OF NEW CALEDONIA : TAXONOMY and DISTRIBUTION G Marquet

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OF NEW CALEDONIA : TAXONOMY and DISTRIBUTION G Marquet THE FRESHWATER EELS (ANGUILLIDAE) OF NEW CALEDONIA : TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION G Marquet To cite this version: G Marquet. THE FRESHWATER EELS (ANGUILLIDAE) OF NEW CALEDONIA : TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION. Vie et Milieu / Life & Environment, Observatoire Océanologique - Laboratoire Arago, 1996, pp.65-71. hal-03100550 HAL Id: hal-03100550 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-03100550 Submitted on 6 Jan 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. VIE MILIEU, 1996, 46 (1) : 65-71 THE FRESHWATER EELS (ANGUILLIDAE) OF NEW CALEDONIA : TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION G. MARQUET Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Laboratoire d'Ichtyoécologie Tropicale et Méditerranéenne, URA 1453, Université de Perpignan, 66860 Perpignan Cedex, France ANGUILLE RÉSUMÉ. - Un inventaire partiel des Poissons d'eau douce de la NOUVELLE CALÉDONIE Nouvelle-Calédonie (Mission PEDCAL) a été réalisé pendant les mois de SYSTÉMATIQUE septembre et d'octobre 1991. Cinq espèces d'Anguilles ont été répertoriées en RÉPARTITION CIVELLE Nouvelle-Calédonie : Anguilla australis schmidtii, Anguilla marmorata, Anguilla AIRE DE PONTE megastoma, Anguilla obscura et Anguilla reinhardtii. La présente étude examine la répartition altitudinale et géographique de ces espèces en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cette répartition peut être reliée à la vie marine des différentes espèces d'Anguilles. EEL ABSTRACT. - A survey of New Caledonia freshwater fish (project Pedcal) has NEW CALEDONIA been conducted during the months of September and October 1991. Five species TAXONOMY of eels occur in New Caledonia : Anguilla australis schmidtii, Anguilla marmorata, DISTRIBUTION ELVER Anguilla megastoma, Anguilla obscura and Anguilla reinhardtii. The présent study SPAWNING AREA examines the altitudinal and geographical distribution of thèse species in New Caledonia. The latter may be correlated with their marine life. INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS Taxonomy New Caledonia (Fig. 1) is a large island with an area of 19 500 km2. It is situated between 164° Coloration, proportional body measurements and E-168°E longitude and 20°S-23°S latitude. vertébral counts are widely used to distinguish the various species of Anguilla. Although the temperate species of freshwater Three distances have been measured according to eels (genus Anguilla) have been widely studied, the method of Ege (1939) and Beumer et al (1981) : there have been few studies of tropical species the distance from the tip of the lower jaw to the vertical especially those of the Pacific région. Biological through the origin of the dorsal fin, the distance from data available for thèse species are meristic fea- the tip of the lower jaw to the vertical through the anus tures (Ege, 1939; Beumer et al, 1981; Marquet and the distance from the perpendicular through the and Lamarque, 1986; Allen, 1991), distribution eye-centre on the margin of the upper jaw to the angle (Ege, 1939; Castle, 1968; Marquet and Galzin, of the gape. Vertébral counts were made after X-rays 1991) and larval information (Jespersen, 1942; photographs taken by B. Séret (ORSTOM, Muséum Castle, 1963; Jellyman, 1987). National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris). Apart from the Weber and de Beaufort's (1915) publication, little is known about New Caledonian Catching methods freshwater fish. Therefore a survey of the New Caledonia freshwater fishes (project Pedcal) has Two methods of capture have been used : electric been conducted over a two months period (Sep- fishing mainly and rotenone poisoning occasionally. tember-October 1991). The présent study exa- Two generators were used : the "Cormoran" (Gosset, mines the results concerning the taxonomy, the 1975) and the "Martin-Pêcheur" (Gosset et al., 1971). altitudinal and geographical distribution of eels in The "Cormoran" gives a polarised rectangular im- New Caledonia. The latter may be paralleled with pulse output, at 100 and 400 Hz, with a cyclic ratio their marine life. adjustable between 10 and 50%. Five strengths are 66 MARQUET Fig. 1. - General map of New Caledonia showing the location of the 35 investigated rivers. available between 100 and 400 V. The power output is Under the "Pedcal project" 65 fishing opérations 1000 W. This apparatus has been designed for brackish have been conducted in the above rivers and lake. The waters within a 500 to 5000 uS cm-1 conductivity présence of eels was established in 40 of those opéra- range. tions. The "Martin-Pêcheur" is a portable battery operated Main physical features of the