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The Diet of the Large Coral Reef Serranid Plectropomus Leopardus In

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The Diet of the Large Coral Reef Serranid Plectropomus Leopardus In 18 0 Abstract–The diet of Plectropomus The diet of the large coral reef serranid leopardus (Serranidae, Lacepede 1802) was examined on two pairs of reefs in Plectropomus leopardus in two fi shing zones the Cairns Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Australia. For both on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia pairs, one reef was open to fi shing and the other had been closed to fi shing for Jill St John eight years; however zoning appeared to be ineffective as there was no differ- Garry R. Russ ence in the size structure of leopard cor- Department of Marine Biology algrouper populations on either open James Cook University or closed reefs. Two fi shing methods Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia were used to sample reefs concurrently, Present address (for J. St John): Western Australian Marine Research Laboratories and the size structure and diet of PO Box 20 P. leopardus that were speared ran- North Beach, Western Australia 6020, Australia domly (n=587) were compared to sam- E-mail address (for J. StJohn): jstjohn@fi sh.wa.gov.au ples caught by line (n=85). Adult P. leopardus were highly piscivorous (96% of prey was fi sh by number), and two Ian W. Brown families of fi shes, Pomacentridae and Southern Fisheries Centre Labridae, composed approximately half P.O. Box of their diet (index of relative impor- Deception Bay, Queensland 4508 Australia tance=48.4%). Numerical composition of fi sh in the diet varied signifi cantly among reefs, but there were no patterns Lyle C. Squire related to reef closures when fi sh prey 27 Barrett St. were classifi ed by taxa or by their habi- Bungalow, Queensland 4870 Australia tat. Fishes categorized as living in the demersal reef habitat were the domi- nant prey consumed, followed by mid- water fi shes. When the data from reefs were pooled, the abundance of families in the diet differed between locations Groupers (Serranidae) are an impor- nant component of the three main coral (north and south) but not between fi sh- tant fi shery resource throughout the trout species caught on the GBR by all ing zones. Dietary overlap was high tropics (Ralston, 1987; Heemstra and fi shermen (Williams and Russ, 1994; between the different fi shing zones and Randall, 1993; Polunin and Roberts, Steven3), and by Australian standards, was very high in relation to naturally 1996) and are a favored target species this species is subjected to considerable occurring spatial and temporal vari- of fi shermen (Bohnsack, 1982; Randall, fi shing pressure. ability in the diet of P. leopardus found 1987; Koslow et al., 1988; Russ and Intense fi shing pressure has been im- in other studies. With line fi shing larger Alcala, 1996). Like many other large plicated in the drastic declines of grou- and hungry fi sh are caught, and the few data on natural prey suggest ten- piscine predators, the life history char- per populations off Florida and the Ca- tatively that line catches are biased acteristics of groupers (Bohnsack, 1982; ribbean (Sadovy, 1994; Bohnsack et al., toward P. leopardus feeding on pelagic Russ, 1991) make them vulnerable to 1994). In Australia, fi shery managers fi shes. The coral reefs and surrounding overfi shing (Sluka and Sullivan, 1998). have already detected a decline in abun- waters provide the major food source of Unlike most other multispecies trop- P. leopardus, whereas sandy areas are ical habitats, the Great Barrier Reef 1 Miles, A. 1997. Research, not rumors, much less important. Our data suggest (GBR) supports a line fi shery that tar- needed for live fi shing industry. Exploring that the coral trout fi shery is resilient gets relatively few genera (Russ, 1991). Reef Science. May newsl. [Available from CRC Reef Research Centre, James Cook to changes in abundances of particular The groupers of the genus Plectropo- prey species because the diet of P. leop- University, Townsville 4811, Australia.] mus support the most valuable commer- ardus is broad and because the two 2 Blamey, R. K., and T. J. Hundloe. 1991. major prey families are diverse and cial fi n-fi shery in Queensland (Trainor, Characteristics of recreational boat fi shing abundant on coral reefs. 