The Fishes of Southwestern Thailand, the Andaman Sea–A Review Of
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Phuket mar. biol. Cent. Res. Bull. 70: 29–77 (2011) THE FISHES OF SOUTHWESTERN THAILAND, THE ANDAMAN SEA – A REVIEW OF RESEARCH AND A PROVISIONAL CHECKLIST OF SPECIES Ukkrit Satapoomin Phuket Marine Biological Center, P.O. Box 60, Phuket 83000, Thailand Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT:Abrief review of recent ichthyological research and compiled results on the records of fishes from the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand are presented. A total of 1,746 species in 198 families of fishes are currently known from the area. The 10 most speciose families are the Gobiidae (227 species), Labridae (78), Pomacentridae (71), Serranidae (61), Apogonidae (60), Blenniidae (52), Carangidae (52), Scorpaenidae (49), Lutjanidae (39) and Chaetodontidae (37), and these together account for 42% of the total fish fauna. The ichthyofauna is dominated by reef-associated fishes (983 species) and pelagic/benthic fishes inhabiting offshore habitats (971 species). A zoogeographic analysis reveals a peculiarity of the fauna of this marginal-sea region, viz., being one of the areas of sympatry of Indian and Pacific Ocean fishes, as well as harbouring regional endemics. The PMBC Reference Collection currently contains examples of only about 63% of the fishes known from the area, indicating a need for further local sampling campaigns and/or international collaborative exploratory research programs in the Andaman Sea to build up the Reference Collection. Keywords: Thailand, Andaman Sea, fishes, checklist, diversity. INTRODUCTION northwesterly through-flow in the Strait of Malacca. It is thus an area of distributional The Andaman Sea is an approximately confluence of the biotas of both the Indian Ocean 1,200 km long x 650 km wide body of water to and the Pacific Ocean (Satapoomin, 2002a, 2007; the southeast of the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded Kimura and Satapoomin, 2009). Being a marginal by the Gulf of Mataban in the north, the Malay sea separated from the main Indian Ocean by the Peninsula in the east, the Andaman and Nicobar Andaman-Nicobar island arcs, it has been subjected Islands in the west and the northern tip of Sumatra to a profound effect of sea-level lowering, especially in the south. At its southeastern corner, the during major glaciations when it became a Andaman Sea narrows to form the Strait of separated, enclosed basin. Such isolation processes Malacca, which separates the Malay Peninsula from are believed to have promoted speciation and/or the island of Sumatra. Along an approximate 1,000 endemism of the fish fauna in the Andaman Sea km length of the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand, (e.g., McManus, 1985; Randall, 1998; Randall and a variety of marine and coastal habitats are present, Satapoomin, 1999). The area is thus characterized viz., mangroves, mud-flats, seagrass beds, rocky by its high diversity and the unique faunal shores, intertidal sand-flats, coral reefs, open composition of the fishes. However, knowledge pelagic zones, and complex seabed systems on the and information on the overall diversity of marine continental shelf. The integrity of different peculiar fishes in the area is still limited, because very few environmental settings and/or characteristics attempts had been made to compile a list of all among those habitat types provides suitable refuges known fish species from the area. for a vast variety of aquatic biota, including fishes. The purposes of the present paper are to Although, biogeographically, it belongs to the provide a brief review of recent ichthyological eastern Indian Ocean, it is strongly influenced by research, and to establish a comprehensive the western Pacific Ocean biota via the checklist of all known marine and brackish-water 30 Phuket mar. biol. Cent. Res. Bull. fishes from the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand. information on habitats and zoogeographic The checklist was compiled from various sources distribution of each species. The availability of of information, including published literature, voucher specimens lodged at the Reference unpublished data made available under several Collection of the PMBC was also emphasized in sampling programs/projects, and the fish collection order to draw the attention of ichthyologists who data repository of the Phuket Marine Biological may wish to examine these specimens. The Center (PMBC). It should be noted that the overall designation of habitat type(s) for each species was list of species presented herein is only provisional based largely on either quoted information from as a number of species records and identifications the compiled literature or from the author’s in previously published literature (particularly those unpublished survey results and