FAQs

“DISCOVERED”

A species is classified as ‘discovered’ when experts determine—based on morphological evidence, ecological context, and/or, where appropriate, genetic data—that it represents a taxon new to science. Species discoveries are made available here on the BDP. Please add your newly discovered species here.

“DESCRIBED”

A species is considered ‘described’ after a taxonomic description or diagnosis is published with a valid scientific name assigned and a holotype deposited in a recognised institutional collection.

To be “discovered” you will need to add information about the species as follows:

• Unique Specimen Identifier
• A temporary name
• Depth (m)
• Latitude /longitude (decimal degrees – there is a converter inside) 
• At least one image of the full specimen (we encourage more!)
• Taxonomic remarks explaining why this species is new to science. 

All text fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are required to declare a species as discovered.

The information icons next to each text field provide guidance and additional details.

The upload form is divided into species level information and specimen level information in the following way:

The Taxonomy and Rationale tabs concern species level information

The Specimen Location, Preservation and Images tabs concern specimen level information

Please note there is currently no edit button i.e. if you do not submit your data will be lost. We are working on it for the next version!

This is a beta version of the Biodiversity Data Platform and we are grateful for any comments you have, ways we can improve, aspects of taxonomic description we have not considered etc. If you have any insights, advice and/or thoughts you want to share please contact us by emailing: bdp@2design.co, or using the Contact us form here.

Whilst you can see your species within your online gallery we do not immediately update the online version; This is because we moderate your entries and undertake some quality control before launching your fabulous new species out onto the internet. 

Please follow these steps in order:

1. Sign in to/ accept the pop-ups when accessing the app.
2. Make sure you are using the email address you have provided in the sign-up form, or in any previous correspondence with Ocean Census.
3. If you have a VPN installed, please make sure it is disabled.
4. Use Google Chrome to access the app.
5. Use an incognito tab.

If the issue persists, please contact bdp@oceancensus.org with the subject “Sign Up Error” including details of the error.

Though most of our data is now live on the BDP, we are busy behind the scenes moving this year’s submissions onto our new platform. Please do not be alarmed if you cannot see submissions posted to us later than March 2025.

If the error is a simple update (e.g. there is no depth listed for my specimen collection, I have updated taxonomic remarks), please use the edit function to correct this.

For other issues, or updates to non-editable fields (e.g. Unique Specimen Identifiers) please contact bdp@oceancensus.org with the subject “Data Edit”, making sure to include the OC Species ID, species name, and Unique Specimen Identifier of the Primary Voucher.

There is no “delete” function in the app, except for individual images. To downgrade/delete your species, please contact bdp@oceancensus.org with the subject “Downgrade a Species”, making sure to include the OC Species ID, species name, and Unique Specimen Identifier of the Primary Voucher.