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      The marine fishes of St Eustatius Island, northeastern Caribbean: an annotated, photographic catalog

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      ZooKeys
      Pensoft Publishers

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          Abstract

          Sint Eustatius (Statia) is a 21 km2 island situated in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. The most recent published sources of information on that island’s marine fish fauna is in two non-governmental organization reports from 2015–17 related to the formation of a marine reserve. The species-list in the 2017 report was based on field research in 2013–15 using SCUBA diving surveys, shallow “baited underwater video surveys” (BRUVs), and data from fishery surveys and scientific collections over the preceding century. That checklist comprised 304 species of shallow (mostly) and deep-water fishes. In 2017 the Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project surveyed deep-reef fishes at Statia using the crewed submersible Curasub. That effort recorded 120 species, including 59 new occurrences records. In March-May 2020, two experienced citizen scientists completed 62 SCUBA dives there and recorded 244 shallow species, 40 of them new records for Statia. The 2017–2020 research effort increased the number of species known from the island by 33.6% to 406. Here we present an updated catalog of that marine fish fauna, including voucher photographs of 280 species recorded there in 2017 and 2020. The Statia reef-fish fauna likely is incompletely documented as it has few small, shallow, cryptobenthic species, which are a major component of the regional fauna. A lack of targeted sampling is probably the major factor explaining that deficit, although a limited range of benthic marine habitats may also be contributing.

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          Most cited references24

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          Reef fish assemblages: a re-evaluation using enclosed rotenone stations

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            The hidden half: ecology and evolution of cryptobenthic fishes on coral reefs

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              Demographic dynamics of the smallest marine vertebrates fuel coral-reef ecosystem functioning

              How coral reefs survive as oases of life in low-productivity oceans has puzzled scientists for centuries. The answer may lie in internal nutrient cycling and/or input from the pelagic zone. Integrating meta-analysis, field data, and population modelling, we show that the ocean’s smallest vertebrates, cryptobenthic reef fishes, promote internal reef-fish biomass production through exceptional larval supply from the pelagic environment. Specifically, cryptobenthics account for two-thirds of reef-fish larvae in the near-reef pelagic zone, despite limited adult reproductive outputs. This overwhelming abundance of cryptobenthic larvae fuels reef trophodynamics via rapid growth and extreme mortality, producing almost 60% of consumed reef fish biomass. While cryptobenthics are commonly overlooked, their unique demographic dynamics may make them a cornerstone of ecosystem functioning on modern coral reefs.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                (View ORCID Profile)
                Journal
                ZooKeys
                ZK
                Pensoft Publishers
                1313-2970
                1313-2989
                December 30 2020
                December 30 2020
                : 1007
                : 145-180
                Article
                10.3897/zookeys.1007.58515
                203f663e-e128-4283-aa7f-dce231714425
                © 2020

                https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/

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