Abstract

GALVAN-VILLA, Cristian Moisés. Reef fish assemblage structure of three marine protected areas from the mexican Pacific. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2015, vol.2, n.4, pp.69-86. ISSN 2007-901X.

This study describes the structure of the reef fish assemblages of three marine protected areas (Isla Isabel, Islas Marietas, and islands of Bahía Chamela) from México. Visual transects were made for recorder the fish species, abundance, and size. Video-transects were also taken to estímate the cover of some elements of benthonic habitat. A total of 114 species, 84 genera, and 47 families were registered. In Isla Isabel the most abundant species was Thalassoma lucasanum and the highest biomass was Prionurus punctatus; in Islas Marietas and Bahía Chamela the most abundant species was Halichoeres dispilus and the species with highest biomass was Epinephelus labriformis. Canonical redundancy analysis indicated that fish presence was highly correlated with sand, sponges, and soft coráis covers. Isla Isabel got the highest species richness and biomass, but Marietas and Bahía Chamela islands had higher abundance. The estimation of biomass allowed identifying other important species in fish assemblage structure from the Mexican Pacific islands. Apparently, the higher isolation of Isla Isabel is a factor that support its preservation status even though it does not have official protection of the adjacent marine zone.

Keywords : Diversity; biomass; abundance; richness; islands; correlation.

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