[Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
Miguel Angel Maldonado Cuevas
mikmalc at gmail.com
Tue Jan 6 12:31:35 EST 2009
We also observe an important increment in the population of puffer fish in
Akumal, Mexico. Between November 5th and December 4th (2008), the number of
individuals recorded in 5 transects increased from 0.05 to 0.36 ind/m2 (an
increment of 700% percent).
On December 6th we received the first report of massive arrival of dead
puffer fishes to the beaches of Tulum, Xcacel and Akumal. Later dead
organisms were also observed in Puerto Morelos. The linear distance between
Tulum and Puerto Morelos is about 100 km).The arrival of dead fish had a
south-north tendency which appears to be consistent with the dominant ocean
current in the site.
During several dives in Akumal, we observed some of the fish swimming
disoriented, very thin and with the epithelial tissue peeling-off from the
body and the fins. Several were dying in the sea-grasses and the sand
patches. Dead fishes are still arriving to Akumal Beach.
The fact that the massive mortality occurred only in this species and the
evident dysfunction signs present on the dying organisms, leads us to
believe that the mortality might have been caused by a viral infection. The
association between the sudden increase in the population and the massive
mortality event suggests that the disease could be occurring as a
density-dependent regulation process.
Miguel Angel Maldonado
Programa de Protección Marina y Costera
Centro Ecológico Akumal
984-875-9350
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 10:32:32 -0500
> From: "William Allison" <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> To: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> Cc: Alison Green <agreen at tnc.org>, Will Welbourn
> <will at bayislandsdiver.com>, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> <1eab821b0901030732l2faf933ai6ef4f6fffaa7a8c7 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi Doug,
>
> I have seen in Maldives similar recruitment of C. striatus but the recruits
> resembled a flashy A. lineatus (with more intense colours) and the adults,
> although dark, are not black, and horizontal striations can be made out. I
> documented abundance of these for several months after settlement during
> which time attrition was rapid, especially in marginal habitat. I would
> like
> to see a picture of the recruits you describe.
>
> Regards,
> Bill
>
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 1:49 AM, Douglas Fenner <dfenner at blueskynet.as
> >wrote:
>
> > In American Samoa, there are mass recruitments in most years,
> particularly
> > of the surgeonfish Ctenochaetus striatus, which is our most common adult
> > reef fish. They seem to come in several pulses each year, and when they
> > show up they are on the order of 4-5 cm long. The adults are black, but
> > these new recruits have thin horizontal red lines on them. Then at some
> > point later on, they all change to black. So you can tell when
> > another recruitment pulse occurs, because suddenly you have more with red
> > lines. There are quite a few of them that settle in most years, but in a
> > few years spectacular numbers settle, huge schools of perhaps hundreds of
> > thousands have been reported, and if they are in your transect, they can
> > dominate the biomass not to mention number of individuals (Ali Green
> > observed such schools here, including in her transects in 2002). After
> > recruitment
> > pulses, the numbers seem to go down steadily, but not really rapidly I
> > would
> > say, Peter Craig here has data on that. If I remember, Ali Green saw in
> > that huge pulse that many were in poor condition later, very thin, ragged
> > fins, and so on (it's all in her report). I've not seen any like that in
> > normal years, mind you I haven't studied it specifically.
> > I'd recommend a paper on the survival of new recruits in Tahiti- if I
> > remember, 60% were lost in the first 24 hours. They used a crest net to
> > measure the recruitment each night, and daytime transects to record new
> > recruits. They then subtracts to measure the mortality each 24 hr.
> > References below.
> > American Samoa has also had mass recruitments of two species of
> > rabbitfish in recent years, even though the adults here are quite
> uncommon.
> > We're not sure where they are coming from. They also recruit at roughly
> > the
> > same size as the surgeons. There are also recruitment events of
> goatfish,
> > and they are even larger, maybe around 10 cm or more when they settle.
> > There is a
> > traditional Samoan fishery for the newly settled goatfish, and a
> > traditional
> > basket woven as a fish trap used to collect them. They have a name
> > specific
> > just for these goatfish recruits. So Samoans have known about them for a
> > long time, possibly for nearly the 3000 years people have been here.
