Privacy
The atlas is a reference site with no accounts, no cookies, no analytics and no ad tracking. This page sets out the little data that does pass through it, and where it goes.
Reading the atlas
Pages on www.aquaristatlas.com are static files served by Amazon Web Services (AWS Amplify and its CloudFront network). Like any web host, AWS receives the standard details of each request (IP address, browser user-agent, the address requested and the time) in order to deliver the page and protect the service. The atlas does not add analytics, advertising or tracking scripts, sets no cookies, and does not build a profile of anyone who visits.
Two tools remember a choice in your own browser, using local storage that never leaves your device: the °C/°F unit switch, and the bag-label maker’s sheet in progress. You can clear either by clearing this site’s data in your browser.
Content loaded from other services
Fonts are served by the atlas itself. Two kinds of content come directly from other services, so your browser contacts them and they receive the standard request details under their own privacy policies: map tiles, from Esri’s ArcGIS servers; and some specimen photographs, shown straight from the museum or biodiversity database that holds them (for example iNaturalist Open Data or the Natural History Museum, London).
Submitting a photo
The photo submission form sends the image you choose, the species it shows, and whatever you type into the optional fields: a collection point or variant, the credit name you want shown, your email address, and notes. These go to a private AWS storage bucket, and the site owner receives an email notice with the details to review. Your email address is used only to contact you about that submission. If the photo is approved, it is published on the species page with the credit you gave; your email address and notes are stripped and never published. Submissions that are not approved are deleted, and anything still pending is deleted automatically after 30 days.
The facts API, the Atlas card and AI tools
The facts API is a set of static files and logs nothing beyond the hosting details above. The Atlas card script, when another website embeds it, fetches only from www.aquaristatlas.com, sets no cookies, stores nothing in the browser, and makes its requests without a referrer, so the address of the page a card appears on is never sent. Browsers do name the embedding site’s domain on any cross-site data request; the atlas doesn’t collect or analyse it. The in-page tools for AI assistants run inside your browser and read the same static files.
The public MCP endpoint for AI assistants runs on AWS Lambda. It takes the question an assistant sends (a species or water name), answers it from the same public data, and keeps nothing. The endpoint does not record the questions or any account details, since it has no accounts. AWS keeps operational logs (request IDs, timings and errors) for 30 days for troubleshooting.
If you write to contact@aquaristatlas.com, your message and address are used to reply and are not shared with anyone.
Sharing, selling and your choices
Nothing collected here is sold, rented or shared for marketing. The only services that handle any of it are the infrastructure providers named above, acting to run the site. To ask what the atlas holds about you (in practice, at most a photo submission or an email thread) or to have it deleted, email contact@aquaristatlas.com.
See also terms & reuse. Last updated 4 October 2026.