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Field Guide

The Field Guide tab is a browsable marine life catalog bundled with GoDive. Use it to learn about species and to tag what you saw on dives.

The hub and every browse level (category detail, subcategory mosaic) show the screen name in large white type at the top. Scroll down and the title compacts; scroll back up and it expands again — same pattern as Activity Log in Logbook.

Browse the catalog

Categories, subcategories, and species in each group are listed A–Z by name (common name for species).

  1. Category hub — top-level groups (e.g. fish families) as full-width tiles with artwork
  2. Category detail — subcategories within a category (main tab bar stays visible); each subcategory row shows a photo from a species in that group when available
  3. Subcategory mosaic — species grid with photos (main tab bar stays visible)
  4. Species detail — header photo fits the full width (no crop) on the app’s blue gradient; optional 3D model, range, size, and your tagged dives (tab bar hidden)

To find a species by name, use the Search tab and tap Marine life (or type in the search field). Search filters the full catalog, so you can find a species without drilling down the browse hierarchy first.

Species detail page

Each species page includes:

  • Common and scientific name
  • Category and subcategory
  • About, size & range, Similar species, and tabs for tagged dives and tagged media from your logbook
  • Optional 3D model — tap the hero to toggle between photo and 3D when both exist. On 3D, drag to spin the model freely in any direction (full 360°), pinch to zoom in (not smaller than the default size). After about 15 seconds without touching, it eases back to the default view and resumes its gentle spin and float; the blue glow under the model stays put.
  • Optional map of sites where you’ve tagged that species

Similar species ranks close matches from the catalog (family, looks, size, depth) in the same mosaic tiles used elsewhere in the Field Guide. With Contribute sightings to community on in Settings (on by default), community co-sighting scores can also influence the grid after the next catalog refresh. Tap a tile to open that species.

Swipe horizontally between content sections on the detail pager.

Tag species on a dive

From a dive’s Media tab:

  1. Open the current photo or video.
  2. Tap fish (marine life) on the sheet toolbar (or + on the marine life overview).
  3. Search or browse species — each tap stages a tag.
  4. Tap Done (upper right) to save. × (upper left) or swipe the sheet down to close without applying staged tags.

Tagged species appear on the media carousel, in dive overview chips, on Home highlights, and in Field Guide tagged dives / tagged media for that species.

Add your own species

Tap + on Field Guide chrome to add a user-owned catalog entry (custom species not in the bundled set). User entries persist across app updates. On a custom species detail page, tap Edit to change name, taxonomy, and description in the same full-height blue form. Bundled Field Guide species are read-only — Edit does not appear.

  • Home and Explore species lists open the same species detail.
  • Fish chips on dive media and trip galleries link here.
  • Tagged species on a dive count toward Top species on Home.

Offline catalog

Species text and bundled photos load offline. Remote image URLs may require network on first view. The catalog is seeded from bundled data at first launch and updates when the app ships new catalog JSON.

See Acknowledgments for FishBase, SeaLifeBase, Caribbean Reef Life, Wikimedia Commons, Meshy AI, and other catalog sources.