> They
> > probably know a lot more useful information, too.
> > And like many things on coral reefs, recruitment seems to be patchy
> in
> > both space and time.
> > -Doug Fenner
> >
> > Doherty, P. J., Dufour, V., Galzin, R. Hixon, M. A., Meekan, M. G., and
> S.
> > Planes. 2004. High mortality during settlement is a population
> bottleneck
> > for a tropical surgeonfish. Ecology 85: 2422-2428
> >
> > Almany, GR, Webster MS 2006. The predation gauntlet: early
> post-settlement
> > mortality in reef fishes. Coral Reefs 25: 19-22
> >
> > Green, A. 2002. Status of the coral reefs on the main volcanic islands
> of
> > American Samoa: a resurvey of long term monitoring sites (benthic
> > communities, fish communities, and key macroinvertebrates). Report to
> > DMWR.
> > http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/picrp/complbibG.htm#gg
> >
> > Craig, P. 2005. Natural History Guide to American Samoa, 2nd Edition.
> > National Park of American Samoa, Dept. Marine & Wildlife Resources, and
> > American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago. 96 pages.
> >
> > http://www.nps.gov/npsa/naturescience/natlhistguide.htm
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John Ogden" <jogden at marine.usf.edu>
> > To: "Will Welbourn" <will at bayislandsdiver.com>
> > Cc: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:49 AM
> > 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
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 06:03:12 -1100
> From: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> To: "William Allison" <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> Cc: Alison Green <agreen at tnc.org>, Will Welbourn
> <will at bayislandsdiver.com>, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <004d01c96dc5$2d276070$5a7f46ca at DOUGLASFENNER>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Bill,
> I probably should have said the adults are dark, not black. Maybe other
> people can make out striations in adults, but they aren't easy for me to
> pick out here.
> There is a picture of the recruits in the Natural History Guide to
> American Samoa, which is in the references I had in my message, and is
> accessable via the web with the URL listed in my message. The URL for the
> page showing the recruits is
> http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/5Atlas/partn.htm#top
> The picture shows the lines as yellow, but I swear they are bright red.
> The picture actually comes from Guam, maybe the lines are yellow there.
> You can see faint striations in the picture of the adult, which is a brown
> or grey. The adults I see here are darker than that picture, and the
> striations are at least that hard to see or more so. My eyes are not as
> young or sharp as they once were, unfortunately.
> Doug
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: William Allison
> To: Douglas Fenner
> Cc: John Ogden ; Will Welbourn ; Alison Green ; Peter Doherty ; Peter
> Craig ; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 4:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
>
>
> Hi Doug,
>
> I have seen in Maldives similar recruitment of C. striatus but the
> recruits resembled a flashy A. lineatus (with more intense colours) and the
> adults, although dark, are not black, and horizontal striations can be made
> out. I documented abundance of these for several months after settlement
> during which time attrition was rapid, especially in marginal habitat. I
> would like to see a picture of the recruits you describe.
>
> Regards,
> Bill
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 1:49 AM, Douglas Fenner <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> wrote:
>
> In American Samoa, there are mass recruitments in most years,
> particularly
> of the surgeonfish Ctenochaetus striatus, which is our most common adult
> reef fish. They seem to come in several pulses each year, and when they
> show up they are on the order of 4-5 cm long. The adults are black, but
> these new recruits have thin horizontal red lines on them. Then at some
> point later on, they all change to black. So you can tell when
> another recruitment pulse occurs, because suddenly you have more with
> red
> lines. There are quite a few of them that settle in most years, but in
> a
> few years spectacular numbers settle, huge schools of perhaps hundreds
> of
> thousands have been reported, and if they are in your transect, they can
> dominate the biomass not to mention number of individuals (Ali Green
> observed such schools here, including in her transects in 2002). After
> recruitment
> pulses, the numbers seem to go down steadily, but not really rapidly I
> would
> say, Peter Craig here has data on that. If I remember, Ali Green saw in
> that huge pulse that many were in poor condition later, very thin,
> ragged
> fins, and so on (it's all in her report). I've not seen any like that
> in
> normal years, mind you I haven't studied it specifically.
