Download Coral Reef Fishes Ecology

Patrick Smith, Michelle Franklin, Max Woerfel, Nick Patricca
Introduction
 Coral Reefs are one of the most productive places on
the Earth
 Only cover .1% of the world but support a quarter of all
marine species
 Made up of calcium carbonate structures
 Highly diverse
 Enhances resistance to environmental perturbations
Introduction
 Coral reefs are sustained by the complex relationships
between the species living there
 Many symbiotic relationships

Mutualisms are especially important
 Corals themselves get up to 90% of their nutrients
from symbiotic relationships
Introduction
 There are three types of mutualisms
 Trophic – mutualism comes in the form of resources
 Dispersive – one partner gets resources and the other
gets a service
 Defensive – mutualism comes in the form of services
Relationships in the Reef
Relationships
- The coral reef ecosystem is a unique place for these to
occur due to the high level of biodiversity
- Remarkable for the many mutualisms which occur in
the community
- Hermatypic corals and zooxanthellae
- Cleaner fish and their clients
- Clown anemonefish and sea anemones
- Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
Hermatypic Corals and Zooxanthellae
 Hermatypic Corals
- Make up the reef
- Secrete hard calcium exoskeleton
 Zooxanthellae
- Algae capable of photosynthesis
Hermatypic Corals and Zooxanthellae
 Hermatypic Corals provide defense and shelter for
zooxanthellae
 In return, zooxanthellae use photosynthesis to create
their own nutrition
Cleaner Fish and Clients
Cleaner Fish and Clients
 Cleaner fish
- Typically smaller fish
- Most common is the Bluestreak Wrasse
 Clients
- Larger fish
- Larger aquatic animals
- Turtles
- Rays
- Sharks
Cleaner Fish and Clients
 The cleaner fish nibble harmful parasites off of their
clients
- Client fish are unable to do this themselves
 The cleaner fish receives a cheap and quick meal of the
parasites
 This mutualism often develops into long term
relationships where a client will visit a “cleaning
station” repeatedly
Cleaner Fish and Clients
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOa8y95khK8
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOC2Qc2Qedw
Cleaner Fish and Clients
 Research shows this mutualism is critical to the
survival of reef communities and their biodiversity
- The bluestreak wrasse was eliminated from small reefs
near Lizard Island, and kept away for 8.5 years
- Caused a 37% decrease in fish abundance, 23%
decrease in biodiversity, and a decrease in size of fish
Clown Anemonefish and Sea
Anemones
Clown Anemonefish and Sea
Anemones
 Sea Anemones provide the clownfish with shelter
- When young, clownfish go through a process called
“anemone rubbing”
 Clownfish provide the sea anemones with nutrients
- Drag food back to the anemone
- Consume zooplankton and excrete ammonia in the
anemone
Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-gnZevlaY
Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
 Parrotfish
- Herbivorous fish that use their specialized fused teeth
to scrape algae and invertebrates from hard coral and
rocks
- Relatively defenseless against predators
 Rabbitfish
- Travel in schools
- Have defense mechanisms of venomous spines and
color-changing for camouflage against predators
Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
 The Parrotfish’s grazing on algae is essential to coral
reef stability because it keeps algae from overtaking
the reef and eliminating areas that fish can colonize
and live in.
 The Rabbitfish allows the Parrotfish to graze with its
school. By doing so the Parrotfish is able to keep algae
growth in check while being protected by the
Rabbitfish school and their defense mechanisms.
Conservation
 Invasive species, eutrophication, sedimentation,
overfishing, coral bleaching, etc.
 Role of anthropogenic causes
 Reef damage is causing a shift from specialists to
generalists
 Due to destruction of small niches
 This shift can cause huge drops in species richness
Future Research
 Currently there is much debate about how big of an
effect anthropogenic stressors are impacting the
degradation of coral reefs
 Some scientists believe most is natural disturbances
 Others believe it is anthropogenic
 Important research could be determining how much
humans are effecting the degradation
Future Research
 The resilience of coral reefs is important due to the
current rate of degradation
 Future research should concentrate on if and how
coral reefs can recover
Future Research
 It would be extremely helpful to further look into the
mutualistic relationships that occur in coral reefs
 Removal studies like the one done on the bluestreak
wrasse would give insight to the importance of the
mutualisms
Summary
 The health of the reef depends on the complex
relationships occurring in the ecosystem.
 High diversity, which can be seen by the amount of
mutualistic relationships, can indicate the wellbeing of
the reef.
 Once diversity is lost it can not be recovered