This webpage is simply an alphabetical list of the scientific names of fishes recorded from waters in and near the park. Each fish name is linked (click on the scientific name) to its individual taxonomic Family. On the lists or within the Family list, if a fish is illustrated click on the thumbnail image to link to the large photograph page.

Click on "Scientific Names" to access the list of fishes. Click on "Browse Pictures" to view galleries of photos. (Text with the fish name pops up if you hold your curser over the picture). There are also indexes to both Samoan and English common names of at least the fish families. Names in these indexes are linked to the Family pages (click on the name). Macrons are not included over the Samoan names since their transmission often becomes garbled with different internet browsers.

The principal source of the fishes listed here is from:
Wass, R. C. 1984. An annotated checklist of the fishes of American Samoa. U. S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Report NMFS SSRF-781. Rockville, Maryland. View report in pdf.

The majority of illustrations were generously provided by Richard C. Wass, Office of Marine and Wildlife Resources, American Samoa Government. Richard Wass, now retired, was most recently Refuge Manager of the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge, Hilo Hawaii.

Names of fishes listed here are based upon John Randall, 2005, Reef and Shore Fishes of the Indo-Pacific. University of Hawaii Press.

This page was developed from the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring website--an intranet site as yet not generally available to the public. The data are from a report on fishes of the National Park of American Samoa dated December 15, 2008. The NPS Inventorying and Monitoring site is a work in progress at this time. It is expected to be on line to the public in a couple more years.

Peruse the marvelous reef fish ecosystem shown here with a wistful sense of impending loss. The 2009 Report to the Congress Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States foretells its doom by this mid-century from a lethal combination of increasing ocean acidity and warming caused by human induced increase in CO2. View excerpts related to coral reef ecosystems, or download the entire report to the Congress (13.09 mb pdf)

Fish Base is an excellent website for detailed information about fishes worldwide.

National Park Service contacts: <bryan_harry@partner.nps.gov> or <peter_craig@nps.gov>
Page last updated 2 December 2009.