Zoological collections of Portuguese oceanographic campaigns in former colonial territories

Study Extent

This dataset refers to specimens collected chiefly during oceanographic campaigns organized by the Portuguese government in its colonial territories in Africa, most notably Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique, in the decades of 1950 and 1960.

Sampling

Field work in Angola and Cape Verde was supported by the Oceanographic Vessel “Baldaque da Silva” (renamed “Salvador Correia” in 1961), a steamer from the Portuguese Armada adapted for fisheries and oceanographic research. Detailed descriptions of the vessel and all its equipment were provided by Vilela (1953). The main fishing methods employed were bottom trawls with Vigneron-Dhal nets; trawls with Heligoland nets; encircling nets; beach trawl; French type lobster traps; or by hand during low tide. Some experimental trials were documented and published: gill nets (Paes da Franca 1964); lift net (Monteiro 1960); light luring (Franca and Palminha 1965); tuna fishing with encircling nets (Correia da Costa and Bragança Gil 1965), and with rods and live bait (Correia da Costa 1961).

Quality Control

Several sources of data were consulted and confronted in order to identify initial cataloguing errors. When inconsistencies were found, the most reliable source of data was followed and the decision rationale recorded. Georeferencing followed the recommendations of Chapman and Wieczorek (2020).

Method steps

1. Information pertaining to each specimen was catalogued and digitized. Several sources of data were identified, namely collection datasheets, specimen labels, unpublished campaign reports and other manuscript documents, and published works. Verbatim collecting data, often restricted to a trawl number, was standardized for better interpretation. All original data was recorded and maintained, despite errors and inconsistencies.
2. Locality data was georeferenced using GeoLocate (https://www.geo-locate.org/) in combination with available maps and other locality information from relevant publications and campaign reports (Vilela 1953; Soares and Vasconcelos 1962; Franca et al. 1964). When geographic coordinates were available, these were converted to decimal degrees in the WGS84 map datum. In most cases, geographic coordinates correspond to the initial position of a trawl, and additional information is provided (e.g. trawl duration and average heading) to allow for a better interpretation.
3. Previous taxonomic identifications were updated to reflect current classification, following the Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes (https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/projects/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes) for fish, and the World Register of Marine Species (https://www.marinespecies.org/) for invertebrates. Type material in the collections was located and properly signaled.

The collection has a wide taxonomic coverage, holding representatives of 1372 species, belonging to 447 families and 21 different classes across 7 phyla. The major contribution to the collection is made by marine fishes, followed by mollusks and the decapod crustaceans.

1. Animalia
   rank: kingdom
2. Chordata
   rank: phylum
3. Annelida
   rank: phylum
4. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
5. Bryozoa
   rank: phylum
6. Cnidaria
   rank: phylum
7. Echinodermata
   rank: phylum
8. Mollusca
   rank: phylum
9. Porifera
   rank: phylum

The collection covers a variety of biogeographic contexts, including specimens from 11 different countries in 3 continents. Most of the material was collected during oceanographic campaigns in the Portuguese speaking African countries Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique. Additional countries are represented in small numbers resulting from sporadic collection events: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Portugal, East Timor, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.