CUFES Fish Eggs
CalCOFI Underway CUFES Fish Eggs
swfsc_cufesNOAA SWFSCprovider terms ↗in the release since v2026.06.08ingested
Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES) egg counts (sardine, anchovy, jack mackerel, hake, squid, other) and eggs per cubic metre pumped, from CalCOFI cruises since 1996. CalCOFI holds 550,162 observations from 47,989 sampling events at 137 stations, 1996–2022, at the surface.
- 1996–2022
- years
- 550,162
- observations
- 47,989
- sampling events
- 137
- stations
- 5
- species
- surface
- depth
What this is
Continuous Underway Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES) egg counts (sardine, anchovy, jack mackerel, hake, squid, other) and eggs per cubic metre pumped, from CalCOFI cruises since 1996. Sampling is ongoing; the processed record reaches April 2022 and SWFSC’s processing lags its staffing (Ed Weber, 2026-10-14). Squid eggs are Abraliopsis felis, the only squid in the region with pelagic eggs. Source: SWFSC’s CSV export of its CalCOFI database (Cufes.csv, linked to the cruise list by CruiseId); until release v2026.10.01 the same records were read from NOAA CoastWatch ERDDAP erdCalCOFIcufes.
What is in it
2 variables · abundance, egg_concentration units and counts
obs_bio profile · one value per taxon at a sampling event · 550,162 values · 1996–2022 · 2 variables
6 taxa · Sardinops sagax pacific sardine (pilchard), Engraulis mordax northern anchovy, Teleostei unidentified teliost, Merluccius productus pacific hake or whiting, Trachurus symmetricus jack mackerel, Abraliopsis felis clawed enope squid … the 6 most observed
- Sardinops sagax Pacific sardine (pilchard) 95978
- Engraulis mordax Northern anchovy 95978
- Teleostei Unidentified Teliost 95978
- Merluccius productus Pacific hake or whiting 91376
- Trachurus symmetricus Jack mackerel 88518
- Abraliopsis felis Clawed enope squid 82334
Life stages · egg
9 of 12 months · extent 29.8–54.7°N, 134.1–117.2°W · 1996-03 to 2022-04
Ways in
Explorerdb-queryOriginal at NOAA ERDDAPERDDAPParquetnetCDFSTACIngest notebookAs JSON
Every endpoint 27 · explore 4, get the data 6, code 4, metadata records 7, archives & portals 6
Every endpoint this dataset can be reached through, grouped by how you would use it. Each name is the link; the copy button beside it copies the address. Everything is in the release record and was answered when the release was cut.
Apps that read this dataset from the release. The icons after a name are the app’s lenses — the spatial grain it shows the data at.
Every way to have the bytes, by source. Nothing here asks you to register first.
Tables from the release (Parquet)
The release’s own tables, as the parquet objects it is frozen from — the same bytes every app and package below reads. A table this dataset shares with others holds every dataset’s rows, so filter on dataset_key; a partition holds only this dataset’s. since is the release whose rows these are: an unchanged table keeps its object.
CF netCDF
One self-describing file, for a tool that reads netCDF.
how far this file is CF
Fully CF: an underway series on a moving platform is a CF trajectory. One trajectory per cruise; time, latitude and longitude vary along the observation dimension rather than being fixed per instance.
ERDDAP (erddap.calcofi.io)
One ERDDAP dataset per grain. Subset in the browser or query it from a script; for netCDF take the CF file above.
- observations
- one row per measurement — value, units and quality flag — joined to the sampling event it was taken on
- sampling events
- one row per cast, tow or transect: when, where and how it was sampled, with the effort that scales it
From the provider
The dataset as its provider publishes it, before CalCOFI ingested it.
The same release, from a script or a browser SQL shell.
Packages
The whole release, pinned to a version, with the citation one call away.
con <- calcofi4r::cc_get_db()
calcofi4r::cc_cite("swfsc_cufes")
con = calcofi4py.cc_get_db()
calcofi4py.cc_cite("swfsc_cufes")
DuckDB, anywhere
No CalCOFI package needed: each table above is a plain parquet object, readable by any DuckDB (or Arrow, pandas, Spark) from its URL. The path carries a content hash — a table whose rows did not change between releases keeps the same object, so nothing unchanged is stored or downloaded twice. Swap in any table above; one shared with other datasets needs WHERE dataset_key = 'swfsc_cufes'. Every object of every release is listed in db-schema.
SELECT *
FROM read_parquet('https://storage.googleapis.com/calcofi-db/ducklake/tables/obs/dataset_key=swfsc_cufes/13c79630ad5bec53d1f67ad6/data_0.parquet')
LIMIT 100;
db-query, in the browser
__TBL:obs__ is db-query’s name for the pinned release’s obs object — the hashed path above, resolved for you — so the same SQL keeps working when a release changes the object.
-- swfsc_cufes in the CalCOFI release v2026.11.05
SELECT *
FROM __TBL:obs__
WHERE dataset_key = 'swfsc_cufes'
LIMIT 100;
Records about the data, in the standards each portal harvests.
Where this dataset is registered outside calcofi.io: each portal’s role, what it is for, the dataset’s status there and the identifier it is known by. The policy — which portal is the archive of record and why — is in Portals.
Policy Archive of record: NOAA CoastWatch ERDDAP (erdCalCOFIcufes), SWFSC's own service and the ingest's source. NCEI is SWFSC's to deposit; EDI does not apply. OBIS: planned (Darwin Core Archive built and staged each release; the upload is SWFSC's call).
Cite no citation from the provider yet
This dataset's own citation. What to cite, and how, is a chapter of the docs book.
The provider has not confirmed a citation for this dataset yet (6 open questions with the provider). Cite the release below, and name the dataset by its key.
CalCOFI Underway CUFES Fish Eggs [dataset].
License: custom (https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/erdCalCOFIcufes.das)
BibTeX
@misc{swfsc_cufes,
title = {CalCOFI Underway CUFES Fish Eggs},
note = {License: custom (https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/erdCalCOFIcufes.das)}
}
…and the release it came from
CalCOFI (2026). CalCOFI Integrated Database, release v2026.11.05 [Data set]. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA Fisheries, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife. https://calcofi.io/db-schema/?v=v2026.11.05
BibTeX
@misc{calcofi_release_v2026_11_05,
title = {CalCOFI Integrated Database, release v2026.11.05},
author = {CalCOFI},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA Fisheries, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife},
url = {https://calcofi.io/db-schema/?v=v2026.11.05}
}
Provenance source read 2026-10-21 · 5 release tables · 2 changed in v2026.11.05 · 2 source files
What changed in v2026.11.05
- obs 3.3 MB · since v2026.11.05
- measurement_type 19.6 KB · since v2026.11.05
Source files
The original inputs the ingest notebook read, archived by the ingest to the public files bucket — 2 files, 22.5 MB.
- Cufes.csv13.8 MB2026-10-20
- erdCalCOFIcufes.csv8.7 MB2026-07-30
Open questions for the provider 4 on this dataset · 6 open in all
- Q06 citation_main — proposed
- Q07 license — open
- Q08 pi_names;creators — proposed
- Q15 link_data_source — open
Each is a field the record proposes and the provider has not yet confirmed.
Keywords 4 GCMD
FishAnchovies/herringsFish Abundance and BiodiversityCalCOFI Network
Everything here is open; nothing on calcofi.io asks you to register first. If this dataset ends up in something you build or publish, register your use so it can be credited and linked back; to hear when a release changes it, stay informed. Questions: data@calcofi.io.