> I'd recommend a paper on the survival of new recruits in Tahiti- if
> I
> remember, 60% were lost in the first 24 hours. They used a crest net to
> measure the recruitment each night, and daytime transects to record new
> recruits. They then subtracts to measure the mortality each 24 hr.
> References below.
> American Samoa has also had mass recruitments of two species of
> rabbitfish in recent years, even though the adults here are quite
> uncommon.
> We're not sure where they are coming from. They also recruit at roughly
> the
> same size as the surgeons. There are also recruitment events of
> goatfish,
> and they are even larger, maybe around 10 cm or more when they settle.
> There is a
> traditional Samoan fishery for the newly settled goatfish, and a
> traditional
> basket woven as a fish trap used to collect them. They have a name
> specific
> just for these goatfish recruits. So Samoans have known about them for
> a
> long time, possibly for nearly the 3000 years people have been here.
> They
> probably know a lot more useful information, too.
> And like many things on coral reefs, recruitment seems to be patchy
> in
> both space and time.
> -Doug Fenner
>
> Doherty, P. J., Dufour, V., Galzin, R. Hixon, M. A., Meekan, M. G., and
> S.
> Planes. 2004. High mortality during settlement is a population
> bottleneck
> for a tropical surgeonfish. Ecology 85: 2422-2428
>
> Almany, GR, Webster MS 2006. The predation gauntlet: early
> post-settlement
> mortality in reef fishes. Coral Reefs 25: 19-22
>
> Green, A. 2002. Status of the coral reefs on the main volcanic islands
> of
> American Samoa: a resurvey of long term monitoring sites (benthic
> communities, fish communities, and key macroinvertebrates). Report to
> DMWR.
> http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/picrp/complbibG.htm#gg
>
> Craig, P. 2005. Natural History Guide to American Samoa, 2nd Edition..
> National Park of American Samoa, Dept. Marine & Wildlife Resources, and
> American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago. 96 pages.
>
> http://www.nps.gov/npsa/naturescience/natlhistguide.htm
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Ogden" <jogden at marine.usf.edu>
> To: "Will Welbourn" <will at bayislandsdiver.com>
> Cc: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:49 AM
> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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> Checked by AVG.
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> 1:10 PM
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 12:18:19 -0600
> From: "Eva Salas" <salas.e at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose puffer
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> <3066dbb80901031018g492ac391o2d7c8d75791454e1 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> In Costa Rica, I also noticed large amounts of sharpnose puffer. I was
> doing
> fish surveys at Cahuita coral reefs, in October 2008. I visited Belize in
> may 2008 and noticed that too, mainly in north Turneffe atoll.
>
> Eva Mar?a Salas-De la Fuente
> Universidad de Costa Rica
> http://www.inweh.unu.edu/inweh/coastal/CoralReef/Students.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 11:00 AM, <coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >wrote:
>
> > Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> > coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> > coral-list-owner at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of Coral-List digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> > 1. Re: Sharpnose Puffer (Tupper, Mark (WorldFish))
> > 2. Re: Sharpnose Puffer (gochfeld at olemiss.edu)
> > 3. Re: Sharpnose Puffer (Melanie McField)
> > 4. Re: Sharpnose Puffer (Douglas Fenner)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 23:45:58 +0800
> > From: "Tupper, Mark (WorldFish)" <M.Tupper at CGIAR.ORG>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> > To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Message-ID:
> > <
> > DF5BEA7FB371DE43871F62A1B56901D7042FF893 at GOBY.WORLDFISH.CGIARAD.ORG>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > These sorts of mass recruitment events are common for many
> > species/locations and are even the basis for several major artisanal
> > reef fisheries, such as the seasonal fisheries or "runs" for juvenile
> > mullet, rabbitfish, jacks, bigeye scad (atulai) and goatfish in
> > Micronesia. Needless to say, fisheries based on recruitment events are
> > highly variable. For example, the seasonal runs of juveniles can account
> > for anywhere from <1% to >50% of the annual reef fish catch in Guam.
