Acronyms Used in the Macrofauna Golfo Database

GULF OF CALIFORNIA

GCN: Northern Gulf (includes the Midriff Islands and everything north of them)
GCC: Central Gulf
GCS: Southern Gulf
SWB: Southwest Baja California Sur (Cabo San Lucas to the northern limit of Bahía Magdalena)
RB: Upper Gulf of California/Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve

NOTE: We recognize 3 biogeographic regions in the Gulf of California:

The Northern Gulf (GCN) extends from the marine-influenced Colorado River Delta south to (and including) the Midriff Islands (las Islas del Cinturón), the largest being Islas Tiburón and Ángel de la Guarda, and to Bahía San Francisquito (Baja California) and Bahía Kino (Sonora). Within the Northern Gulf is the Upper Gulf of California/Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve, extending from the Delta to a line running from Punta Pelícano (= Roca del Toro; the southern margin of Bahía Cholla and the larger Bahía Adair), Sonora, across the Gulf to Punta El Machorro (= Punta San Felipe), at San Felipe, Baja California.

The Central Gulf (GCC) ranges from the Midriff Islands to Guaymas (Sonora), and to Punta Coyote (Baja California Sur).

The Southern Gulf (GCS) extends southward to Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, on the mainland, and to Cabo San Lucas on the Baja California Peninsula.

At the very head of the Gulf of California is the Upper Gulf of California/Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve (RB), established in 1993. Its southern limit is a line connecting Punta San Felipe [= Punta Machorro], BC, with Punta Pelicano [=Roca del Toro; sometimes called Punta La Cholla or Choya, among other names] of Puerto Peñasco, SON.

HABITATS (= GENERAL HABITAT)

ARCO: Coral reef (arrecife coralino)
BEN: Benthic (bentonico)
COM: Commensal (comensal)
EPIF: Epiphytic (epifitica)
LACS: Coastal lagoons (lagunas costeras) (e.g., estuaries, esteros)
LITO: Littoral zone (zona litoral)
MANG: Mangrove lagoons
NER: Neritic
OCE: Oceanic
PAR: Parisitico; parasitic
PEL: Pelagic

SUBSTRATES

ARE: Sand (arena)
CAG: Water column (columna de agua)
COR: Coral (corales)
MAD: Dead wood (madera)
MAN: Mangroves (manglares)
LOD: Mud (lodo)
PIE: Rubble (piedrisca; including 'conchal,' or shell-hash bottoms)
ROC: Rocks (rocks)
VEM: Marine vegetation (vegetación marina)

COMMUNITIES

ABEN: Abyssobenthic
BBEN: Bathybenthic (batibentico)
BPEL: Bathypelagic
EPEL: Epipelagic
FLOT: Flotsom
MPEL: Mesopelagic
NEUS: Neustonica; neustonic
PAR: Parisitico; parasitic
PLAT: Continental shelf (plataforma continental)

COMMENTS FIELD

BML: Mangrove Lagoons on the Baja California peninsula

COUNTRIES (north to south)

CAN: Canada
USA: United States of America
MEX: Mexico
GUA: Guatemala
ELS: El Salvador
HON: Honduras
NIC: Nicaragua
COS: Costa Rica
PAN: Panama
COL: Colombia
ECU: Ecuador
PER: Peru
CHI: Chile

OTHER COUNTRIES (alphabetical)

ALG: Algeria
ARG: Argentina
AUS: Australia
BEL: Belgium
BRA: Brazil
CUB: Cuba
DEN: Denmark
DJI: Djibouti
EGY: Egypt
ENG: England
FRA: France
GBR: Great Britain
GER: Germany
GRE: Greenland
GUI: Guiana
HOL: Holland
HON: Hong Kong
ICE: Iceland
IND: Indonesia
INDI: India
IRE: Ireland
ITA: Italy
JAP: Japan
KOR: Korea
MAD: Madagascar
MOR: Morocco
MOZ: Mozambique
NEWG: New Guinea
NOR: Norway
NZE: New Zealand
PHI: Philippines
POR: Portugal
SAF: South Africa
SAU: Saudi Arabia
SCO: Scotland
SEN: Senegal
SPA: Spain
SRI: Sri Lanka
SWE: Sweden
URU: Uruguay
USSR: Soviet Union
VEN: Venezuela

STATES (north to south)

