Shore fishes of the Marquesas Islands, an updated checklist with new records and new percentage of endemic species

René Galzin,Serge Planes,Johann Mourier,Gilles Siu,Philippe Bacchet,Gérard Mou-Tham,Michel Kulbicki,J T Williams,Thierry Lison De Loma,Erwan Delrieu-Trottin

doi:10.15560/11.5.1758

Abstract

Expedition Pakaihi I Te Moana was conducted in 2011 to the Marquesas Islands, lying between 07°50ʹ S and 10°35ʹ S latitude and 138°25ʹ W and 140°50ʹ W longitude. The expedition combined extensive col-lections and visual censuses of the shore fish fauna. A total of 74 species are added as new records for the Marquesas Islands; the coastal fish fauna of the Marquesas Islands is increased from 415 to 495 species and the number of endemic species is increased from 48 to 68 species. This increases the per-centage of species-level endemism for the Marquesas Islands to 13.7%, ranking as the third highest region of endemism for coral reef fishes in the Indo-Pacific. Only two other peripheral regions, the Hawai’ian Islands and Easter Island, have higher values.

Highlights

Tropical reefs represent a high priority for conservation action among marine ecosystems (Roberts et al 2002)
A total of 495 shore fish species in 72 families is reported from Marquesan waters (Table 1) with 74 species reported as new geographic records for the archipelago
Six undescribed species collected during the oceanographic campaign have since been described and are endemic to the Marquesas Islands: Eviota dorsimaculata Tornabene, Ahmadia & Williams, 2013, Eviota lacrimosa Tornabene, Ahmadia & Williams, 2013, Eviota deminuta Tornabene, Ahmadia & Williams, 2013, Pseudanthias oumati Williams, Delrieu-Trottin & Planes, 2013, Plectranthias flammeus Williams, Delrieu-Trottin & Planes, 2013, Apterichtus mysi McCosker & Hibino, 2015

Summary

Introduction

Tropical reefs represent a high priority for conservation action among marine ecosystems (Roberts et al 2002) They are known to host some of the most diverse communities in the world with nearly 6,500 species of coral reef fishes (Kulbicki et al 2013), a diversity that reaches its maximum in the Indo-MalayPhilippine archipelago (Bellwood and Hughes 2001; Roberts et al 2002; Mora et al 2003; Reaka et al 2008; Bellwood and Meyer 2009; Hubert et al 2012), while peripheral areas of the Indo-Pacific basin host high percentages of endemism. The South Equatorial Current, flowing between 04° N and 17° S from east to west (Wyrtki and Kilonsky 1984; Bonjean and Lagerloef 2002; Gaither et al 2010), seems to constitute a hydrographical barrier to dispersal leading to the genetic differentiation of some Marquesan populations of otherwise widespread species

Methods

Results

Conclusion