Abstract
Biogeographically, the Caño Island Biological Reserve (CIBR) is of strategic importance, since it is located in the center of the Panamic Province (Costa Rica and Panama), characterized by a peak in fish species richness within the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP). Despite its importance, fish community structure around the island has not been deeply studied, and coastal fish diversity records need to be updated. The aims of the study were: 1) to describe the community structure of the reef fish community of CIBR and 2) to update the list of the coastal fish species recorded until today. For the first objective, 50 stationary fish counts were conducted at 10 locations around Caño Island, in which 79 species, belonging to 32 families, were registered. The most abundant family was Pomacentridae, and the most abundant species was Chromis atrilobata. Planktivorous and carnivorous fish were the most abundant. The existence of a relationship between coral cover and the presence of herbivorous grazers was highlighted within the analysis. Additionally, species composition was compared by site and this revealed that “El Barco” has an abundant presence of snappers. For the second objective, published fish species records were collected for the CIBR and 35 new records were added, for a total of 212 coastal fish species, which represents approximately 17% of coastal fish diversity in the TEP. This work presents a baseline for fish monitoring and mangement measures in this marine protected area.
Highlights
El Pacífico Tropical Oriental (PTO) es una región biogeográfica marina relativamente aislada, cuyo endemismo de peces supera el 70% (Zapata & Robertson, 2007)
Las islas continentales ubicadas en esta zona podrían jugar un papel importante en mantener la diversidad y abundancia de peces de la región, y además, representar sitios clave para la conservación marina
El grupo D (El Barco), aislado del resto de los sitios, presentó una composición de especies particular, debido a que en este sitio se observaron mayores densidades de pargos Lutjanus argentiventris y L. viridis en comparación con el resto de los sitios, incluso el grupo A (Fig.7A, 7B )
Summary
Área de estudio: La Isla del Caño (8°43’ N - 85°52’ W) se ubica en la plataforma continental del Pacífico de Costa Rica, aproximadamente a 15km de la costa, frente a Bahía Drake, Península de Osa. Alrededor de toda la isla se pueden encontrar arrecifes rocosos y pináculos submarinos (Guzmán & Cortés, 1989), entre ellos Bajo del Diablo y Bajo Paraíso. Bajo del Diablo es un pináculo rocoso localizado a unos 2km al oeste de la Isla, con numerosos octocorales y corales aislados (Cortés & Jiménez, 2003), mientras que Bajo Paraíso se encuentra a aproximadamente unos 5km al NE de la isla, fuera del área marina protegida. Al inicio de cada censo se registraron las siguientes variables ambientales: profundidad, porcentaje aproximado de cobertura del substrato (coral, roca, arena) y la rugosidad. Los porcentajes de cobertura se estimaron dentro de cada cilindro imaginario, tal como se describe en la metodología de Bohnsack y Bannerot (1986). En cada radio se colocó una cadena de 2.5m de largo en la parte externa e
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