observations. Four of inventory, non-taxonomic works), cannot be principal habitat categories adopted herein included verified. Nonetheless, this provisional checklist will mangrove (Mg), coral reef (Cr), seagrass bed (Sg), serve as a significant baseline for further and other offshore habitats (OShr). These establishment of a conventional, annotated categories can be considered as good checklist or taxonomic review of the Andaman Sea representations of the major marine and coastal fishes. features along the southwestern Thailand coastline. Each of these habitat types, however, was more METHODS or less loosely defined in order to accommodate a range of associated minor biotopes of each habitat. The compilation of the species list was The offshore category, in particular, was the most based largely on accumulating information from inclusive term as it encompassed a range of the earlier literature, including inventory works and/ benthic- and pelagic-related habitats. This or faunistic surveys, field guides, and taxonomic designation includes both near-shore and far- works. Some unpublished data, including recent offshore fishes considered as either pelagic (i.e., unpublished survey results made by the author, coastal pelagic, offshore pelagic, epipelagic, and collection data of the Royal Ontario Museum’s mesopelagic) or demersal (i.e., coastal demersal, project on gobioid fishes of southwestern Thailand benthopelagic, and deep demersal) species. The in 1993 (under auspices of Dr. Richard mangrove habitat was considered to include certain Winterbottom), and the PMBC fish collection data inter-connected zones like mud-flats and the upper repository were also incorporated into the current reaches of the estuarine areas. Coral reef was checklist. Selected taxonomic papers pertaining to defined to include several nearby and/or associated records of fishes from the Andaman Sea coast of areas, namely intertidal rocky shore/rock platform, Thailand used to compile the current checklist are intertidal sand-flat, and subtidal bare-seafloor in listed in Appendix B. front of the reef (so called as forereef). The systematic arrangement of families Most of the well defined zoogeographic follows Nelson (2006). Species in each family are distribution categories (see, e.g., Myers, 1991) arranged alphabetically. The scientific names of were generally adopted or redefined with additional fishes used in the cited literature have been updated explanation, while some new categories were added where possible, following recent usage, and hence with their definitions. The definitions for those junior synonyms were omitted. Since the distribution categories and their acronyms are as compilation was also based, in part, on literature follows: Indo-Pacific (IP), widespread across the that provided only a list of names, the author has Indian Ocean and western portion of the Pacific only been able to check or correct with an eastern limit east of non-marginal areas of misidentifications to a limited extent. In this regard, the Pacific Plate; Indo-west Pacific (IWP), a subset only correct names were retained, synonyms were of the Indo-Pacific with northeastern limit on the allocated according to the latest usage, while Pacific Plate, marginally in the Carolines but not doubtful species records were excluded. reaching the Marshalls; West Pacific (WP), limited In addition to scientific names and to the area bound by the Andaman Island and classification, the checklist provides basic Cocos-Keeling Island in the west to the margin of 31 The fishes of southwestern Thailand the Pacific Plate in the east, north to southern westerner was a reef-associated goby, Pipidonia Japan, south to western and eastern Australia; West quinquecincta Smith, 1931 [valid as Gobiopsis central Pacific (WCP), west Pacific and Pacific quinquecincta (Smith)]. During his term of service Plate distributions and may include the East Pacific; (1923–1935) as the Adviser in Fisheries to the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IA), a subset of the Department of Fisheries of Thailand (formerly West Pacific, north to southern Taiwan, east to Siamese Bureau of Fisheries), Smith published a the Solomons, south to the Great Barrier Reef; number of articles pertaining to freshwater fishes Indo-Malayan Archipelago (IM), a subset of Indo- and fishes of the Gulf of Thailand. Later, in 1945, Australian which is limited to the areas within he published a monograph entitled “The Fresh- bounds of Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, New water Fishes of Siam, or Thailand” (Smith, 1954). Guinea and Philippines; Indian Ocean (IO), Suvatti (1950) was the first Thai ichthyologist to widespread throughout the Indian Ocean; Northern publish a list of Thai fishes. Several subsequent Indian Ocean (NIO), the extended range of eastern studies on marine fishes in Thai waters by the Indian Ocean to encompass the northwestern