> >
> > Dr. Mark H. Tupper
> > Scientist - Coral Reefs & Reef Fisheries
> > The WorldFish Center
> > Los Banos, Laguna, PHILIPPINES
> > Tel +632 580-5659 (2889) GMT +8
> > Mobile +63 917-524-0864
> > http://www.worldfishcenter.org
> > Reducing poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:07:09 -0600
> > From: gochfeld at olemiss.edu
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID: <495e57cd.1de.6d9.30185 at olemiss.edu>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Happy New Year Everyone!
> >
> > I've noticed a moderate decline in sharpnose puffer numbers
> > over the past 2-3 years near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas,
> > so I'll be curious to see if there is an increase later this
> > spring. If anyone is there sooner than that and notices
> > anything, I'd love to hear about it.
> >
> > Regarding predation, I can't say who are the major predators
> > of Canthigasters, but I want to draw your attention to a
> > Reef Site in an upcoming issue of Coral Reefs that describes
> > predation on a sharpnose puffer by a peacock flounder. This
> > is now available in Online First at
> > http://www.springerlink.com/content/l9612687h7451578/fulltext.html.
> > Perhaps this is more common than we think.
> >
> > I also want to add to the growing list of boom and bust
> > recruitment events. In the 80's and 90's (at least), we saw
> > periodic recruitment explosions of the fantail filefish,
> > Pervagor spilosoma, on the reefs in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. This
> > would be followed by huge mortalities, with dead fish
> > washing up on the beaches.
> >
> > Best,
> > Deb Gochfeld
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 14:16:55 -0600
> > From: "Melanie McField" <mcfield at healthyreefs.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> > To: sale at uwindsor.ca
> > Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID:
> > <f26d79480901021216l6505b2bnc77786cf83ff9afa at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > I also noted the increase in sharpnose puffers in shallow back reefs
> North
> > of Half Moon Caye, Lighthouse Reef, and in the Caye Caulker Marine
> Reserve
> > (shallowbackreef) Belize, in late November. I didn't see any mortality at
> > that time. It seems fairly widespread through the NW Caribbean.
> >
> > Melanie
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 11:15 PM, <sale at uwindsor.ca> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > > This is in response to the post from Will Welbourn in Roatan. He has
> > > apparently seen the same exceptional recruitment pulse (or a similarly
> > > timed one) to one first reported to me by Kirah Forman, of Belize
> > > Fisheries, who is based at Hol Chan. Subsequently I heard from Gerardo
> > > Gold of CINVESTAV, Mexico that one of his students had seen large
> numbers
> > > of this species from sites between Boca Paila and Akumal on the Yucatan
> > > east coast. In both cases the animals were present as very large
> numbers
> > > of juveniles, and there was also high mortality possibly from disease,
> > but
> > > equally likely from starvation. I checked with a number of other fish
> > > guys around the world and the consensus was that this species, like
> other
> > > relatives among the puffers, filefish and trigger fish, is prone to
> > > occasional exceptional recruitment events. The interesting thing to
> me,
> > > now that we have heard of similar observations in Roatan, is just how
> > > extensive has the good recruitment been this autumn? Are there several
> > > patches of high recruitment (Mexico, northern Belize, and Roatan) or
> has
> > > this species been successful over this relatively enormous swath of the
> > > western Caribbean?
