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A deep nursery for juveniles of the zebra angelfish Genicanthus caudovittatus
Authors:Eran Brokovich  Shai Einbinder  Salit Kark  Nadav Shashar  Moshe Kiflawi
Affiliation:(1) The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences of Eilat, P.O. Box 469, Eilat, 88103, Israel;(2) The Biodiversity Research Group, Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel;(3) Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel;(4) Departement of Life Sciences, Ben Gurion University, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel
Abstract:Juveniles of many coral reef fish species are thought to either follow the same bathymetric distribution patterns as the adults, or to occupy shallower waters. However, our knowledge base suffers a dearth of data from the deep reefs (>40 m). In a recent survey of the deep reefs of the northern Gulf of Aqaba (<65 m), we examined the bathymetric distribution of 26 diurnal zooplanktivorous species. In sharp contrast to the general trend known from the literature and from this research, the abundance of juvenile zebra angelfish, Genicanthus caudovittatus, peaked at deeper waters (60–65 m) compared with the adults (30 m). This suggests that the deeper reefs may serve as nursery grounds for the zebra angelfish. Peak juvenile abundance coincided with relatively low predator abundances. This raises the question, which factors constrain the bathymetric distribution of the remaining species. Our findings stress the potential importance of deep coral reef research for understanding the ecological patterns and processes that govern reef community structure.
Keywords:Bathymetric distribution  Deep coral reef  Fish distribution  Habitat partitioning  Technical diving
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