Common coral reef fishes of Salt Cay

Biodiversity (main)

Published: June 17, 2014, 6:30 pm

Topics:

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

Introduction Salt Cay is one of the Turks and Caicos Islands (Common coral reef fishes of Salt Cay) in the West Indies. Over210 species of reef fishes have been identified during REEF Fish Surveys in Salt Cay.

25 most common species in Salt Cay

Blue chromis—the reef fish with the highest mean abundance in Salt Cay. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications © 1994. The following ranking is based on the results of216REEF Fish Surveyscovering a bottom time of224 hours and42 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. Blue tang	92.1	few-many
2. Stoplight parrotfish	92.1	few-many
3. Bluehead	90.3	many
4. Foureye butterflyfish	88.4	few
5. Fairy basslet	86.1	many
6. Rock beauty	85.6	few
7. Blue chromis	84.7	many-abundant
8. Bicolor damselfish	84.3	few-many
9. Trumpetfish	81.5	single-few
10. French grunt	80.6	few-many
11. Schoolmaster	77.3	few
12. Queen parrotfish	73.6	few
13. Coney	70.4	few
14. Bluestriped grunt	70.4	few-many
15. ellowtail snapper	68.5	few-many
16. Yellowhead wrasse	68.1	few-many
17. Princess parrotfish	67.1	few
18. Banded butterflyfish	67.1	few
19. Bar jack	66.7	few
20.Redband parrotfish	66.7	few-many
21. Creole wrasse	64.8	many
22. Longsnout butterflyfish	61.1	single-few
23. Ocean surgeonfish	60.6	few
24. Harlequin bass	59.7	few
25. Smooth trunkfish	58.3	single-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 Salt Cay. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Common_coral_reef_fishes_of_Salt_Cay