Common coral reef fishes of Roatan

Biodiversity (main)

Published: June 18, 2014, 2:03 pm

Topics:

Biodiversity (main) Fisheries (main) Marine Ecology (main) Coral Reefs (main) Geography (main) Species (main)

Creole wrasse—the reef fish with the highest mean adundance in Roatan. (flowergarden.noaa.gov)

Introduction Roatanison of theBay Islands of Honduras (Common coral reef fishes of Roatan) located in the Caribbean Sea (Caribbean Sea large marine ecosystem). Over370 species of reef fishes have been identified during REEF Fish Surveys in Roatan.

25 most common species in Roatan

Foureye butterflyfish—the most frequently observed reef fish in Roatan. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications © 1994. The following ranking is based on the results of1464REEF Fish Surveyscovering a bottom time of2008 hours and3 minutes.(REEF Geographic Zone Report.June 3, 2009). The species are ranked by the percentage of surveys in which a species was observed. Abundance of fishes in REEF Fish Surveys are estimated using the following categories: 1- single =1 individual, 2-few = 2- 10 individuals, 3-many = 11-100 individuals, and 4-abundant > 100 individuals. The mean numeric abundance (ranging from 1 - 4) was calculated for each species.. The mean abundance category is determined as follows: mean abundance category 0 - 1.49 = single, 1.50 - 1.99 = single-few, 2.0 - 2.49 = few, 2.5 - 2.99 = few-many, 3.0 - 3.49 = many, 3.5 -3.99 = many-abundant, and 4.0 = abundant.

Species	% of surveys observed	Mean abundance category
1. Foureye butterflyfish	89.7	few
2. Stoplight parrotfish	89.6	few-many
3. Blue chromis	88.0	many
4. Blue tang	87.7	few-many
5. Yellowtail snapper	86.5	few-many
6. Fairy basslet	85.2	many
7. Bicolor damselfish	85.2	many
8. Bluehead	82.5	many
9. French grunt	79.7	many
10. Yellowtail damselfish	78.6	few
11. Yellowhead wrasse	77.9	few-many
12. Indigo hamlet	76.8	few
13. Sergeant major	75.8	few-many
14. Rock beauty	74.7	few
15. Bar jack	72.9	few
16. Creole wrasse	72.3	many-abundant
17. Sharpnose puffer	71.3	few
18. threespot damselfish	69.5	few-many
19. Redband parrotfish	69.1	few-many
20.Schoolmaster	68.6	few
21. Spanish hogfish	66.0	few
22. Striped parrotfish	65.8	few-many
23. Bluestriped grunt	65.5	few
24. Banded butterflyfish	63.7	few
25. Graysby	64.8	few

References and Further Reading

• Reef Environmental Education Foundation
• Geographic Zone Report- 06-03-2009
• REEF Fish Gallery
• Humann, P. and N. Deloach (Editor), 1994. Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. New World Publications, Inc. Jacksonville, FL. ISBN: 1878348078

Citation

McGinley, M. (2014). Common coral reef fishes of Roatan. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Common_coral_reef_fishes_of_Roatan