Table 2. Comparison of the number of species per 100 kilometers of coast in the five subregions of South America contained in the OBIS database and in the present update (OBIS has a total of 13,656 species for the five subregions combined).
| Subregion | Number of species Present review | Number of species in OBIS | Species/100 km of coast Present review | Species/100 km of coast OBIS | % of species in OBIS |
| Tropical East Pacific | 6714 | 3446 | 132 | 68 | 51 |
| Humboldt Current | 10201 | 3894 | 140 | 53 | 38 |
| Tropical West Atlantic | 2743 | 2095 | 146 | 112 | 76 |
| Brazilian Shelves | 9103 | 5474 | 122 | 73 | 60 |
| Patagonian Shelf | 3776 | 3171 | 67 | 56 | 84 |