator
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Pere Abelló
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Tenured researcher
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Antoni Lombarte
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Tenured researcher
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Roger Villanueva
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Tenured researcher
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Montserrat Ramón
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Tenured researcher
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Ana Sabatés
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Tenured researcher
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00
Ricardo Santos
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator
  • Curator
ICM-CSIC
  • Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37.
E-08003 Barcelona
Barcelona
ES
  • +34 93 230 95 00

Geographic Coverage

Worldwide spatial coverage Fishes The specimens of the reference collection of Fish come mostly from the following geographical areas: • W Mediterranean (31%): Catalan and Iberian Mediterranean ... • SE Atlantic (28%): Angola, Valdivia Bank, Namibia ... • Central-E Atlantic (8%): Gulf of Guinea, Mauritania, Sahara, Senegal ... • Central-E Pacific (7%): California, Mexico ... • W Indian ocean (7%): Mozambique, Somalia ... Many specimens were collected from fishery research cruises (Atlor, Bathos, Benguela, CEEMEX, Marca, MEDITS, Mozambique, Sahara, Valdivia ...), but also from exchanges, doantions and diverse sampling procedures. Decapods The specimens of the Decapoda-General collection were mainly collected from the following geographical zones: • SE Atlantic Ocean (43 %): Angola, Namibia … • W Mediterranean Sea (36 %) • Central-E Pacific (10 %): Mexico … • Central-E Atlantic Ocean (7 %): Guinea … • And other zones of the Atlantic Ocean (France, Galicia; Newfoundland, Gulf of Mexico, Beagle Channel), the Indian Ocean (Mozambique) and the Antarctic Ocean. Most specimens of the Decapoda-General collection have been collected in oceanographic and fishery research cruises and coastal samplings: Africana, Bathos, Batimar, Benguela, CEEMEX, Marca, MEDITS, Namibia, Valdivia… Cephalopods The collection contains about 1,500 specimens. The two main areas of origin are the SE Atlantic Ocean (62%, Namibia, Valdivia Bank) and the W Mediterranean (33%). There are about 60 species from the SE Atlantic Ocean and about 40 species from the Mediterranean Sea. The main collecting cruises were: Atlor, Bathos, Benguela, MEDITS and Valdivia. Other taxa There are specimens of the phyllum Echinodermata from the deep Mediterranean Sea (up to 2,850 m), belonging to the classes Asteroidea, Echinoidea and Holothuroidea. Cumacean species, the majority of them are types (holotypes, paratypes, allotypes; there are types of 20 species. Their origin is varied: Antarctic Ocean-Shetland Islands, Gulf of Thailand, Pacific Ocean-New Caledonia, Persian Gulf, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea.

Bounding Coordinates South West [-90, -180], North East [90, 180]

Taxonomic Coverage

Phylum Arthropoda

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Order Amphipoda, Euphausiacea, Isopoda, Lophogastrida, Mysida, Calanoida, Scalpelliformes, Decapoda, Cumacea

Phylum Mollusca

Phylum Mollusca
Class Cephalopoda, Bivalvia
Order Myopsida, Octopoda, Oegopsida, Sepiida, Spirulida, Vampyromorpha, Decapodiformes 
Family Arcidae, Cardiidae, Glossidae, Gryphaeidae, Limidae, Mactridae, Pandoridae, Pectinidae, Pharidae, Pinnidae, Psammobiidae, Veneridae, Anomiidae, Hiatellidae, Mytilidae, Noetiidae, Nuculidae, Ostreidae, Tellinidae, Solecurtidae, Pteriidae, Solenidae, Nassariidae, Donacidae, Lucinidae, Umbraculidae, Corbulidae, Buccinidae

Phylum Echinodermata

Phylum Echinodermata
Class Asteroidea, Crinoidea, Echinoidea, Holothuroidea, Ophiuroidea

Phylum Annelida

Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Eunicida

Kingdom Chromista 

Kingdom Chromista 
Phylum Ciliophora 
Class Oligotrichea
Order Oligotrichida
Family Tontoniidae

Phylum Chordata

Phylum Chordata
Order Acipenseriformes, Anguiliformes, Atheriniformes, Batrachoidiformes, Beloniformes, Beryciformes, Carcharhiniformes, Cetomimiformes, Chimaeriformes, Clupeiformes, Cypriniformes, Dactylopteriformes, Elopiformes, Gadiformes, Gasterosteiformes, Gobiesociformes, Heterodontiformes, Hexanchiformes, Lamniformes, Lampridiformes, Lophiiformes, Mugiliformes, Myctophiformes, Myliobatiformes, Myxiniformes, Notacanthiformes, Ophidiiformes, Orectolobiformes, Perciformes, Petromyzoniformes, Pleuronectiformes, Rajiformes, Salmoniformes, Scorpaeniformes, Siluriformes, Squaliformes, Squatiniformes, Stomiiformes, Syngnathiformes, Tetraodontiformes, Torpediniformes, Zeiformes

Phylum Mollusca

Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Family Architectonicidae, Calliostomatidae, Calyptraeidae, Capulidae, Cassidae, Clathurellidae, Columbellidae, Costellaridae, Dorididae, Fasciolariidae, Marginellidae, Muricidae, Naticidae, Ovulidae, Polyceridae, Raphitomidae, Scaphandridae, Triviidae, Trochidae, Turritellidae, Aporrhaidae, Cancellariidae, Marginellidae, Ranellidae, Fissurellidae

Phylum Mollusca

Class Polyplacophora
Family Acanthochitonidae

Order Stomatopoda

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Order Stomatopoda
Family Squillidae, Hemisquillidae , Nannosquillidae, Parasquillidae

Phylumm Nemertea

Phylum Nemertea
Class Anopla
Family Lineidae

Subphylum Tunicata

Subphylum Tunicata
Class Ascidiacea
Order Phlebobranchia
Family Ascidiidae

Phylum Sipuncula

Phylum Sipuncula
Class Phascolosomatidea, Sipunculidea

Class Pycnogonida

Class Pycnogonida 

Temporal Coverage

Formation Period 1975-current

Collection Data

Collection Name CBMR-General
Collection Identifier http://www.gbif.es/ic_colecciones.php?ID_Coleccion=9751
Specimen preservation methods Alcohol,  Formalin
Curatorial Units Between 27,000 and 29,000 specimen

Additional Metadata

Alternative Identifiers doi:10.15470/qlqqdx
1d743188-1e65-4d99-a814-fa3fd51f1490
https://ipt.gbif.es/resource?r=cbr-icm