Checklist of Shore and Epipelagic Fishes of Easter Island, with Twelve New Records
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bolctin del Museo Nacional de !listona Na tural. Chik. 5~ ~ 1-55 (2005¡ CHECKLIST OF SHORE AND EPIPELAGIC FISHES OF EASTER ISLAND, WITH TWELVE NEW RECORDS JOII E. RA DALL '·ALFREDO CE/\ E.' and ROI3ERTO MELÉNDEZ C. ' ' Senior lchthyologist. Bi shop Museum 1525 fkrnico: t.. llonolulu. Jla\\ai'i 96817-2704. USA j ackr ilha\\ aii.rr.com 2 Calle Angosta 32. Pueblo La llerradura. Coquimbo. Chile aceae u 123.cl 3 Museo acional de 11 i>toria Natural. Casi ll a 787. an t iago. Chile nnclendcz íi rnnhn.cl ABSTR ACT A hi storical resume IS give n for the ichth) olog ica l re search at Easter lsland, ro ii O\\Cd by a lt st or thc 162 species of shore and cpi pclagic fi shcs prcscntl) ~11 0\1 11 for thc island . T"clvc are ncw rccords. and SiX are llC\1 Spec ics. the descriptions of \\hich are in press (C,Ccpt OllC 111 prcparat ion). Üf the total fi sh l~1una of the island. 28 specics are epipelagic. and 129 specics are >hore li shes (occurring in less than 200 m) . Twenty-cight shore-fish specics are currcn tl ) k no" n onl ) from Easter Jsland. thus a percentage or endemism of 2 1.7%, seco nd \\ithin the lnd u-Pactli c rcgion on l) to 25% ror thc Ha\\ aiian lsland s. Twelve spcc ies appear to be only stra)S to thc t>land. 1t tS cxpected thal more such waifs "ill be rc cordcd in th e future Key \\ Ords: Fishes, Eas ter Jsland, Chcc ~li s t . Ne" rccords. R~ SUME Listado siste mático de Jo s peces costeros ) epiprlágiro> de la Isla de !'asc ua , eon dore nur\'OS re gistros. Se prese nt a un resumen obre la historia de la 10\CSti gac ión ictiológica en la Isla de Pascua, seguido de un li stado ta,onómico de las 162 C>p<cies de peces costeras ) epipelágicas conocidas actualmente para la isla . De ellas. doce son nue, os registros. seis son nu c, as espec te>) CU)aS descripciones se encuentran en prensa (e,cepto una de ell as que C> W en preparación). Del total de la fauna de pece> de la isla, 28 especies son epipe la gicas.) 129 son espectcs costeras (,i, en a menos de 200 m de profundidad). Veintid ós espec ies costeras se conocen só lo para la Isla de Pascua. de esta manera: el porcentaje de cn dcmisrn o que alcanza un 2 1.7 o/n se ría el segundo más al! o denlro de la reg ión Indo Pacifica en comparación con el 25 % de las Islas lla\\atanas. Doce especies parecen ser sólo avtstamientos en la isla Se espera qu e ell os sean regi str ados en el futuro Palabras ~ Ja,e : Peces, Isla de Pasc ua, Li tado sistematico. ue, os reg tstros. FNTRODUCTION Easter lsland, also known by the Pol ynesian na me Rapa Nui and the Spanish name Isla de Pascua, li es in th e southeastern Pac ific Ocean at 27°9'S, 109 °26 ' W. lt is the most isolatcd inhabited island in the Pacific. Apart from th c satellite islet Sala-y-Gómez, thc nearest islands are th e Pitcairn lsland s, nearly 2000 km to the west, and the Juan Fernández lslands. 2.600 km to the east. The island was discovered on Easter Sunday in 1722 by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen. Early scientific interest centered on the Polynesian inhabitants and their colossal stone statues (F ischer, 1993). Only 162 species offishes are prese ntl y known from Easter lsland , ofwhich 28 are ep ipelagic. The fish fauna ofthe island is very impoverished compared to the res! ofthe lndo-Pacific region . The primary reason is its extreme isolat ion from other shoal areas from which colonizing species mi ght ori ginate. Al so, it is the most di stan! of the islands of Oceania from the lndo-M alayan region. the richest fauna! province ofthe world. Other factors are the island's relative youth (2.5 mi ilion years), its sma ll size. few aquatic habitats, and its su btropicallocation. Summer sea su rface temperatures are usually 22-24 °C, and "in ter low generall) 17. ·ce.'' ith one record to 15. 7°( (DiSalvo el al. , 1988). A protracted period of cool sea tcmperaturc could resu lt in the local ex tinction of tropical species. whcreas extended warm sea temperature mi ght exterminate thc more subtropical spec ies. In 1969 th ere were extensive meadows of the brown alga Sargassum and 1er) littlc coral. Two herbi1orous fi shes were cornmon in the alga! beds, Gire/la nebulosa and Leptoscarus \'(/igiensis. In 1985 there 11as surprising l) little argassum, much more cora l, and the two herbivorous fi hes 11erc not seen (Randall. 