Corales pétreos, equinodermos y peces asociados a comunidades y arrecifes coralinos del Parque Nacional Huatulco, Pacífico sur mexicano

Abstract

As a result of literature review, collection visit and field work we compile the systematic list of stony corals (10 species), echinoderms (32 species) and fish (150 species) that inhabit the Parque Nacional Huatulco (PNH). The number of reported species (191) represents an increase ∼ 66.9% respect to previous studies. Respect to other Protected Areas (PA) in Mexico, the PNH harbors larger species richness than PA located in the Central Mexican Pacific, but below the richness recorded in PA located in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the PNH harbors a relatively large number of species, the taxonomic diversity of stony corals and fish is lower than expected since only protects taxonomically related species, therefore is taxonomically impoverished regarding the tropical eastern Pacific fauna. The management of the PNH is strategic for the maintenance of the shallow marine communities from western Mexico, since it guarantees the entrance of species from Central America to the Mexican Pacific, but also because the PNH is the only protected reservoir of species from the Panamic Province in the entire Mexican Pacific.