> > >
> > > Peter Sale
> > > Assistant Director
> > > United Nations University -- International Network on Water,
> Environment
> > > and Health (UNU-INWEH)
> > > www.inweh.unu.edu
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Coral-List mailing list
> > > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Melanie McField
> > Coordinator, Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative
> > Smithsonian Institution
> > 1061 Queen Helmut St, Belize City, Belize, Central America
> > tel 501-223-7680 fax 501-223-7681
> > email: mcfield at healthyreefs.org or mcfieldm at si.edu
> > www.healthyreefs.org
> > www.mnh.si.edu
> >
> > Join the International Society for Reef Studies
> > www.fit.edu/isrs/
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:49:45 -1100
> > From: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> > To: "John Ogden" <jogden at marine.usf.edu>, "Will Welbourn"
> > <will at bayislandsdiver.com>, "Alison Green" <agreen at TNC.ORG>,
> > "Peter
> > Doherty" <p.doherty at aims.gov.au>, "Peter Craig" <
> > Peter_Craig at nps.gov>
> > Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > Message-ID: <008601c96d6f$7d7fba50$297f46ca at DOUGLASFENNER>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> > reply-type=original
> >
> > In American Samoa, there are mass recruitments in most years,
> particularly
> > of the surgeonfish Ctenochaetus striatus, which is our most common adult
> > reef fish. They seem to come in several pulses each year, and when they
> > show up they are on the order of 4-5 cm long. The adults are black, but
> > these new recruits have thin horizontal red lines on them. Then at some
> > point later on, they all change to black. So you can tell when
> > another recruitment pulse occurs, because suddenly you have more with red
> > lines. There are quite a few of them that settle in most years, but in a
> > few years spectacular numbers settle, huge schools of perhaps hundreds of
> > thousands have been reported, and if they are in your transect, they can
> > dominate the biomass not to mention number of individuals (Ali Green
> > observed such schools here, including in her transects in 2002). After
> > recruitment
> > pulses, the numbers seem to go down steadily, but not really rapidly I
> > would
> > say, Peter Craig here has data on that. If I remember, Ali Green saw in
> > that huge pulse that many were in poor condition later, very thin, ragged
> > fins, and so on (it's all in her report). I've not seen any like that in
> > normal years, mind you I haven't studied it specifically.
> > I'd recommend a paper on the survival of new recruits in Tahiti- if I
> > remember, 60% were lost in the first 24 hours. They used a crest net to
> > measure the recruitment each night, and daytime transects to record new
> > recruits. They then subtracts to measure the mortality each 24 hr.
> > References below.
> > American Samoa has also had mass recruitments of two species of
> > rabbitfish in recent years, even though the adults here are quite
> uncommon.
> > We're not sure where they are coming from. They also recruit at roughly
> > the
> > same size as the surgeons. There are also recruitment events of
> goatfish,
> > and they are even larger, maybe around 10 cm or more when they settle.
> > There is a
> > traditional Samoan fishery for the newly settled goatfish, and a
> > traditional
> > basket woven as a fish trap used to collect them. They have a name
> > specific
> > just for these goatfish recruits. So Samoans have known about them for a
> > long time, possibly for nearly the 3000 years people have been here.
> They
> > probably know a lot more useful information, too.
> > And like many things on coral reefs, recruitment seems to be patchy
> in
> > both space and time.
> > -Doug Fenner
> >
> > Doherty, P. J., Dufour, V., Galzin, R. Hixon, M. A., Meekan, M. G., and
> S..
> > Planes. 2004. High mortality during settlement is a population
> bottleneck
> > for a tropical surgeonfish. Ecology 85: 2422-2428
> >
> > Almany, GR, Webster MS 2006. The predation gauntlet: early
> post-settlement
> > mortality in reef fishes. Coral Reefs 25: 19-22
> >
> > Green, A. 2002. Status of the coral reefs on the main volcanic islands
> of
> > American Samoa: a resurvey of long term monitoring sites (benthic
> > communities, fish communities, and key macroinvertebrates). Report to
> > DMWR.
> > http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/picrp/complbibG.htm#gg
> >
> > Craig, P. 2005. Natural History Guide to American Samoa, 2nd Edition.
> > National Park of American Samoa, Dept. Marine & Wildlife Resources, and
> > American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago. 96 pages.
