Home range estimates for squaretail coralgrouper, Plectropomus areolatus (Rüppell 1830)

Abstract

The aim of the study was to estimate home range areas and distance of movement away from a squaretail coralgrouper (Plectropomus areolatus) spawning aggregation site located within a small-scale 1.5 km2 Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Fifteen P. areolatus were acoustically tagged and re-located within a ca. 50 km2 search area over a 4-month period that included reproductive and non-reproductive months. All relocated fish were found in areas of moderate to high coral cover either on the fore reef or inside the lagoon in home ranges of 0.048 ± 0.018 km2 (μ ± S.E.). Variability in home range area (0.004–0.12 km2) and distance of movement from aggregation sites following spawning (0.02–23.0 km; 5.3 ± 3.6 km, μ ± S.E.) was observed, but did not appear to be sex specific. Five of the six relocated individuals were found within 0.02–6.1 km of the aggregation. This evidence and that from recent tag-recapture studies of epinephelids suggest that a substantial proportion of individual P. areolatus spawning populations reside within close proximity to their respective aggregation sites. Reproductive populations could be protected by MPAs of moderate scale (10 s of km2) that include aggregation sites, migratory corridors and adjacent home range habitats.