Common coral reef fishes of the Netherlands Antilles
Blue tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) is a species of Indo-Pacific surgeonfish. (By Tewy (Own work) (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons)
Contents
- 1 Introduction The Netherlands Antilles (Common coral reef fishes of the Netherlands Antilles) (or "Dutch Antilles") consists of five islands in two groups in the Caribbean Sea (Caribbean Sea large marine ecosystem). The southern group of Curacao and Bonairelie just north of the Venezuelan coast and the northern group, Saint Eustatius, Saba and Saint Maarten, are located southeast of the Virgin Islands.Over490 species of reef fishes have been identified during REEF Fish Surveys in the Netherlands Antilles.
- 2 25 most common species in the Netherland Antilles
- 3 Islands of the Netherlands Antilles
- 4 References and Further Reading
Introduction The Netherlands Antilles (Common coral reef fishes of the Netherlands Antilles) (or "Dutch Antilles") consists of five islands in two groups in the Caribbean Sea (Caribbean Sea large marine ecosystem). The southern group of Curacao and Bonairelie just north of the Venezuelan coast and the northern group, Saint Eustatius, Saba and Saint Maarten, are located southeast of the Virgin Islands.Over490 species of reef fishes have been identified during REEF Fish Surveys in the Netherlands Antilles.
25 most common species in the Netherland Antilles
Brown Chromis—the reef fish with the highest mean adundance in the Netherlands Antilles. Reef Fish Identification, New World Publications © 1994. The following ranking is based on the results of17,990REEF Fish Surveyscovering a bottom time of22,729 hours and2 minutes.(REEF Geographic Zone Report.June 1, 2009). The species are ranked by the percentage of surveys in which a species was observed. Abundance of fishes in REEF Fish Surveys are estimated using the following categories: 1- single =1 individual, 2-few = 2- 10 individuals, 3-many = 11-100 individuals, and 4-abundant > 100 individuals. The mean numeric abundance (ranging from 1 - 4) was calculated for each species.. The mean abundance category is determined as follows: mean abundance category 0 - 1.49 = single, 1.50 - 1.99 = single-few, 2.0 - 2.49 = few, 2.5 - 2.99 = few-many, 3.0 - 3.49 = many, 3.5 -3.99 = many-abundant, and 4.0 = abundant.
|
Species |
% of surveys observed |
Mean abundance category |
|
1. Blue tang |
95.0 |
few-many |
|
2. Stoplight parrotfish |
94.9 |
few-many |
|
3. Brownchromis |
94.5 |
many-abundant |
|
4. Bicolor damselfish |
94.4 |
many-abundant |
|
5. Sergeant major |
93.3 |
many |
|
6. Foureye butterflyfish |
93.3 |
many-abundant |
|
7. Bluehead |
92.7 |
many |
|
8. French grunt |
92.6 |
few-many |
|
9. Yellow goatfish |
92.4 |
many |
|
10. Trumpetfish |
92.0 |
few |
|
11. Schoolmaster |
89.0 |
few-many |
|
12. Blackbar soldierfish |
89.0 |
few-many |
|
13. Blue chromis |
88.7 |
many |
|
14. Smooth trunkfish |
88.6 |
few |
|
15. Princess parrotfish |
88.2 |
few-many |
|
16. Yellowhead wrasse |
87.4 |
many |
|
17. Spanish hogfish |
86.9 |
few |
|
18. Queen parrotfish |
86.7 |
few-many |
|
19. Yellowtail snapper |
86.7 |
few-many |
|
20. Yellowtail damselfish |
86.5 |
few-many |
|
21. Graysby |
86.3 |
few-many |
|
22. Bar jack |
86.3 |
few |
|
23. Banded butterflyfish |
84.9 |
few |
|
24. Fairy basslet |
84.1 |
many |
|
25. Mahogany snapper |
83.1 |
few-many |
Islands of the Netherlands Antilles
- Common coral reef fishes of Bonaire
- Common coral reef fishes of Curacao
- Common coral reef fishes of Saba
- Common coral reef fishes of St. Eustatius
- Common coral reef fishes of St. Maarten
References and Further Reading
- Reef Environmental Education Foundation
- Geographic Zone Report- 06-01-2009
- REEF Fish Gallery
- Humann, P. and N. Deloach (Editor), 1994. Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas. New World Publications, Inc. Jacksonville, FL. ISBN: 1878348078