> >
> > http://www.nps.gov/npsa/naturescience/natlhistguide.htm
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John Ogden" <jogden at marine.usf.edu>
> > To: "Will Welbourn" <will at bayislandsdiver.com>
> > Cc: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:49 AM
> > 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
> >
> > End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 5, Issue 3
> > ****************************************
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 14:38:33 -0500
> From: "William Allison" <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> To: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> Cc: Alison Green <agreen at tnc.org>, Will Welbourn
> <will at bayislandsdiver.com>, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> <1eab821b0901031138s4f997687l8170c1bdb46af8f at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Thanks Doug. I thought I had downloaded all of that but I see I got only a
> portion and it did not include those pictures. Those photos of both adults
> and recruits closely resemble what I see in the Maldives. If anything the
> recruit colours are brighter. Adults can alter their background tone
> considerably and the striations are more evident when they are paler as in
> the illustration cited. Those striations appear reddish.
>
> Bill
>
> On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Douglas Fenner <dfenner at blueskynet.as
> >wrote:
>
> > Bill,
> > I probably should have said the adults are dark, not black. Maybe
> > other people can make out striations in adults, but they aren't easy for
> > me to pick out here.
> > There is a picture of the recruits in the Natural History Guide to
> > American Samoa, which is in the references I had in my message, and is
> > accessable via the web with the URL listed in my message. The URL for
> the
> > page showing the recruits is
> > http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/5Atlas/partn.htm#top
> > The picture shows the lines as yellow, but I swear they are bright red.
> > The picture actually comes from Guam, maybe the lines are yellow there.
> You
> > can see faint striations in the picture of the adult, which is a brown or
> > grey. The adults I see here are darker than that picture, and the
> > striations are at least that hard to see or more so. My eyes are not as
> > young or sharp as they once were, unfortunately.
> > Doug
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > *From:* William Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> > *To:* Douglas Fenner <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
> > *Cc:* John Ogden <jogden at marine.usf.edu> ; Will Welbourn<
> will at bayislandsdiver.com>; Alison
> > Green <agreen at tnc.org> ; Peter Doherty <p.doherty at aims.gov.au> ; Peter
> > Craig <Peter_Craig at nps.gov> ; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > *Sent:* Saturday, January 03, 2009 4:32 AM
> > *Subject:* Re: [Coral-List] Sharpnose Puffer
> >
> > Hi Doug,
> >
> > I have seen in Maldives similar recruitment of C. striatus but the
> recruits
> > resembled a flashy A. lineatus (with more intense colours) and the
> adults,
> > although dark, are not black, and horizontal striations can be made out..
> I
> > documented abundance of these for several months after settlement during
> > which time attrition was rapid, especially in marginal habitat. I would
> like
> > to see a picture of the recruits you describe.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Bill
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 1:49 AM, Douglas Fenner <dfenner at blueskynet.as
> >wrote:
> >
> >> In American Samoa, there are mass recruitments in most years,
> particularly
> >> of the surgeonfish Ctenochaetus striatus, which is our most common adult
> >> reef fish. They seem to come in several pulses each year, and when they
> >> show up they are on the order of 4-5 cm long. The adults are black, but
> >> these new recruits have thin horizontal red lines on them. Then at some
> >> point later on, they all change to black. So you can tell when
> >> another recruitment pulse occurs, because suddenly you have more with
> red
> >> lines. There are quite a few of them that settle in most years, but in
> a
> >> few years spectacular numbers settle, huge schools of perhaps hundreds
> of
> >> thousands have been reported, and if they are in your transect, they can
> >> dominate the biomass not to mention number of individuals (Ali Green
> >> observed such schools here, including in her transects in 2002). After
> >> recruitment
> >> pulses, the numbers seem to go down steadily, but not really rapidly I
> >> would
> >> say, Peter Craig here has data on that. If I remember, Ali Green saw in
> >> that huge pulse that many were in poor condition later, very thin,
> ragged
> >> fins, and so on (it's all in her report). I've not seen any like that
> in
> >> normal years, mind you I haven't studied it specifically.
> >> I'd recommend a paper on the survival of new recruits in Tahiti- if
> I
> >> remember, 60% were lost in the first 24 hours. They used a crest net to
> >> measure the recruitment each night, and daytime transects to record new
> >> recruits. They then subtracts to measure the mortality each 24 hr.
> >> References below.
