A Review of Fish Taxonomy Conventions and Species Identification Techniques

Taxonomists, ecologists, geneticists or researchers from other biological fields who wish to adopt fish as a constituent of their studies often become discouraged when they find that ichthyology is a complex subject. In fish-based studies, the failure to recognize fishes as distinct biological units can lead to wrong diagnosis. Hence, this review paper attempts to clarify and discuss the latest schools of thought pertaining to fish taxonomy and the techniques for species identification. It is hoped that the contents and illustrations in this paper will assist researchers in laying a good foundation to inform their studies.