Comprehensive review and diversity analysis of coral-reef associated fishes from Southern India

Abstract

The present review provides a comprehensive account of coral-reef associated fishes around the waters of the Indian subcontinent. The review highlights fishes from coral reefs of the Northern Indian Ocean, particularly from Andaman and Nicobar Island, Lakshadweep Islands, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu coasts. The basis of this review is the compilation of results on the occurrence of fishes from varied pieces of literature obtained for these sites. This article lists various families under the Order Pisces, highlighting their abundance in various locations in Indian waters. A total of 2,810 species were recorded from 176 families covering the above locations of Indian waters. Pomacentridae (160) is the family with more species among the reef fishes, while various species in the family Carangidae (115) showed consistent occurrence in all the sites. Diversity indices are high in Andaman and Nicobar Islands except for species evenness, which was high in one site from Tamil Nadu, the southeast coast of India. Similarity dendrogram showed a high degree of similarity between the two island ecosystems, and the dominance plot revealed a higher relative dominance in Andaman and Nicobar Island. Species abundance plot shows similarity in fish assemblage in reefs of island ecosystems. This review aims to furnish a list of various families of reef-associated fishes and compile data on diversity, distribution, dominance, and abundance within different coral reef systems on the Indian coast. This work is a pioneering effort for creating a complete overview of the reef fishes of the Indian Ocean for future references.