COMPONENT 2A - Project 2A2 Improve knowledge and capacity for a better management of reef ecosystems May 2011 SCIENTIFIC REPORT MAJOR CORAL REEF FISH SPECIES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC WITH BASIC INFORMATION ON THEIR BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY Authors: Michel Kulbicki, Gérard Mou-Tham, Laurent Vigliola, Laurent Wantiez, Esther Manaldo, Pierre Labrosse, Yves Letourneur Photo credit: Eric Clua The CRISP Coordinating Unit (CCU) was integrated into the Secretariat of the Pacifi c Community in April 2008 to insure maximum coordination and synergy in work relating to coral reef management in the region. The CRISP programme is implemented as part of the policy developed by the Secretariat of the Pacifi c Regional Envi- ronment Programme for a contribution to conservation and sustainable development of coral reefs in the Pacifi c. he Initiative for the Protection and Management of Coral Reefs in the Pacifi c (CRISP), T sponsored by France and prepared by the French Development Agency (AFD) as part of an inter-ministerial project from 2002 onwards, aims to develop a vision for the future of these unique ecosystems and the communities that depend on them and to introduce strategies and projects to conserve their biodiversity, while developing the economic and environmental services that they provide both locally and globally. Also, it is designed as a factor for integration between developed countries (Australia, New Zealand, Japan and USA), French overseas territories and Pacifi c Island developing countries. The CRISP Programme comprises three major components, which are: Component 1A: Integrated Coastal Management and Watershed Management - 1A1: Marine biodiversity conservation planning - 1A2: Marine Protected Areas - 1A3: Institutional strengthening and networking - 1A4: Integrated coastal reef zone and watershed management Component 2: Development of Coral Ecosystems - 2A: Knowledge, monitoring and management of coral reef ecosytems CRISP Coordinating Unit (CCU) - 2B: Reef rehabilitation Programme manager: Eric - 2C: Development of active marine substances CLUA - 2D: Development of regional data base (ReefBase Pacifi c) SPC - P.O. Box D5 Component 3: Programme Coordination and Development 98848 Noumea Cedex - 3A: Capitalisation, value-adding and extension of CRISP Programme activities New Caledonia - 3B: Coordination, promotion and development of CRISP Programme Tel./Fax: (687) 26 54 71 - 3C: Support to alternative livelihoods Email: [email protected] - 3D: Vulnerability of ecosystems and species www.crisponline.net - 3E: Economic task force COMPONENT 2A Knowledge, monitoring and management of coral reef ecosytems PROJECT 2A-1: Postlarvae (fi sh and crustacean) Capture and Culture for aquarium trade and res- toking (PCC) PROJECT 2A-2: Improvement of knowledge and capacity for a better management of reef eco- systems PROJECT 2A-3: Synopsis and extension work on indicators for monitoring the health of coral Component Leader: René GALZIN ecosystems and developing a remote sensing tool UMR 5244 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD PROJECT 2A-4: 52, Av. Paul Alduy Testing of novel information feedback methods for local communities and users 66860 Perpignan of reef and lagoon resources France Tel.: (33) 4 68 66 20 55 PROJECT 2A-5: Fax: (33) 4 68 50 36 86 Specifi c studies on i) the eff ects on the increase in atmospheric CO2 on the health E-mail : [email protected] of coral formation and ii) the development of ecotourism This CRISP component is funded by the following agency: MAJOR CORAL REEF FISH SPECIES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC WITH BASIC INFORMATION ON THEIR BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY. Kulbicki Michel1 , MouTham Gérard2, Vigliola Laurent2, Wantiez Laurent3, Manaldo Esther1, Labrosse Pierre5, Letourneur Yves4 1-IRD- UR 227-Laboratoire Arago-BP.44 – 66651 Banyuls/mer-France 2- IRD- UR 227 – BP A5 – 98848 – Nouméa Nouvelle Calédonie 3- UNC – BP R4 – 98851 – Nouméa; Aquarium des Lagons, BP 8185 98807 Nouméa– Nouvelle Calédonie 4- Université de Nouvelle Calédonie- Laboratoire « LIVE » – BP R4 – 98851 – Nouméa- Nouvelle Calédonie 5- Université de Djibouti - B.P. 1904, Djibouti 1 TABLE OF CONTENT General Introduction .................................................................................................. 3 General Information .................................................................................................. 4 Major Families .............................................................................................. 5 Diversity Gradients ........................................................................................ 8 Regional Gradients .................................................................... 8 Local Gradients .......................................................................... 12 Biogeographical regions ................................................................................ 14 Endemism .................................................................................................. 17 Country Reports .................................................................................................. 21 General Information ...................................................................................... 21 Cook Islands .................................................................................................. 25 Federate States of Micronesia ....................................................................... 28 Fiji .................................................................................................. 32 Marshall Islands ............................................................................................ 35 Nouvelle Calédonie ....................................................................................... 38 Palau .................................................................................................. 41 Papua New Guinea ........................................................................................ 44 Pitcairn .................................................................................................. 48 Polynésie Française ....................................................................................... 50 Samoa .................................................................................................. 56 Solomon Islands ............................................................................................ 59 Tonga .................................................................................................. 62 Vanuatu .................................................................................................. 65 Wallis & Futuna ............................................................................................. 68 Some useful references .................................................................................................. 70 Useful references on South Pacific reef fish diet................................................................ 82 Table CR-1: Diversity of taxonomic and ecological groups per country ............................. 97 Table CR-2: Relative diversity of taxonomic and ecological groups per country ................. 101 Table CR-3: Species per country ........................................................................................ CDrom Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 107 2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION Reef fishes are an important resource in most countries in the South Pacific (Figure 1). At present there are still huge gaps in our knowledge of the geographical distribution, biology and ecology of these fishes. Such information is often essential to managers and scientists working on these resources. Much of this information is already available in books or in FISHBASE. However, most of this information is not available per country and is scattered. In addition this information is not easily available for many species. The objective of the present report is to give for 14 South Pacific countries or territories a list of the most common reef fish species and indications on some of their basic life-history traits. The species targeted in this report are commercial species and/or species which are supposed to be ecologically important, but we attempted to include other species as well. Only species found on reefs or strongly associated to reefs are considered. In particular species found inshore in habitats such as mangroves, estuaries or pelagic species are not included. Species living in deeper water (more than 80m) are not considered either (e.g. the deep water Lutjanidae or Serranidae). A limited number of references is provided (globally and for each country) to assist in finding additional information on each species. The species lists in this report should NOT be considered as checklists because a number of records could not be verified and the data available for many countries or territories is still very incomplete. In addition a number of species, in particular small and cryptic ones, are not included for most countries. In some instances, when the degree of information was low, some interpolation was performed with the presence/absence from nearby countries in order to indicate for some major species if their presence was likely. The taxonomy used in this report follows the taxonomy used in the 2010 version of FISHBASE. For species not listed in FISHBASE 2010 (recently described species or species waiting for a final status) a reference will be given. Un-described species were not retained.