ORMEF: a geospatial web platform for mapping and visualizing exotic fish records in the Mediterranean and surrounding seas

ORMEF, accessible at https://www.ormef.eu, is a new interactive web platform that consolidates a vast historical repository of georeferenced records of exotic fishes, extracted from scientific literature. Covering observations spanning over a century, from 1896 to the present day, ORMEF incorporates 12,553 georeferenced occurrences distributed across 221 fish taxa, meticulously sourced from 805 scientific papers. This paper outlines the architecture of ORMEF and provides an insightful illustration of its tools and future developments. As an authoritative yet user-friendly reference, ORMEF has the potential to make a substantial impact across various initiatives. From advancing scientific research and supporting conservation efforts to engaging communities, ORMEF’s outputs and data offer promising applications not only for marine bioinvasion research but also for informed decision-making at both the Mediterranean and EU levels.