Document of bibliographic reference 288446

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Shallow-water asteroids, echinoids, and holothuroids at 6 sites across the tropical west Pacific, 1988-1989

Abstract

Species richness of asteroids, echinoids, and holothuroids was surveyed on shallow reefs at 6 sites across the tropical west Pacific: Seto, on the west coast of the Kii Peninsula, Honshu Island; Okinawa, Ryukyus Islands; Madang, Papua New Guinea; Palm Islands, Queensland, Australia; ‘Upolu, Western Samoa; and Moorea, French Polynesia. A total of 113 nominal species were recorded. No species was unambiguously found at all 6 sites, only 17 (15%) were found at 4 or more sites, and 63 (56%) were found at only one site. Single-site finds represented 48% of the species at Seto, 21-32% of the species at 4 other sites, and only 4% (1 species) at ‘Upolu. Madang had the most species (74), followed by Okinawa (54), Moorea (34), Samoa (25), Seto (23), and the Palm Islands (15). Although Seto had a diverse echinoid fauna (17 species), including several temperate forms, there was a dearth of asteroids (4) and holothuroids (2). In contrast, all 3 classes were well represented on the reefs of Okinawa (11 asteroids, 16 echinoids, and 27 holothuroids) and Madang (22 asteroids, 17 echinoids, 35 holothuroids), both of which had a rich diversity of widespread tropical oceanic species. Substantially fewer species were found farther to the east, at Samoa and Moorea, consistent with the pattern seen in other taxa. Species richness was surprisingly low around the Palm Islands on the inner portion of the Great Barrier Reef, perhaps because of human disturbance causing run-off from the land and siltation.

Bibliographic citation

Pearse, J.S. (2009). Shallow-water asteroids, echinoids, and holothuroids at 6 sites across the tropical west Pacific, 1988-1989. Galaxea-Tokyo 11(2): 187-195. https://dx.doi.org/10.3755/galaxea.11.187

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true