Shallow-water holothuroid (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) biodiversity and biogeography of the subtropical east coast of South Africa
Thandar, A.; Samyn, Y. (2004). Shallow-water holothuroid (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) biodiversity and biogeography of the subtropical east coast of South Africa, in: Heinzeller, T. et al. (Ed.) Echinoderms 2003. Proceedings of the 11th International Echinoderm Conference, Munich, Germany, 6-10 October 2003. pp. 253-260 In: Heinzeller, T.; Nebelsick, J.H. (Ed.) (2004). Echinoderms 2003: Proceedings of the 11th International Echinoderm Conference, Munich, Germany, 6-10 October 2003. A.A. Balkema/Taylor and Francis: London. ISBN 04 1536 481 7. 633 pp., more |
| Authors | | Top | - Thandar, A.
- Samyn, Y., more
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| Abstract | Due to increased market demands, some countries of the south-western Indian Ocean, including the subtropical east coast of South Africa (ECSA ), have become vulnerable to blind exploitation of their sea cucumber resource. At least 55 species occur in the latter region. The present investigation uses cluster analyses of several β-diversity coefficients to determine the faunistic similarities between the holothuroids of ECSA with those of Mozambique, west Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands and east Madagascar. It is concluded that the holothuroid fauna of the South African east coast has a mixed composition, being most similar to that of Mozambique, West and North-East Madagascar. We here suggest that prevailing current patterns can to a large extent explain the compositional structure of the ECSA shallow-water holothuroid fauna. |
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