The Relationship between Mean Length at Maturity and Maximum Length in Coral Reef Fish

Investigations of gut microbial diversity among fish to provide baseline data for wild marine fish, especially the carnivorous coral reef fishes of the South China Sea, are lacking. The present study investigated the gut microbiota of four carnivorous coral reef fishes, including Oxycheilinus unifasciatus, Cephalopholis urodeta, Lutjanus kasmira, and Gnathodentex aurolineatus, from the South China Sea for the first time using high-throughput Illumina sequencing. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes constituted 98% of the gut microbiota of the four fishes, and 20 of the gut microbial genera recovered in this study represent new reports from marine fishes. Comparative analysis indicated that the four fishes shared a similar microbial community, suggesting that diet type (carnivorous) might play a more important role in shaping the gut microbiota of coral reef fishes than the species of fish. Furthermore, the genera Psychrobacter, Escherichia-Shigella, and Vibrio constituted the core microbial community of the four fishes, accounting for 61–91% of the total sequences in each fish. The lack of the genus Epulopiscium in the four fishes was in sharp contrast to what has been found in coral reef fishes from the Red Sea, in which Epulopiscium was shown to be the most dominant gut microbial genus in seven herbivorous coral reef fishes. In addition, while unique gut microbial genera accounted for a small proportion (8–13%) of the total sequences, many such genera were distributed in each coral reef fish species, including several genera (Endozoicomonas, Clostridium, and Staphylococcus) that are frequently found in marine fishes and 11 new reports of gut microbes in marine fishes. The present study expands our knowledge of the diversity and specificity of gut microbes associated with coral reef fishes.

Background: Bontosua Island, located in the Spermonde Archipelago, is one of the strategic and historical islands in the region. The island plays a vital role in ecosystem conservation efforts by the local community, who are committed to preserving their natural environment. With dynamic ecosystem conditions, it is essential to understand the seabed cover and biodiversity on the island to support more effective conservation efforts. Methods: This study was conducted from March to September 2022 to mark the seabed cover of Bontosua Island and understand the relationships between coral reef fish species and the ecosystem. The method used was a stationary visual census, followed by descriptive analysis and one-way ANOVA to assess the biodiversity and diversity of coral reefs. Findings: The results showed a total of 1,306 coral reef fish from 9 families with 63 species identified, including the families Chaetodontidae, Serranidae, Lutjanidae, Haemulidae, Lethrinidae, Scaridae, Acanthuridae, and Siganidae. The families with the highest citations were Scaridae, Acanthuridae, and Siganidae. The highest coral reef fish were found in the north, west, and southwest of the island, where live coral areas are more dominant. Conclusion: This study shows that Bontosua Island has significant coral reef diversity, and certain areas, such as the north and southwest sides, have higher reported fish. These findings indicate the importance of these areas in conservation efforts. Novelty/Originality: This study provides a comprehensive picture of the seabed cover and coral reef fish diversity in Bontosua Island, which has yet to be widely discussed in previous studies. These findings provide a scientific basis for more targeted conservation strategies and help improve understanding of the dynamics of coral reef ecosystems in the Spermonde Islands.. Novelty/Originality of this article: This study proposes developing a community-based coral reef monitoring system that integrates local knowledge with digital mapping technology, aiming to increase the effectiveness of conservation and management efforts of marine resources on small islands.

Antibiotics in coral reef fishes from the South China Sea: Occurrence, distribution, bioaccumulation, and dietary exposure risk to human

The high-contrast, complex patterns typical of many reef fish serve several purposes, including providing disruptive camouflage and a basis for vision-based communication. In trying to understand the role of a specific pattern, it is important to first assess the extent to which an observer can resolve the pattern, itself determined, at least in part, by the observer's visual acuity. Here, we studied the visual acuity of two species of reef fish - Pomacentrus amboinensis and Pseudochromis fuscus - using both anatomical and behavioural estimates. The two species share a common habitat but are members of different trophic levels (predator versus herbivore/omnivore) and perform different visual tasks. On the basis of the anatomical study, we estimated visual acuity to lie between 4.1 and 4.6cyclesdeg-1 for P. amboinensis and 3.2 and 3.6 cycles deg-1 for P. fuscus Behavioural acuity estimates were considerably lower, ranging between 1.29 and 1.36 cycles deg-1 for P. amboinensis and 1.61 and 1.71 cycles deg-1 for P. fuscus Our results show that two species from the same habitat have only moderately divergent visual capabilities, despite differences in their general life histories. The difference between anatomical and behavioural estimates is an important finding as the majority of our current knowledge on the resolution capabilities of reef fish comes from anatomical measurements. Our findings suggest that anatomical estimates may represent the highest potential acuity of fish but are not indicative of actual performance, and that there is unlikely to be a simple scaling factor to link the two measures across all fish species.

