Contrasting patterns of reef utilization and recruitment of coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) and snapper (Lutjanus carponotatus) at One Tree Island, southern Great Barrier Reef

Coral Reefs ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Kingsford
2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Bray ◽  
Thomas Cribb ◽  
Andrea Waeschenbach ◽  
D. Littlewood

AbstractA new species of Acanthocolpidae, Stephanostomum adlardi is described from the serranid Plectropomus leopardus from Lizard Island in the northern Great Barrier Reef. It differs from all previously described acanthocolpids in the structure of the oral sucker which is extended into dorsal and ventral lobes each bearing a row of spines. A phylogenetic tree estimated from combined nuclear small and partial large ribosomal RNA gene sequences shows that, despite the unusual oral sucker structure, the species is a true member of the genus Stephanostomum. The molecular results also suggest that Monostephanostomum nolani is derived from within Stephanostomum.


2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Zeller ◽  
G. R. Russ

A mark–release–resighting (MRR) technique was used to estimate population size of the coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus, on coral reefs fringing Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Fish were captured by hook-and-line fishing, and marked with individual freeze-brand numbers in August 1995. An underwater visual census (UVC) technique was used during September and October 1995 both for resighting of marked fish and to make an independent estimate of fish density and thus population size. The study area was 750 966 m2 . The UVC sampled 154 000 m2 (20.5%) of this area. Six different methods of analysis of MRR gave similar population size estimates (e.g. Petersen 12 873; 95% CI 9989–15 754) extrapolated to the 4.5 million-m2 reef area from datum to 20-m depth around Lizard Island. UVC gave a population size estimate (24 182; 95% CI 21 860–26 504) twice that of MRR. The lower estimate derived from MRR may be the result of tag-induced mortality, or of the relative difficulty in discriminating between marked and unmarked trout by UVC. This is only the second estimate of population size of coral trout on an area of the Great Barrier Reef.


2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.H. WILLIAMSON ◽  
G.R. RUSS ◽  
A.M. AYLING

The application of no-take marine reserve status to an area is expected to increase abundance and average size of individuals of species targeted by fisheries. The majority of the evidence supporting such expectations still involves comparisons of abundance at the one time of sites with and without marine reserve protection. Very few studies have data on the abundance and size structure of species targeted by fisheries in an area before reserve status is applied. Quantitative estimates of density and biomass of coral trout, Plectropomus spp., the major target of the hook and line fisheries on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, on inshore fringing reefs of the Palm and Whitsunday Island groups, central GBR, are provided for 3–4 years before (1983–1984), and 12–13 years after (1999–2000) the establishment of no-take reserves in 1987. Quantitative estimates of density and biomass of coral trout in areas open to fishing were also collected in 1999–2000 at these two island groups. Density and biomass of coral trout increased significantly (by factors of 5.9 and 6.3 in the Palm Islands, and 4.0 and 6.2 in the Whitsunday Islands) in the reserve sites, but not the fished sites, between 1983–1984 and 1999–2000. In 1999–2000, density and biomass of coral trout and a secondary target of the fisheries, Lutjanus carponotatus, were significantly higher in the protected zones than in the fished zones at both island groups. The density and biomass of non-target fish species (Labridae, Siganidae and Chaetodontidae) did not differ significantly between reserve and fished zones at either island group. This is the most convincing data to date that the management zoning of the world's largest marine park has been effective, at least for coral trout on inshore reefs.


1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry R. Russ ◽  
Dong C. Lou ◽  
James B. Higgs ◽  
Beatrice P. Ferreira

From 1990 to 1993, samples of coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus, were collected at two coral reefs closed to fishing since 1987 in the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The age structure was dominated by a strong cohort which settled in early 1984 and which accounted for 54%, 45%, 42% and 36% of the experimental hook-and-line catches at Glow and Yankee reefs. Catch rates (fish person-1 hour-1) per age class per reef per year provide the first reliable estimates of the exponential rate of mortality of coral trout in zones of the GBR Marine Park closed to fishing. The annual mortality rate between the ages of 6 and 9 years was 0.115 (s.e. 0.040) at Glow reef and 0.189 (s.e. 0.100) at Yankee reef. The annual mortality rate between ages 6 and 9 years was 0.147 (s.e. 0.028) at the two reefs combined. Age-specific estimates of annual mortality ranged from 0.024 (age 7–8 at Glow) to 0.442 (age 6–7 at Yankee) but were unreliable because of small sample sizes. This is one of the first estimates of mortality rate of an exploited species in an area closed to fishing in the tropics.


2001 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 568-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R Armsworth

Population dynamic models and simulations are analysed for a harvested reef fish species that is a monandric, protogynous hermaphrodite. The models are applied to data for the coral trout Plectropomus leopardus (Pisces: Serranidae) on the Great Barrier Reef. One model examines the situation where sexual transition is induced by some exogenous behavioural mechanism, and another considers the case where transition is determined by some endogenous developmental schedule. The conclusions regarding the effects of fishing are common to both models, and the implementation of more efficient harvesting practices may not require a precise understanding of the mechanisms governing sexual transition.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2260 (1) ◽  
pp. 927-930
Author(s):  
J. K. LOWRY ◽  
H. E. STODDART

One species of wandinid amphipod is reported from the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. Wandin griffini Lowry & Stoddart is known from Lizard Island, One Tree Island and reefs on the Outer Barrier, living among rubble usually at the base of living coral. The species is rare in this habitat.


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