fishing sites were as apparatus, with a 180 W output, weighing 12 kg, bat- follows : widths from 2 to 30 m, depths from 0.2 to tery included. It gives polarised rectangular impulse 2 m, altitudes from 0 to 580 m, températures from 19° with a choice of two frequencies : 100 or 400 Hz with to 26°, pH from 6 to 8 and conductivities from 53 to a cyclic ratio continuously adjustable between 5 and 35000 uScrn"1- 25%. Three strengths are available: 150, 200 and 300 V. This apparatus has been designed for waters within a 50 and 1000 |a.S cm-1 conductivity range. Rotenone poisoning was used only where the above RESULTS generators were not suitable to the conductivity of the investigated waters. Among the 16 eel species recorded by Ege (1939) or 15 by Castle and Williamson (1974), Survey of the various types of habitat five can be found in New Caledonia : Anguilla australis schmidtii Philipps, 1925 (Tabl. I), An- guilla marmorata Quoy and Gaimard, 1824 A total of 35 rivers have been investigated (Fig. 1) : (Tabl. II), Anguilla megastoma Kaup, 1856 6 rivers in the South; 12 on the West coast; 11 on the (Tabl. III A), Anguilla obscura Gunfher, 1871 East coast and 6 in the North. "Lac en huit" has been (Tabl. IIIB) and Anguilla reinhardtii Steinda- visited twice. chner, 1867 (Tabl. IV). EELS OF NEW CALEDONIA 67 Table I. - Distribution of Anguilla australis schmidtii French Polynesia in the Pacific Océan (Marquet (Fig. 2) : 7 spécimens (from 47 to 111 mm). and Galzin, 1991); A. megastoma is known from the Solomon islands to Pitcairn island (Ege, River N° of Pedcal sites Number of Length altitude 1939); A. obscura is known in Australia (Beumer ( référence spécimens (mm) (m) number of MNHN et al., 1981) and from New Guinea to Mangareva 1993 ) (Marquet and Galzin, 1991); A. reinhardtii is re- Koghi 11 (0211) 2 96 and 111 340 stricted to Australia, New Guinea and New Cale- La Foa 23 (0212) 1 97 50 donia (Ege, 1939; Allen, 1991). Diahot 28(0213) 1 70 60 Tlwaka 43 (0217) 1 108 15 In the course of our inventory, no large spéci- Des Pirogues 62(0220) 2 47 and 59 5 men of Anguilla australis schmidtii has been cap- tured, in contrast to the other species. Nevertheless Weber (1915) studied only 3 spéci- mens of Anguilla australis in the Oubatche River DISCUSSION (86, 104 and 316 mm), Ege (1939) studied nume- rous spécimens (61 from 300 mm to 599 mm) with elvers (158 from 44 mm to 56 mm). Electric Taxonomy fishing in strongly conductive waters was not pos- sible with the available generators and it may be Five species occur in the rivers of New Cale- that in New Caledonia large spécimens of A. a. donia : Three have a skin with variegated mar- schmidtii live mostly in such waters. kings and are longfinned : Anguilla marmorata, A. megastoma and A. reinhardtii. Two have a skin without variegated markings and are shortfinned : Key to the New Caledonian species of Anguilla Anguilla australis schmidtii and A. obscura. The présence of thèse species in New Caledonia is la. Skin with variegated markings and with long consistent with Ege' s results (1939) and with dorsal fin 2 their known geographical distribution. Indeed, A. lb. Skin without variegated markings and short australis schmidtii is restricted to New Zealand dorsal fin 3 and New Caledonia (Ege, 1939); A. marmorata 2a. Distance between verticals through anus has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from South and origin of dorsal fin, in percent of total length Africa in the Indian Océan to Mangareva in 7-13 4 68 MARQUET Balade* ^ Amoss A . OueiepA ADiahot 'Tite* 'Oue Thaboua A • BâA Hienghène A A Voh A Petit Coulis A La Foa Rivière du mois demai A A A. marmorata A Dumbéa Fig. 3. - Distribution of A. marmorata. 2b. Distance between verticals through anus and Australia and its présence in Solomon and Vanua- origin of dorsal fin, in percent of total length tu islands for example. 13-19; mottled or marbled skin; total vertebrae Anguilla megastoma was présent only on the 103-109 A. marmorata East coast (Fig. 2). This distribution may be pa- 3a. Total vertebrae 102-108, 40-43 prehaemal; ralleled with the distribution of this species re- distance from perpendicular through eye-centre on stricted to a narrow range of latitude (from the margin of upper jaw to angle of gape 22-30% of Solomon islands to Pitcairn island) length of gape A. obscura 3b. Total vertebrae 109-116, 45-48 prehaemal; Anguilla obscura was présent in the North with distance from perpendicular through eye-centre on small spécimens and on the West coast with large margin of upper jaw to angle of gape 15-22% of spécimens (Fig. 2). The observed distribution may length of gape A. australis schmidtii be paralleled with the présence of this species in 4a. Broad, undivided maxillary and mandibular Australia and from New Guinea to Mangareva.
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