The lists, based on Hureau (1995-96), an updated version of Whitehead et al. (1984-86), were drafted by Jacob van der Land and Mark J. Costello, with assistance from Louise Collier, with additions from the Adriatic and Baltic provided by Dusan Zavodnik, and for the Azores by Riccardo Serrão Santos and Filipe Mora Porteiro. Filipe Mora Porteiro also carefully corrected the list for errors. We also thank Giambattista Bellow for his helpful suggestions concerning the Chondrichthyes, and Bruno Chanet, Martine Desoutter, Bo Fernholm, Arnaud Filleul, Jean-Claude Hureau, Yuri Sazonov, Bernard Séret for their helpful comments. Jean-Claude Quéro provided his own updated list survey for the North-East Atlantic north to the 36° parallel.

The orders and families follow Eschmeyer (1998) strictly. The species names and authorities also follow Eschmeyer (1998) for the most part. The FishBase (FB) web site is a useful source of further information on the species (http://www.fishbase.org). Nicolas Bailly checked the list with the procedure "Check Names" within FB 99 on CD-ROM (Froese and Pauly 1999), then compared with Jean-Claude Quéro's list, and the MNHN fish collection database GICIM (http://www.mnhn.fr/base/gicim.htm), then checked again with FB 2000 current version in early June 2000. The reader is directed to FB and CoF for the many synonyms of the species. Future lists could include synonyms still in common use, and in addition, species which have recently invaded the European fauna. For example, the International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea (CIESM) lists 29 fish species for the Mediterranean that are additional to the present list (http://www.ciesm.org/atlas). Most of these species have entered from the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal.

All the subgenera of Raja have been upgraded to genus level according to McEachranand Dunn (1998). All the undescribed species, i.e. those noted as "aff." or "sp." have been omitted in the list, but are noted below. In most cases, the letter "i" at the end of species epithets refering to a persons name follow Eschmeyer (1998). We have tried to use the original spelling, even when not only the ending, but also when the whole name of a person was involved (e.g. Parablennius ruxii for Roux). In some cases, the names can be a noun in apposition, and do not need an ending "i" at all (e.g., Arctozenus risso, Galeocerdo cuvier, Lophotus lacepede, Notacanthus bonaparte, Squalus blainville, etc). If the final "i" or a more used spelling should be desirable, the emendation must be submitted to the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature according to the prevailing use rule.

There remain some issues which should be solved by future publications (the names chosen here are cited first) before a final endorsement:

• presence of species: Alepocephalus aff. australis (not in the list, new species?), Antennarius radiosus (accidental), Epinephelus nigritus (accidental), Monolene microstoma (not in the list), Mobula tarapacana, Polymetme corythaeola (misidentification forP. thaeocoryla?), Sphoeroides spengleri (not in the list, misidentification for S. marmoratus?), Sphyraena barracuda (not in the list), Squalus megalops (new species?);
• validity of genus: Aphanius/Lebias, Macroparalepis, Dalatias/Scymnorhinus, Diceratias/Phrynichthys;
• validity of species: Bathyraja sp. (not in the list, to be described), Centrophorus uyato, Cepola rubescens (here considered as a junior synonym of C. macrophthalma); Chromogobius sp. (not in the list, to be described), Gaidropsarus sp. (not in the list, to be described), Hippocampus ramulosus/guttulatus, Leptoderma sp. (not in the list, to be described), Neoraja sp. (not in the list, to be described),Psednos sp. (not in the list, to be described);
• genus assignation: Arctozenus/Notolepis risso, Callionymus/Calliurichthys filamentosus, Histiobranchus/Synaphobranchus bathybius, Platytroctes/Platytroctegen mirus, Scophthalmus maximus/Psetta maxima, Solea/Synapturichthys kleinii, Synchiropus/Foetorepus phaeton, Trachinus/Echiithys vipera;
• subspecies elevated to species level (only for practical layout reason, should be correctly considered as subspecies): Apletodon bacescui (subspp.A. dentatus), Diplecogaster euxinica, D. pectoralis (subspp.D. bimaculata), Eumicrotremus eggvini (subsp. E. spinosus), Lepadogaster purpurea (subsp. L. lepadogaster), Molva macrophthalma (subsp.M. dypterygia), Trachyscorpia echinata (subsp. T. cristulata), Tylosurus imperialis (subsp. T. acus);
• senior synonym: Lethenteron camtschaticum/japonicum;
• homonym: subgenus Chalinura, Raja africana;
• spelling: Careproctus reinhardti/reinhardi, Canthidermis maculata/maculatus, Dipturus nidarosiensis/nigarosiensis/nidrosiensis, Kyphosus sectator/sectatrix, Leucobrotula adipata/adipatus, Microichthys sanzi/sanzoi, Parablennius ruxii/rouxi, Pleuronectes platessa/platessus, Salaria basilisca/basiliscus.

References

• Eschmeyer, W.N. (ed.) 1998. Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences, 3 vols: 1-2905, with Database CD-ROM.
• Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Editors. 1999. FishBase 99: concepts, structure et sources de données. ICLARM, Manilla, Philippines. 324 p.
• Hureau, J.-C. (ed.) 1995-1996. Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. CD-ROM. ETI, Amsterdam; Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 1995: MacIntosh version; 1996: PC version.
• McEachran, J.D. and Dunn K.A. 1998. Phylogenetic analysis of skates, a morphologically conservative clade of elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae). Copeia 1998(2), 271-290.
• Santos, R. S., F. M. Porteiro & J. P. Barreiros 1997. Marine fishes of the Azores: Annotated check-list and bibliography. Arquipélago- Life and Marine Sciences. Supplement 1: xxviii + 241pp. (ISBN: 972-9340-92-7)
• Whitehead, P.J.P., Bauchot, M.-L., Hureau J.-C., Nielsen J., and Tortonese E. (eds) 1984-1986. Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. 3 Vols, 1473 pp, UNESCO, Paris.