Fish Stomach Contents Database for Northern Europe, 1893-2012

DAPSTOM is an integrated database containing over 225,000 digitized records of fish stomach contents. The initiative, supported by Defra and the EU, spans 120 years from 1893 to 2012 and covers 188 predator species common in northern European groundfish surveys. Records can be searched by predator or prey name for specific sea areas and years, with results output as CSV files.

Use Cases

• Parameterizing multispecies ecosystem models based on long-term predator-prey interaction data.
• Analyzing changes in marine food webs over time based on records spanning 120 years.
• Studying the diet composition of specific predator species across different sea areas and years.
• Investigating prey species distribution and abundance through predator stomach records.

Strengths

• Contains over 225,000 records, providing substantial data volume.
• Covers a 120-year time range from 1893 to 2012, offering long-term ecological perspective.
• Includes 188 predator species, representing a wide taxonomic scope for northern European waters.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Data may reflect geographic/temporal bias inherent to the source surveys.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service (via eu_open_data platform).

Collection Method

Digitization of historical fish stomach content records from surveys.

Time Range

1893 to 2012

Freshness

Data spans up to 2012; last platform update unknown.

Geography

Northern European sea areas.