Hernández-Velasco et al. Marine Biodiversity Records (2016) 9:49 DOI 10.1186/s41200-016-0062-1 MARINE RECORD Open Access Occurrence of Holacanthus clarionensis (Pomacanthidae), Stegastes leucorus, and Stegastes acapulcoensis (Pomacentridae) at Magdalena Bay, B.C.S., Mexico Arturo Hernández-Velasco1*, Francisco J. Fernández-Rivera-Melo1, Sara M. Melo-Merino2 and Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez1,3 Abstract Pomacanthids and Pomacentrids are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, and inhabit shallow rocky and coral reefs. Due to their colorful patterns and unusual body shapes, they have been widely targeted by aquarium fish trade; these species are of great commercial interest. Here we document the occurrence of one Pomacanthid (Holacanthus clarionensis), and two Pomacentrids (Stegastes acapulcoensis, and S. leucorus) north of their reported distribution range during the 2014 warm water period in the eastern Tropical Eastern Pacific. Sightings took place at Magdalena-Almejas Bay complex, located in the western margin of the Baja California Peninsula. Using a series of abiotic data for the Tropical Eastern Pacific, we created a maximum entropy model for each species and identified that high probability of occurrence at Magdalena-Almejas Bay complex was only denoted for S. leucorus. Here we report the occurrence of H. clarionensis, S. acapulcoensis and S. leucorus 70 km, 300 km, and 300 km north of the northernmost reported limits. Keywords: Reef fish, Pomacanthidae, Pomacentridae, Zoogeography, Occurrence Introduction Chromis alta (Greenfield & Woods, 1980), C. atrilobata Pomacanthids (angelfishes) and Pomacentrids (damsel- (Gill, 1862), C. limbaughi (Greenfield & Woods, 1980), fishes) are mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical Hypsypops rubicundus (Girard, 1854), Microspathodon regions, and inhabit rocky and coral reefs between 1 and bairdii (Gill, 1862), M. dorsalis (Gill, 1862), Stegastes 30 m deep; a few species range to depths of 80 m or acapulcoensis (Fowler, 1944), S. flavilatus (Gill, 1862)S. more (Thomson et al., 2000; Robertson & Allen 2008). leucorus (Gilbert, 1892) S. rectifraenum (Gill, 1862), and S. Eschmeyer & Fong (2015) and Nelson (2006) report a redemptus (Heller & Snodgrass, 1903). total of 89 angelfish, and 387 damselfish species distrib- Due to their colorful patterns and unusual body uted around the world’s oceans. Along the Mexican shapes, angelfish and damselfish have been widely tar- coast, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, registered species geted by aquarium fish trade, thus many species are of of this family include four angelfishes: Pomacanthus great commercial interest. In fact, damselfishes hold the zonipectus (Gill, 1862), Holacanthus passer (Valenciennes, world’s first place in such trade, while angelfishes are 1846), H. limbaughi (Baldwin, 1963), and H. clarionensis rated as fifth (Wabnitz et al. 2003). Piña-Espallargas (Gilbert, 1891), and 13 damselfishes: Abudefduf troschelii et al. (2001) have pointed that H. clarionensis, S. leucorus (Gill, 1862), A. declivifrons (Gill, 1862), Azurina hirundo and S. acapulcoensis are considered as commercially im- (Jordan & McGregor in Jordan & Evermann, 1898), portant fish in Mexico’s ornamental fishery. Internationally, H. clarionensis and S. leucorus are * Correspondence: [email protected] listed as “Vulnerable” species in the International Union 1 Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A.C. Calle Isla del Peruano #215 Col. Lomas de for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, as their Miramar, Delicias, CP 85448 Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico Full list of author information is available at the end of the article already limited distribution is likely to be affected by the © 2016 Hernandez Velasco et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Hernández-Velasco et al. Marine Biodiversity Records (2016) 9:49 Page 2 of 7 ongoing climate change, resulting in reduction of actual bird diversity, and for being an important breeding zone population sizes (Pyle et al., 2010; Allen et al. 2010a, for gray whales and sea turtles (Galván-Magaña et al. 2010b). In addition, these three species are not listed in 2000; Gardner & Chávez‐Rosales 2000; Zarate-Ovando et any appendix of the Convention of International Trade al., 2006). This particular region has been widely reported of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). to be an important transition zone (an ecotone) between Nevertheless, at a national level the only species with a temperate