To clarify differences in community structures and habitat utilization patterns of fishes in Enhalus acoroides- and Thalassia hemprichii-dominated seagrass beds on fringing coral reefs, visual censuses were conducted at Iriomote and Ishigaki islands, southern Japan. The numbers of fish species and individuals were significantly higher in the E. acoroides bed than in the T. hemprichii bed, although the 15 most dominant fishes in each seagrass bed were similar. Cluster and ordination analyses based on the number of individuals of each fish species also demonstrated that fish community structures were similar in the two seagrass beds. Species and individual numbers of coral reef fishes which utilized the seagrass beds numbered less than about 15% of whole coral reef fish numbers, although they comprised about half of the seagrass bed fishes. Of the 15 most dominant species, 5 occurred only in the two seagrass beds, including seagrass feeders. Ten other species were reef species, their habitat utilization patterns not differing greatly between the two seagrass beds. Some reef species, such as Lethrinus atkinsoni and L. obsoletus, showed ontogenetic habitat shifts with growth, from the seagrass beds to the coral areas. These results indicate that community structures and habitat utilization patterns of fishes were similar between E. acoroides- and T. hemprichii-dominated seagrass beds, whereas many coral reef fishes hardly utilized the seagrass beds.

Coral reef fish present the human observer with an array of bold and contrasting patterns; however, the ability of such fish to perceive these patterns is largely unexamined. To understand this, the visual acuity of these animals - the degree to which they can resolve fine detail - must be ascertained. Behavioural studies are few in number and anatomical analysis has largely focused on estimates of ganglion cell density to predict the visual acuity in coral reef fish. Here, we report visual acuity measures for the triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus. Acuity was first assessed using a series of behavioural paradigms and the figures were then contrasted with those obtained anatomically, based on photoreceptor and ganglion cell counts. Behavioural testing indicated an upper behavioural acuity of 1.75 cycles·degree^-1, which is approximately the same level of acuity as that of the goldfish (Carassiusauratus). Anatomical estimates were then calculated from wholemount analysis of the photoreceptor layer and Nissl staining of cells within the ganglion cell layer. Both of these anatomical measures gave estimates that were substantially larger (7.75 and 3.4 cycles·degree^-1 for the photoreceptor cells and ganglion cells, respectively) than the level of acuity indicated by the behavioural tests. This indicates that in this teleost species spatial resolution is poor compared to humans (30-70 cycles·degree^-1) and it is also not well indicated by anatomical estimates.

This study describes the length–weight relationships (LWR) for 18 species of coral reef fish from the northern Line Islands, a geographically remote area of the central Pacific (3.48°N 158.80°W). Specimens were collected across multiple field campaigns (on average: 3–5 days per island, two islands per year) from 2006 to 2011 using three-prong spears, spearguns, handlines, fishing poles, and fish anesthetic with hand nets (1 mm mesh), and measurements of total length (TL: 0.1 cm precision) and total weight (W: 0.01 g precision) were taken. The LWR were calculated using the linear regression of the log-transformed length and weight data. New LWR are reported for 13 common species from the central tropical Pacific, as well as LWR across new maximum total lengths for five species, thus expanding the observed size range for these scaling relationships.

Post-larval French grunts ( Haemulon flavolineatum) distinguish between seagrass, mangrove and coral reef water: Implications for recognition of potential nursery habitats

Interspecific competition is often asymmetric, and it can limit the spatial distributions of competitively inferior species within a community. When asymmetric competition involves 2 or more component species, the ranking of species' competitive abilities may form competitive hierarchies (all species of higher rank out-compete all species of lower rank) or competitive networks (at least 1 species of lower rank out-competes =1 species of higher rank). Expectations of resource monopolization and patterns of distribution and abundance among species in competitive networks are expected to differ from those in competitive hierarchies. We conducted a field experiment to evaluate the relative competitive abilities of juveniles of 3 closely related species of reef fish (bird wrasse Gomphosus varius, fivestripe wrasse Thalassoma quinquevittatum and the sixbar wrasse T. hardwicke) on Moorea, French Polynesia. We controlled for intrinsic variation in survivorship among species and found that competition among these 3 species was highly asymmetric, resulting in a simple competitive hierarchy (sequence of competitive ability from superior to inferior competitors): fivestripe wrasse > bird wrasse > sixbar wrasse. We surveyed densities of the 3 reef fish species on 55 patch reefs and observed significant negative spatial covariation between superior and inferior competitors, consistent with competitive hierarchies that limit the spatial distributions of the inferior species (sixbar wrasse). Our work demonstrates that intense asymmetric competition and the formation of competitive hierarchies may be an important determinant of resource monopolization and patterns of distribution and abundance in reef fishes. © Inter-Research 2013.