AK: Alaska
BC: British Columbia
WA: Washington
OR: Oregon
CA: California
BC: Baja California
BCS: Baja California Sur
SON: Sonora
SIN: Sinaloa
NAY: Nayarit
JAL: Jalisco
COL: Colima
MICH: Michoacan
GRO: Guerrero
OAX: Oaxaca
CHIS: Chiapas

OTHER STATES

PR: Puerto Rico
BC: British Columbia

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

CST: Costera; coastal (used primarily with birds)
B.: Bahía or Bay
I.: Isla or Island
Is.: Islas or Islands
BML: Mangrove lagoons on the Baja California peninsula
Nm: nautical miles

OTHER PACIFIC BIOGEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

PET: Pacífico Este Tropical (Tropical Eastern Pacific). From the northern limit of the Bahía Magdalena lagoonal complex (at Bahía Las Ánimas/San Jorge) of our Southwest Baja California faunal region (Fig. 1), to (and including) northern Peru's Punta Aguja (at the southern extremity of Bahía de Sechura) and its nearby two island groups of Lobos de Afuera and Lobos de Tierra, and including the entire Gulf of California.
PNET: Pacífico Noreste (nororiental) Templado (Temperate Northeastern Pacific). Including the temperate waters north of Bahía Magdalena to the Gulf of Alaska and southwestward of the eastern Aleutian Islands.
PSET: Pacífico Sureste (suroriental) Templado (Temperate Southeastern Pacific). Including the temperate waters south of Punta Aguja/Bahía de Sechura/Is. Lobos de Afuera and Lobos de Tierra (Peru) to Tierra del Fuego (Cabo Hornos; Cape Horn).

EASTERN PACIFIC OCEANIC ISLANDS

IGAL: Islas Galápagos (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)
IMAL: Isla Malpelo (Malpelo Island, Colombia)
ICOC: Isla del Coco (Cocos Island, Costa Rica)
ICLI: Isla (Atolón) Clipperton (Clipperton Island [Atoll])
IREV: Islas Revillagigedo (Revillagigedos Islands = Islas Socorro, Clarion, San Benedicto, and Roca Partida, far off the State of Colima, México)
ILTM: Islas las Tres Marías (Tres Marías Islands = Islas María Madre, María Magdalena, María Cleofas, and San Juanito, México; off the State of Nayarit and within the limits of our definition of the Gulf of California)
IGUA: Isla Guadalupe (Guadalupe Island, México; far off the State of Baja California [Norte])
RALI: Rocas Alijos (Alijos Rocks, México; off the State of Baja California Sur)

OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD OCEAN:

PC: Pacífico Central (Central Pacific). That vast part of the Pacific Ocean covering the Pacific (tectonic) Plate west of the eastern Pacific (see Springer, 1982).
PW: Pacífico Oeste (Western Pacific). The Pacific Ocean west of the Pacific (tectonic) Plate, including boreal/temperate/tropical waters from the western Aleutian Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk southward past the Japanese, Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos to western Australia.
OI: Oceáno Indico (Indian Ocean).
AE: Atlántico Este (Eastern Atlantic). Roughly any part of the Atlantic Ocean east of the Mid-Atlantic Rise (and plate boundary), including the Mediterranean Sea.
AW: Atlántico Oeste (Western Atlantic). Roughly any part of the Atlantic Ocean west of the Mid-Atlantic Rise (plate boundary), including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
ANT: Oceáno Antártico (Oceáno Septentrional) (Antarctic or Southern Ocean). The cold waters south of the Antarctic Convergence.
ART: Oceáno Ártico (Arctic Ocean). The often ice-bound boreal waters north of the Aleutian Islands and/or Arctic Circle.
COS: Cosmopólito (Cosmopolitan). Globally widespread in the world ocean, but usually excluding the waters of the ANT and ART. Warning: in many cases, the COS assignment was taken from the literature, even though some writers are known to have called an animal "cosmopolitan" when it would more appropriately be called "globally widespread" (i.e., not literally occurring everywhere).
CT: Circuntropical (Circumtropical). Occurring mainly in the world's tropical oceans, but often including minor extensions of distribution into adjacent warm temperate waters.
ENGC: Endémica del Golfo de California (endemic to the Gulf of California). The application of this term may include animals that extend their ranges slightly outside the strict limits of the Gulf of California, such as into the essentially subtropical waters of Bahía Magdalena and associated lagoons on the western coast of Baja California Sur (within our "SW Baja" faunal region), and/or slightly into tropical waters along the Pacific coast of Mexico southeast of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco. Hence, our use of the term "endemic" may be interpreted as "essentially endemic."