1998). Kendall and Radcliffc ( 1912) 11ere the first lo report fi he from Eas ter lsland. They li sted 22 specie collected by the U.S. Fi h Commi ion stea mer «A ibatross». The specimens 11 ere deposited in the Muse um ofComparative Zoolog) ofl larvard ni1ersit) . T11o fi she 11erc described as new. Kuh/ia nutobwula and Gire/la nebuloso. Regan ( 1913) hada repo11 in press on 11 spccies collected by Professor Fuentes atthe island in 191 1 11hen he sa 11 Kendall and Radcliffe· publication. ine ofhis 11 pecies had already been recorded. lle revi sed hi s manuscript but desc ribed fivc species as new: Acanthistius ji1scus. Lahrichthys ji1entesi (no11 in Pseudolabrus). Bathystetlws orientale. Anampses pulcher (no11 re ga rdcd ns A. caeruleopunctatus), and Pseudomonocanthus paschalis (currentl) classified in Thomlwcollm). Ke11dall and Radcliffe had listed th e first three ofthese a kno11 n spccies. Fuentes ( 1914) providcd n pani h tran lati on of Rcga n' paper. Rc11dahl ( 192 1) repon ed 15 species of fi shes from Eastcr lsland collectcd b)" K. Bad.strbm ofthe wedi h Pacific Expedition. 1916- 17, including thc new record ~ Platybelone argolus platyura. Bothu; mw1cus, and Diodon ho/oca/7/hus. Three species were dc scr::,~ d as ncw: Gymnothorw: ohscurirostri.\ (a S) 11011) m ofG porphyreus). Ostracion paschae (now identilied a Lactaria diophana). and Pseudolahrus semifasciatus. Fowler ( 1933) dctcrmined that the goatfish from Easter lsland that Kcndall and Rndcliffe had idcntificd as Pseudupeneus multifasciatus rcprcst.: nt s a new species th at he rcnamed Pseudupeneus oriemali.1 , no11 in thc ge nus Parupeneus . Wilhclm and Hulot ( 1957) liTO te bricfl) on the fi shing and lis hes o fEa ter 1 land. Thcir provisional Ji t of fi he included Engraulis p., (~rnm othorax . comhresox. 1~rp orlwmphus, Cvpselurus, Brotula sp., Aulostomus sp .. a cirrhitid. Priucwuhus sp .. Chelmo sp .. and Tetrodon. In 1958 a collection of Eastcr 1 land fi . he was made in Anakena Bay. Easter lsland by Ram sey Park and the crew of the kctch ( 'hiriqui. 1h e t.: spec imens are now hou sed in the atural Hi story M u eum of Lo Angele County. De Buen ( 1959) recorded ,\/ola ramsayi from Easter 1 land. In 1961 he described new spec ies of fi hes from Ch il e which includcd 111 o mora) ccl from Easter lsland, Cymnothorax nasuta and G dentex, the latter a ynonym of G euros tu.\. Parin ( 1961 ) recorded th e fl yi ngfish C)•pselurus pitcairnensis from Eastcr 1 Jand and describcd the subspec ies Cheilopogon agoo rapanouiensis from near th e island. Parin (in arpen ter and Niem 1999) trcatcd raponouiensis as a species. De Buen ( 1963) produced a de criptive catalog of 40 Easter lsland li s he with simple drawings of 32 species. He described as new 1/o/ocentrum ll'ilhelmi, Xanthichthys surcatus (X lineopunctatus of Kendall and Radcliffe, now a ynonym of X mento), ,lmanses rapanui (no11 in the ge nus Camherhines), and a new subspecies, Cirripectes variolosus patuki (the Alticus l'Ciriolosus of Kendall and Radcliffe, now C. alboapicalis). He identified the Brotula sp. of Wilhelm and llulot as B. multibarbata, their Scombresox as Be/one platyura (now Plarybelone argalus platyura). their Hyporhamphus as 1-1. phurcallls (now H. acutus acutus, as shown by Co llette, 197-l), their Priacamhus sp. as Priaccmthus cruentatus (now in Heteropriacanthus), their Chelmo as Forcipiger longirostris (later reidcntified as F. jlavissimus), and their Tetrodon as Ovoides meleagris (now in Arothron). lle corrected the Tewhis umbra of Kendall and Radcliffe and later authors to Acanthurus leucopareius. In a revision of the filefish genera Cantherhines and Amanses, Randall ( 1964) described C. tiki from Easter lsland befo re becoming aware ofC. rapanui (de Buen), the enior synonym (de Buen's 1963 paper was overlooked by the Zoological Record). During thc Canadian Medica! Expedition to Easter lsland in 1964-65, a collection of79 species fishes was made by lan E. Efford and Jack A. Mathias of the ln st itute of Fisheries of the Un iversity of British Columbia. These specimens ha ve not been reported as a collection but are curated at the museum J. RANDALL et al. 1 Checklist of shore and epipelagic fishes of Easter lsland. "ith t\\elve nc\\ records 43 ofthe University. Springer (1967) revised the blenny genus Entomacrodus. Among his new species is the endemic Easter lsland E. chapmani, previously identified as Alticus striatus or Salarias arenatus. The first author, Gerald R. Al len , and Bruce B. Baker, M.O. spent a month collecting fishes at Easter lsland in 1969 with support ofthe National Geographic Society. The specimens were deposited at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.