Endemism is thought to be relatively rare in marine systems due to the lack of allopatric barriers and the potential for long-distance colonization via pelagic larval dispersal. Although many species of coral reef fishes exhibit regionally restricted color variants that are suggestive of regional endemism, such variation is typically ascribed to intraspecific variation. We examined the genetic structure in 5 putatively monospecific fishes from the Indo-West Pacific (Amphiprion melanopus, Chrysiptera talboti, and Pomacentrus moluccensis [Pomacentridae] and Cirrhilabrus punctatus, and Labroides dimidiatus [Labridae]) that express regional color variation unique to this area. Mitochondrial-control-region sequence analysis showed shallow to deep genetic divergence in all 5 species (sequence divergence 2-17%), with clades concordant with regional color variation. These results were partially supported by nuclear RAG2 data. An analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA) mirrored the phylogenetic results; Phi(ST) values ranged from 0.91 to 0.7, indicating high levels of geographic partitioning of genetic variation. Concordance of genetics and phenotype demonstrate the genetic uniqueness of southwestern Pacific color variants, indicating that these populations are at a minimum distinct evolutionarily significant units and perhaps distinct regionally endemic species. Our results indicate that the alpha biodiversity of the southwestern Pacific is likely underestimated even in well-studied groups, such as reef fishes, and that regional endemism may be more common in tropical marine systems than previously thought.

Global decline in capacity of coral reefs to provide ecosystem services

Water motion is an important factor affecting planktivory on coral reefs. The feeding behavior of two species of tube-dwelling coral reef fish (Chaenopsidae) was studied in still and turbulent water. One species of blenny, Acanthemblemaria spinosa , lives in holes higher above the reef surface and feeds mainly on calanoid copepods, while a second, A. aspera , lives closer to the reef surface, feeds mainly on harpacticoid copepods, and is exposed to less water motion than the first. In the laboratory, these two blenny species were video recorded attacking a calanoid copepod ( Acartia tonsa, evasive prey) and an anostracan branchiopod (nauplii of Artemia sp., passive prey). Whereas A. spinosa attacked with the same vigor in still and turbulent water, A. aspera modulated its attack with a more deliberate strike under still conditions than turbulent conditions. For both fish species combined, mean capture success when feeding on Artemia sp. was 100% in still water and dropped to 78% in turbulent water. In contrast, when feeding on Acartia tonsa, mean capture success was 21% in still water and rose to 56% in turbulent water. We hypothesize that, although turbulence reduces capture success by adding erratic movement to Artemia sp. (passive prey), it increases capture success of Acartia tonsa (evasive prey) by interfering with the hydrodynamic sensing of the approaching predator. These opposite effects of water motion increase the complexity of the predator-prey relationship as water motion varies spatially and temporally on structurally complex coral reefs. Some observations were consistent with A. aspera living in a lower energy benthic boundary layer as compared with A. spinosa: slower initial approach to prey, attack speeds modulated according to water velocity, and lower proportion of approaches that result in strikes in turbulent water.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the characteristics of gonadal fatty acid composition in 19 species of wild coral reef fish (Serranidae, Lutjanidae, Lethridae, Siganidae and Labridae) from Philippine (11 species of female) and Japanese (8 species of female and 5 species of male) waters with special attention to arachidonic acid (ArA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) levels and their ratios. ArA levels were always higher than EPA levels in polar lipids of all the species and in neutral lipids in 17 of the 19 species. In ovarian polar lipids of the 19 species, ArA level ranged from 6.0% to 19.4%, while EPA level ranged from 0.9% to 6.2%. Ovarian DHA level was also always higher than EPA in all the species analyzed. Consequently, ArA/EPA ratios of these species were high, unlike cold- and temperate-water species. ArA was the top fatty acid component in testis polar lipids of three Lethrinus species (21.4% to 22.9%). Thus, ArA is not a minor component, that is, the major highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) of polar lipids in all coral reef fish gonads are DHA and ArA (not EPA). The present information on gonadal fatty acid composition can be used as a guideline for advancing appropriate broodstock diets of tropical coral reef fish, emerging aquaculture commodities in developing countries.

<p>Life-history theory suggests that an organism must balance its available energy between two competing physiological processes to maximize fitness: reproduction and somatic growth. Energetic trade-offs are a fundamental concept of life history theory and form the basis of intra- and inter-specific variation in life-history strategies. In fishes, reproduction-growth trade-offs are an essential component of life-history optimization. This is particularly true for species with protogynous sex- change (the most common reproductive mode among coral reef fish species), where reproductive success rapidly and disproportionally increases with body size/ corresponding social status. In such systems, lifetime fitness is inherently linked to patterns of growth and energy allocation strategies determined by an individual’s size-specific rank within the dominance hierarchy. However, energy allocation strategies in a protogynous species may not only be a function of body size. Coral reef fish species are exposed to extremely variable environmental conditions and this can favour the evolution of strategies that utilize good times and avoid disadvantageous times for reproduction. Consequently, size- specific parental investment decisions may vary greatly in time and space according to environmental cues. My thesis focuses on the protogynous reef fish, Thalassoma hardwicke (the sixbar wrasse), which is extremely abundant on shallow coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Specifically, I evaluate patterns of spawning and reproductive investment as a function of body size, social status, lunar phase and other environmental parameters. I address the question of whether females/males of differing size make different fitness-related decisions when away from spawning sites, and I evaluate context-dependency in these decisions. Finally, I will attempt to reconstruct the developmental histories (e.g., larval growth rates) of individuals from otoliths to evaluate potential relationships between developmental histories and fitness attributes.</p>

Emerging customs: Small-scale fishing practices in Aceh, Indonesia