Common coral reef fishes of St. Martin
Blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) (By Tewy (Own work) (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons)
Contents
- 1 Introduction St. Martinis located theeastern Caribbean Sea (Common coral reef fishes of St. Martin) that is shared with St. Marteen. St. Martin is part of the French West Indies. Over190 species of reef fishes have been identified during REEF Fish Surveys in St. Martin/St. Maarten.
- 2 25 most common species in St. Martin
- 3 References and Further Reading
25 most common species in St. Martin
Blue tang—the most frequently observed reef fish in St. Maarten. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications © 1994. The following ranking is based on the results of129REEF Fish Surveyscovering a bottom time of123 hours and38 minutes.(REEF Geographic Zone Report.St. Martin/St. Maarten combined. 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.
Brown chromis—the reef fish with the highest mean abundance in St Maarten. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications © 1994. 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 |
89.9 |
few-many |
|
2. Sergeant major |
89.9 |
many |
|
3. Bluehead |
89.1 |
many-abundant |
|
4. Spotted goatfish |
88.4 |
few |
|
5. French grunt |
86.0 |
few-many |
| 6. Ocean surgeonfish |
85.3 |
many |
| 7. Stoplight parrotfish |
82.2 |
few-many |
| 8. Foureye butterflyfish |
78.3 |
few |
|
9. Yellowtail snapper |
75.2 |
few-many |
|
10. Bicolor damselfish |
72.1 |
many |
|
11. Bluestriped grunt |
70.5 |
few |
|
12. Trumpetfish |
68.2 |
few |
|
13. Brown chromis |
68.2 |
many |
|
14. Blackbar soldierfish |
68.2 |
few-many |
|
15. Bar jack |
65.1 |
few |
|
16. Yellowtail damselfish |
65.1 |
few |
|
17. Spanish hogfish |
62.8 |
single-few |
|
18. Redband parrotfish |
62.0 |
few-many |
|
19. Yellow goatfish |
62.0 |
few-many |
|
20.Blue chromis |
58.1 |
many |
|
21.Sharpnose puffer |
56.6 |
single-few |
|
22. Yellowhead wrasse |
55.8 |
few-many |
|
23. Rock beauty |
55.8 |
few |
|
24. Striped parrotfish |
55.8 |
few-many |
|
25. Banded butterflyfish |
55.0 |
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
