Reef fishes

Coral reefs sustain most of the coastal fishery in the tropics upon which a large number of people depend for their supply of animal protein. It is estimated that the world production potential in terms of fish catch has been 5-25 tons per sq. km of the reef per year. Coral reef fisheries have also been estimated to yield at least 10% of the world’s fish catches and 25% of the fish catches in developing countries.

The fish diversity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands also receives special interest in terms of marine zoo-geography because of the confluence in the fishes of the Andaman Sea with that of the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The fish fauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are still not thoroughly known and new species or new records are being discovered every now and then. Herre (1941) listed 490 species of fishes from these islands. During the last century, valuable contributions on fish systematic have been made by various workers.

A total of 1371 species have been so far recorded under 586 genera within 175 families in Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Rao, 2009). The number of Reef fishes reported from Andaman & Nicobar is the highest among Indian reefs and this make up 72.5% of the fish recorded in this region. Majority of the species belongs to the family Pomacentridae and Gobiidae. Our work for the last one year resulted in the discovery of 83 more new records of reef fishes for the Indian waters.

Of all the organisms associated with coral reefs, none are more active or as distinct as the fishes. Ichthyofauna perhaps as indicators, provide the best opportunity to observe the features of reef ecology over any other component of the reef communities. . The most striking feature of reef fishes is their diversity, in terms of both species number and the range of morphologies. An estimated 4000 (18% of all fishes) species of fish live on coral reefs and associated habitats of the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and this number increases as new exploratory surveys are done. This high diversity of fish communities in the coral reefs is largely maintained by the complexity of the strata that coral reefs offer, which provide diverse ways for fishes to feed, live and reproduce.