1991), with an annual value of $A10 in the Great Barrier Reef region. Unpubl. million. Groupers bring a consistently report to the Great Barrier Reef Marine high price (about $20/kilogram retail Park Authority (GBRMPA) PO Box 1379, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia. for fi llet) on the Australian market 3 Steven, A. 1988. An analysis of fi shing and are highly valued in the “live ex- activities on possible predators of the crown port” market to Asia (Miles1) Also, grou- of thorns starfi sh (Acanthaster planci) on pers are targeted by recreational line the Great Barrier Reef. Unpubl. report (Blamey and Hundloe2) and spear fi sh- to GBRMPA, PO Box 1379, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia. 131 p. ermen (Steven3), and recreational fi sh- 4 The offi cial common name of Plectropomus ing is expanding with the rapid growth leopardus is leopard coralgrouper, formerly Manuscript accepted 25 April 2000. of the tourist industry on the GBR. known as bluedotted coraltrout (Heemstra Fish. Bull. 99:180–192 (2001). Plectropomus leopardus4 is the domi- and Randall, 1993). St John et al.: Diet of Plectropomus leopardus on the Great Barrier Reef 181 dance of P. leopardus in some parts of the GBR, particular- cannot progress further without knowledge of the prey con- ly close to centers of human population (Craik, 1981). Fur- sumed (Jennings and Polunin, 1997). thermore, fi shing pressure is expected to intensify owing Information on the trophic biology of groupers is impor- to increases in both commercial and recreational demand tant for protecting the stocks and ensuring a healthy fi sh- for this species. Maintaining grouper stocks on coral reefs ery for the future. Knowledge of the breadth of the diet depends on careful management of these fi sheries. and the specifi c habitat of important prey will indicate the Strategies of coral reef management include closing resilience of stocks to changes in prey abundance or habi- reefs to all forms of exploitation. This strategy is designed tat destruction. Furthermore, baseline information on the to protect reef-fi sh stocks and habitats (Williams and diet of unfi shed populations is needed as a comparison for Russ, 1994), which enables populations of reef fi shes to re- diets of fi shed populations. Such information should in- gain or maintain natural levels of abundance (see review clude some measure of spatial variation in regard to the by Roberts and Polunin, 1991). Since the establishment of diet. Fishing activities may alter the trophic ecology of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) in 1981, the the species targeted by altering the structure or the be- major management strategy has involved partitioning of havior of the wild population or both. For example, remov- reefs into six main zones that permit different levels and ing larger individuals of P. leopardus may alter the diet types of fi shing.5 Actual fi shing pressure on reefs in these of the population because larger predators eat larger prey. zones, however, has not been measured in many areas of St John (1999) found that the composition of the fi sh diet the marine park (Williams and Russ, 1994). of P. leopardus on the GBR varied with size until preda- Most concerns about the impact of fi shing have focused tors attained 35 cm (TL). If this result applies to other on the reduction of stock abundance (Russ, 1991). Both geographic areas, fi shing could affect the trophic impact of direct and indirect trophic effects on the structure of cor- P. leopardus populations where legal minimum size limits al reef-fi sh communities by the removal of piscivores re- are less than 35 cm (TL) or do not exist (e.g. Okinawa, Ja- main poorly understood (Hixon, 1991; Russ, 1991; Steneck, pan). On the GBR, however, such effects would be minimal 1998). Some authors have argued that the removal of large because the legal minimum length is 38 cm (TL). piscivorous fi shes leads to compensatory increases in over- Fishing may also affect the behavior of piscivores. Line all abundance or changes in relative abundance of prey of- fi shermen use baited hooks and throw bait into the water ten termed “prey release” (Beddington and May, 1982; Go- (termed burleying) to attract leopard coralgroupers to eden, 1982; Beddington, 1984; Grigg et al., 1984; Koslow their fi shing sites on the GBR. The use of bait to catch et al., 1988). Russ (1991) and Jennings and Lock (1996), these fi sh could affect feeding behavior or feeding-related however, argued that the evidence for “prey release” on patterns of movement of P. leopardus in fi shed reefs and coral reefs is limited and equivocal. In 1978 Goeden sug- may have short- or long-term effects on the feeding ecology gested that depleting the abundance of P. leopardus may of P. leopardus. irreversibly alter the structure of the community of coral- Compared with commercially important fi shes in many reef fi shes on the GBR, and yet, 20 years later, nothing is other ecosystems, relatively little is known about the diet known about the trophic impacts of this fi shery. of adult P. leopardus on the GBR, despite the huge num- Coral reefs with different fi shing histories represent bers of P. leopardus fi shed from the reefs on the GBR valuable large scale manipulations of predator densities annually (but see Choat, 1968; Goeden, 1978; Kingsford, (Jennings and Polunin, 1997). In contrast to results of 1992; St John, 1995, 1999).
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