Opportunistic spongivore fishes in a reef of Gulf of Mannar, India

The Gulf of Mannar (GoM) in southeast India is known for its coral reefs and associated biodiversity. Multiple coral bleaching events driven by global climate change and subsequent space competition have damaged the coral reefs of GoM during the past couple of decades. Certain marine sponges are spa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental biology of fishes 2021-10, Vol.104 (10), p.1251-1262
Main Authors: Emmett, Jonathan Samuel, Raj, K. Diraviya, Mathews, G., Laju, R. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Biodiversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Climate change
Competitors
Content analysis
Coral bleaching
Coral reefs
Corals
Environment
Feeders
Feeds
Fish
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Global climate
Life Sciences
Marine fishes
Marine invertebrates
Nature Conservation
Overexploitation
Reef fish
Reef fishes
Sponges
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Gulf of Mannar (GoM) in southeast India is known for its coral reefs and associated biodiversity. Multiple coral bleaching events driven by global climate change and subsequent space competition have damaged the coral reefs of GoM during the past couple of decades. Certain marine sponges are space competitors to corals and can outgrow corals by overgrowing. Spongivore fishes play vital role in regulating sponge abundance in a reef. The present study was aimed to identify spongivore fishes at Pattinamaruthoor patch reef (55.25% coral cover) in Tuticorin coast of GoM. Gut content analysis and underwater assessment were carried out between March and September 2019. Known spongivores such as Apolemichthys xanthurus, Pomacanthus annularis and P. imperator had about 75, 50 and 80% of their diet as sponge. Other fishes such as Sargocentron rubrum (30%) , Myripristis murdjan (30%) and Scarus ghobban (10%) were also found to feed on sponges which are not regular sponge feeders. It is presumed that increased availability of sponges as a result of climate change has made these fishes opportunistically feed on sponges. A total of 58 reef fish species including obligate and opportunistic sponge feeders were observed at Pattinamaruthoor patch reef. Protection of spongivore fishes from overexploitation is critical as it could allow corals to recover from climate change implications.
ISSN:0378-1909
1573-5133
DOI:10.1007/s10641-021-01150-3