[Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer

[Delbeek, Charles]

This is quite common and I have seen it in Hawaii with Chevron Tangs
(Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis), dart fish (Nemateleotris magnifica), glass eyes
(Priacanthus, to name just a few. In July of 2001 Oahu experienced a heavy
recruitment of reef squid, Sepiateuthis lessoniana, which up until then were
rarely if ever seen, since then they have become established around Oahu but
their numbers have dwindled some since then. Not sure how a cephalopod like
that fits into your model. :-)

Cheers!
Charles


J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.
Senior Aquatic Biologist, Steinhart Aquarium
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Dr.
San Francisco CA 94118

phone (415) 379-5303
fax (415) 379-5304
cdelbeek at calacademy.org
www.calacademy.org


-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of John Ogden
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 7:49 AM
To: Will Welbourn
Cc: Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer

Hi Will,

My guess is that sharpnose puffers have the same type of recruitment as 
Bill Gladfelter and I observed for balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus) many 
years ago in St. Croix.  The larvae are pelagic for a long larval life, 
up to a year.  During this interval; they slowly gather into huge 
schools of many thousands of individuals (about 3cm long) which then 
recruit en mass to whatever coastal region is favorable within the time 
frame of development.  The area then becomes completely flooded with 
recruits which gradually disperse and are preyed upon.  You could call 
this a sort of 17-year locust type of recruitment.  

It would be interesting to see if others have observed this type of 
recruitment which may be more common than we know.

Happy New Year!

Will Welbourn wrote:
> Hello
>
>  
>
> I was wanting to post about the huge population increase I have noted in
the
> waters of Roatan Honduras.  As a full time dive instructor here for the
last
> five years the last six months I have observed an increase of 300-400% in
> the abundance of this fish.
>
>  
>
> Anyone know why or what it may indicate?
>
>  
>
> Regards
>
>  
>
> Will Welbourn, Course Director and Director of Roatan Marine Park
>
>  
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>   


-- 
John C. Ogden, Director
Florida Institute of Oceanography
830 First Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701 USA
Tel. 727-553-1100
Fax  727-553-1109
Http://www.marine.usf.edu/FIO/
http://www.cas.usf.edu/biology/Faculty/ogden.html 

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