> >> American Samoa has also had mass recruitments of two species of
> >> rabbitfish in recent years, even though the adults here are quite
> >> uncommon.
> >> We're not sure where they are coming from. They also recruit at roughly
> >> the
> >> same size as the surgeons. There are also recruitment events of
> goatfish,
> >> and they are even larger, maybe around 10 cm or more when they settle.
> >> There is a
> >> traditional Samoan fishery for the newly settled goatfish, and a
> >> traditional
> >> basket woven as a fish trap used to collect them. They have a name
> >> specific
> >> just for these goatfish recruits. So Samoans have known about them for
> a
> >> long time, possibly for nearly the 3000 years people have been here.
> They
> >> probably know a lot more useful information, too.
> >> And like many things on coral reefs, recruitment seems to be patchy
> in
> >> both space and time.
> >> -Doug Fenner
> >>
> >> Doherty, P. J., Dufour, V., Galzin, R. Hixon, M. A., Meekan, M. G., and
> S.
> >> Planes. 2004. High mortality during settlement is a population
> >> bottleneck
> >> for a tropical surgeonfish. Ecology 85: 2422-2428
> >>
> >> Almany, GR, Webster MS 2006. The predation gauntlet: early
> >> post-settlement
> >> mortality in reef fishes. Coral Reefs 25: 19-22
> >>
> >> Green, A. 2002. Status of the coral reefs on the main volcanic islands
> >> of
> >> American Samoa: a resurvey of long term monitoring sites (benthic
> >> communities, fish communities, and key macroinvertebrates). Report to
> >> DMWR.
> >> http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/picrp/complbibG.htm#gg
> >>
> >> Craig, P. 2005. Natural History Guide to American Samoa, 2nd Edition..
> >> National Park of American Samoa, Dept. Marine & Wildlife Resources, and
> >> American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago. 96 pages.
> >>
> >> http://www.nps.gov/npsa/naturescience/natlhistguide.htm
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "John Ogden" <jogden at marine.usf.edu>
> >> To: "Will Welbourn" <will at bayislandsdiver.com>
> >> Cc: <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 4:49 AM
> >> 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
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG.
> > Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.2/1872 - Release Date: 1/2/2009
> > 1:10 PM
> >
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:59:00 -0500
> From: Andrea Grottoli <grottoli.1 at osu.edu>
> Subject: [Coral-List] PhD GRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY IN CORAL
> BLEACHING BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20090104115845.0229eba8 at osu.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> PhD GRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY IN CORAL BLEACHING BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
> at The Ohio State University
>
> Desired (but not required) qualifications:
> - MSc in Marine Science, Geology, Biology, or any physical
> science. Exceptional applicants without an MSc will also be considered.
> - Experience in isotope biogeochemistry, organic chemistry, or
> relevant coursework
> - Tropical fieldwork experience
> - Scuba certified
> - The successful candidate must be accepted into the graduate program
> in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University
>
> The position starts in September 2009 and includes four years of
> support. Please submit applications electronically by following the
> instructions at
> http://www.earthsciences.osu.edu/students_grad.php. The OSU
> electronic application system can be found at
> https://www.applyweb.com/apply/osu/grad_files/ . Be sure to
> indicate that you are seeding a PhD in the School of Earth Sciences
> and that you would like to study with Dr. Grottoli in your
> application. In addition, send a complete copy of your application
> materials as a single .pdf file to Dr. Andrea G. Grottoli at
> grottoli.1 at osu.edu (Note: File should contain copy of your research
> statement, a cover letter, resume, GRE scores, the names and contact
> information of three references, and a list of relevant course with
> grades). Please indicate "Graduate student application" in the
> subject line. For more information on Dr. Grottoli's research
> program, please visit http://www.earthsciences.osu.edu/~grottoli.1<http://www.earthsciences.osu.edu/%7Egrottoli.1>
> .
> For full consideration of all fellowship, scholarship, research and
> teaching associate opportunities, submit all application materials by
> 12 January 2009. OSU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer..
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
> End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 5, Issue 4
> ****************************************
>
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