Common coral reef fishes of the Caribbean

Biodiversity (main)

Published: June 15, 2014, 11:13 pm

Topics:

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

Bluehead (Luiz Rocha, via http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/Bluehead/Bluehead.html)

Introduction Coral reefs (Common coral reef fishes of the Caribbean) are among the most diverse of all ecosystems the earth. Worldwide, over 4000 species of fishes are found living in the coral reef ecosystem. Reef fishes vary greatly in size, morphology, and behavior ranging from tiny pygmy seahorses to whale sharks. Coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea (Caribbean Sea large marine ecosystem) contain over 800 species.

Top 10 Most Common Fishes in the Caribbean Sea

Divers participating in the REEF Fish Surveys have conducted over 100,000 fish surveys in the Caribbean region. The Top 10 most commonly sighted fishes are listed below.

Species	% of surveys observed
1. Bluehead	83.8
2. Blue tang	83.7
3. Stoplight parrotfish	80.1
4. Bicolor damselfish	78.9
5. French grunt	73.3
6. Foureye butterflyfish	71.3
7. Yellowtail snapper	69.1
8. Sergeant major	69.0
9. Ocean surgeonfish	69.0
10. Yellowhead wrasse	68.2

Biogeographic Variation

The abundance offish species varies across the Caribbean. REEF divides the Caribbean region into 5 geographic zones.

NW Caribbean

REEF'sNW Caribbean geographic zone contains Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras.

Species	% of surveys observed	Average abundance class
1. Blue tang	90.2	few
2. Stoplight parrotfish	87.2	few
3. Blue chromis	87.1	many-abundant
4. Foureye butterflyfish	86.7	few
5. Bluehead	86.2	many
6. Bicolor damselfish	85.1	many
7. French grunt	77.4	few-many
8. Yellowhead wrasse	76.7	few-many
9. Bar jack	76.7	few-many
10. Yellowtail snapper	76.1	few-many
11. Rock beauty	75.1	few
12. Redband parrotfish	69.0	few-many
13. Graysby	68.6	few
14. Schoolmaster	67.7	few
15. Sharpnose puffer	66.7	few
16. Ocean surgeonfish	65.6	few-many
17. Fairy basslet	65.0	many
18. Creole wrasse	64.8	many
19. Brown chromis	64.3	many
20. Banded butterflyfish	63.5	few
21. Bluestriped grunt	63.5	few
22. Black durgon	63.0	few-many
23. Yellowtail damselfish	62.9	few
24. Princess parrotfish	61.2	few
25. Threespot damselfish	58.6	few-many

Fish abundance by country

• Common coral reef fishes of Belize
• Common coral reef fishes of the Cayman Islands
• Common coral reef fishes of Cuba
• Common coral reef fishes of Honduras
• Common coral reef fishes of Jamaica
• Common coral reef fishes of Mexico

Greater Antilles and Virgin Islands

REEF'sGreater Antilles and Virgin Islands geographiczone contains Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and British Virgin Islands.

Species	% of surveys observed	Average abundance class
1. Blue tang	91.3	few-many
2. Foureye butterflyfish	88.2	few
3. Bluehead	86.8	many
4. Stoplight parrotfish	85.4	few-many
5. Bicolor damselfish	82.3	many
6. French grunt	81.6	few-many
7. Ocean surgeonfish	81.5	few-many
8. Sergeant major	78.0	many
9. Redband parrotfish	75.9	few-many
10. Yellowtail snapper	75.7	few-many
11. Blue chromis	75.0	many
12. Yellowtail damselfish	74.2	few
13. Yellowhead wrasse	74.2	few-many
14. Bar jack	73.3	few-many
15. Fairy basslet	69.7	few-many
16. Yellow goatfish	68.7	few-many
17. Princess parrotfish	68.1	few
18. Trumpetfish	67.6	single-few
19. Spotted goatfish	67.4	few
20. Longspine squirrelfish	67.3	few
21. Brown chromis	66.8	many
22. Graysby	64.8	few
23. Sharpnose puffer	64.6	few
24. Striped parrotfish	58.9	few-many
25. Blackbar soldierfish	58.2	few-many

Fish abundance by country

• Common coral reef fishes of the British Virgin Islands
• Common coral reef fishes of the Dominican Republic
• Common coral reef fishes of Puerto Rico
• Common coral reef fishes of the United States Virgin Islands

Lesser Antilles

REEF'sLesser Antilles geographic zoneincludes Anquilla, Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Monserrat, Guadaloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada.