and tropical environments, and represents one degree of vulnerability is H. clarionensis, listed as need- of the southernmost regions still under the influence of ing “Special protection” due to their great demand by the California Current, where the outermost part of the aquarium trade industry and their limited range of dis- bay is constantly influenced by upwelling events (Álvarez- tribution to the Mexican Pacific (Diario Oficial de la Borrego et al., 1975; Zaitsev et al., 2010). Federación, 2010). Between 2010 and 2014 a total of 295 underwater eco- In this paper we document the occurrence of H logical surveys were conducted as part of a major moni- clarionensis, S. acapulcoensis, and S. leucorus north of toring program of no-take marine reserves and fishing their reported range of distribution. Given the ecological grounds in the area. Fish assemblages in five monitoring and economic importance of such species, this informa- sites were surveyed using belt transects (30 × 2 m), tion should be taken into account for future decisions where richness and abundances were estimated by Reef- making in conservation and management subjects. Check California certified scuba divers. Sampling effort for each year and monitoring site is presented in Table 1. Materials and methods The specimens of H. clarionensis, S. leucorus and S. aca- Magdalena and Almejas bays are located in the southwestern pulcoensis were only present during 2014 monitorings coast of the Baja California Peninsula (Fig. 1). The and were identified on the basis of the diagnostic traits Magdalena-Almejas Bay complex is one of Mexico’s present by Allen & Robertson (1994) and Humann & de largest lagoon systems, recognized as a Region for Loach (2004). Conservation Priority due to its large fishing production, To determine the currently accepted geographical the representation of multiple habitats, significant fish and range of the species we used specialized literature (Allen Fig. 1 Map of Magdalena and Almejas Bays. Black dots indicate monitoring sites Hernández-Velasco et al. Marine Biodiversity Records (2016) 9:49 Page 3 of 7 Table 1 Sampling effort for five monitoring sites at Isla Magdalena 1998; Robertson & Allen 2008), and looked at informa- from 2010 to 2014 tion about specimens housed in over 20 collections of Monitoring Coordinates Year Mexico and the United States, available in the Global site Latitude Longitude 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Biodiversity Information Facility webpage (GBIF, 2015), the El Aboyadero 24.57 −112.10 6 21 7 16 22 Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS, 2015), El Progresista 24.66 −112.17 12 27 14 4 20 FishBase (Froese & Pauly, 2014), and VerNet (2015). We used the maximum entropy software MaxEnt ver. Las Garropas 24.66 −112.18 - - 12 - 19 3.3.3 k (Phillips et al., 2006) to develop an ecological − Los Cabitos 24.55 112.10 6 18 10 6 13 niche model of the species on the basis of occurrence Punta Blanca 24.65 −112.18 7 21 14 - 20 records and on yearly average, annual range, maximum Total 31 87 57 26 94 and minimum surface values of a series of oceano- graphic factors (9 × 9 km pixel resolution). Temperature (°C), chlorophyll a concentration (mg/m3), photosyn- thetic active radiation (Einstein/m2/day), and water Fig. 2 Distribution of H. clarionensis, S. acapulcoensis and S. leucorus according to information of the GIF, OBIS, Fishbase, and VerNet databases Hernández-Velasco et al. Marine Biodiversity Records (2016) 9:49 Page 4 of 7 Table 2 Previously reported northern endpoints for Holocanthus clarionensis, Stegastes acapulcoensis, and S. leucorus and records of this study Species Northernmost limit in Baja California’s Pacific Coast This record Distance (Km) Latitude (°N) Longitude (°W) Latitude (°N) Longitude (°W) Holacanthus clarionensis 24.25 111.50 24.55 112.10 70 Stegastes acapulcoensis 22.87 109.95 24.65 112.18 300 Stegastes leucorus 23.00 109.83 24.55 112.10 300 transparency (1/m) were obtained from the Ocean Color Wto−105°W of longitude for H. clarionensis. For Radiometry Online Visualization and Analysis Tool modeling, in MaxEnt we used a maximum iteration (GIOVANNI) of the National Aeronautics and Space value of 1000 and the logistic output to evaluate Administration of the United States (NASA; http:// probability of occurrence of the species in each pixel gdata1.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/G3/gui.cgi?instance_i- in a scale of 0 to 1 representing the suitability of d=ocean_month). Salinity (PSU), dissolved oxygen each pixel, being 0 unsuitable and 1 very suitable. By (ml/l),