Species	% of surveys observed	Average abundance class
1. Bicolor damselfish	89.0	many-abundant
2. Brown chromis	88.8	many-abundant
3. Bluehead	88.4	many
4. Trumpetfish	882.	few
5. Ocean surgeonfish	81.7	few-many
6. Sergeant major	81.6	few-many
7. Blackbar soldierfish	80.9	many
8. Yellowhead wrasse	80.2	many
9. French grunt	80.0	few-many
10. Blue tang	79.1	few-many
11. Yellow goatfish	78.3	few-many
12. Stoplight parrotfish	75.8	few
13. Blue chromis	75.0	many
14. Redband parrotfish	74.9	few-many
15. Yellowtail damselfish	74.4	few
16. Banded butterflyfish	73.6	few
17. Sharpnose puffer	73.3	few
18. Spotted goatfish	72.2	few
19. Smooth trunkfish	72.2	single-few
20.Harlequin bass	71.3	few
21. Coney	70.9	few
22. Princess parrotfish	70.0	few-many
23. Mahogany Snapper	67.7	few
24. Rock Beauty	66.2	single-few
25. Graysby	65.0	few

Fish abundance by country

• Common coral reef fishes of Anguilla
• Common coral reef fishes of Antigua
• Common coral reef fishes of Dominica
• Common coral reef fishes of Guadaloupe
• Common coral reef fishes of Grenada
• Common coral reef fishes of Martinique
• Common coral reef fishes of St. Kitts
• Common coral reef fishes of St. Lucia
• Common coral reef fishes of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Continental Caribbean

REEF'sContinental Caribbean geographiczone contains Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, the Netherland Antilles, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Species	% of surveys observed	Average abundance class
1. Blue tang	93.6	few-many
2. Bicolor damselfish	93.3	many-abundant
3. Stoplight parrotfish	93.2	few-many
4. Foureye butterflyfish	91.6	few
5. Bluehead	91.5	many
6. Brown chromis	91.4	many-abundant
7. Sergeant major	91.3	many
8. French grunt	91.2	few-many
9. Yellow goatfish	89.9	many
10. Trumpetfish	89.3	few
11. Blackbar soldierfish	86.5	few-many
12. Princess parrotfish	85.7	few-many
13. Yellowhead wrasse	85.5	many
14. Blue chromis	85.2	many
15. Schoolmaster	85.2	few-many
16. Yellowtail damselfish	84.8	few-many
17. Spanish hogfish	84.4	few
18. Smooth trunkfish	83.9	few
19. Graysby	83.8	few-many
20. Yellowtail snapper	83.3	few-many
21. Banded butterflyfish	82.5	few
22. Queen parrotfish	82.0	few-many
23. Bar jack	81.9	few
24. Ocean surgeonfish	81.7	few-many
25. Redband parrotfish	81.4	few-many

Fish abundance by country

• Common coral reef fishes of Aruba
• Common coral reef fishes of Columbia
• Common coral reef fishes of Venezuela
• Common coral reef fishes of the Netherlands Antilles (includes Bonaire and Curacao)
• Common coral reef fishes of Trinidad and Tobago

Bahamas, Turks & Caicos

REEF'sBahamas, Turks & Caicos geographic zone contains Florida, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos. Note- although Florida, Bahamas, ahd Turks and Caicos do not actually border the Caribbean Sea, this region is included in this report because of the similarity in habitat, flora, and fauna in the this geographic region and the Caribbean region.

Species	% of surveys observed	Average abundance class
1. Blue tang	86.7	few-many
2. Bluehead	86.1	many
3. Stoplight parrotfish	80.3	many
4. Blue chromis	75.5	many
5. Yellowtail snapper	74.9	few-many
6. Foureye butterflyfish	74.7	few
7. Fairy basslet	74.2	few-many
8. Bicolor damselfish	70.1	few-many
9. Bar jack	69.5	few-many
10. French grunt	68.1	few-many
11. Yellowhead wrasse	65.2	few-many
12. Ocean surgeonfish	63.4	few-many
13. Bluestriped grunt	60.8	few
14. Schoolmaster	58.0	few
15. Redband parrotfish	57.8	few
16. Princess parrotfish	55.4	few
17. Longspine squirrelfish	55.2	few
18. Rock beauty	54.9	single-few
19. Nassau grouper	53.9	single-few
20. Striped parrotfish	51.6	few-many
21. Gray angelfish	51.2	single-few
22. Queen angelfish	50.1	single-few
23. Sharpnose puffer	49.6	few
24. Spotted goatfish	49.1	few
25. Banded butterflyfish	47.7	single-few

Fish abundance by country

• Common coral reef fishes of the Bahamas
• Common coral reef fishes of the Turks and Caicos Islands

References and Further Reading

• Reef Environmental Education Foundation
• 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 the Caribbean. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Common_coral_reef_fishes_of_the_Caribbean