Monitoring Larval Fluxes through the Surf Zones of Australian Coral Reefs

1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 383 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Doherty ◽  
J McIlwain
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
Fish Fauna ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Larval Supply ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
North Western ◽  
Pelagic Juveniles

The first successful trials with stationary 'crest' nets to monitor the nocturnal fluxes of larval fish crossing reef margins in both eastern and western Australia are described. Lengthy deployments were possible on Ningaloo Reef, north-western Australia, because that system is topographically suitable: i.e. a fringing barrier reef where surf produces a constant flow into a coastal lagoon. Sampling on 85 nights between October 1994 and March 1995 revealed a rich larval fish fauna (56474 individuals) dominated by pelagic juveniles nearing settlement stage. Variations in the daily catches of replicate nets (200 m apart) were highly correlated, showing the suitability of this technique for monitoring larval supply. Another trial (five nights) was made at One Tree Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef. On nocturnal flood tides, when rising water first spilled into the lagoon, triplicate nets caught many presettlement fish (47797 individuals) in this flow. The behaviour of some taxa clearly assisted their transport through the surf. Despite the successful short-term deployments at One Tree, there may be limited potential to deploy this gear elsewhere on the Great Barrier Reef because of unsuitable flow regimes.

scholarly journals The genus Lanocira Hansen, 1890 (Corallanidae: Isopoda: Crustacea) in tropical Australian waters

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2793 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
NIEL L. BRUCE ◽  
CONNI SIDABALOK
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Dorsal Surface ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
Timor Sea ◽  
First Time

The genus Lanocira Hansen, 1890 is recorded from the southwestern Pacific for the first time. Lanocira grebarree sp. nov. from the Great Barrier Reef is described, and Lanocira gardineri Stebbing, 1904 and Lanocira sp. cf. anasicula Jones, 1982 are recorded from the Great Barrier Reef and Hibernia Reef, in the Timor Sea off Western Australia, respectively. Lanocira grebarree sp. nov. can be identified by the anteriorly rounded, upturned and short rostral process in males in combination with the lack of stiff setae on the dorsal surface of the pleotelson. The similar L. gardineri Stebbing, 1904 is distinguished from L. grebarree sp. nov. by the presence of stiff hyaline setae on the dorsal surface of the pleotelson. A key is provided to the Australian species of Lanocira.

Revision of Egglestonichthys and of Priolepis species possessing a transverse pattern of cheek papillae (Teleostei; Gobiidae), with a discussion of relationships

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1934-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Winterbottom ◽  
Mary Burridge
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Single Specimen ◽  
Gill Opening ◽  
Transverse Pattern ◽  
The Persian Gulf ◽  
The Western Pacific

We recognize seven species in this group, five of which are described here. Priolepis profunda (Weber) occurs in central Indonesia and western Australia; P. anthioides (Smith) is known only from Zanzibar; P. aithiops n.sp. and P. sticta n.sp. are known only from Flores, Indonesia; P. fallacincta n.sp. occurs fairly widely in the western Pacific from Taiwan to Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef; P. randalli n.sp. is present in the Persian Gulf (and probably the Red Sea); and Priolepis RW sp. 8, to be described by other workers, is known from Japan through to western Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, and New Caledonia. The monotypic Egglestonichthys (known from a single specimen from the South China Sea) exhibits all the defining characteristics of Priolepis, and represents the plesiomorphic sister-group of either Priolepis, if the latter proves to be monophyletic, or of a monophyletic group composed of Priolepis, Trimma, Trimmatom, Paratrimma, and possibly some other genera. The entire clade is defined by two autapomorphies: loss of the cephalic sensory canals and associated pores, and a broad gill opening extending anteroventrally to below at least the vertical limb of the preopercle.

Multitestis Manter 1931 (Digenea: Lepocreadiidae) in ephippid and chaetodontid fishes (Perciformes) in the south-western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean off Western Australia

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2427 (1) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
RODNEY A. BRAY ◽  
THOMAS H. CRIBB ◽  
JEAN-LOU JUSTINE
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Western Pacific Ocean ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Lizard Island ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Oval Body

Five species of the genus Multitestis are described, figured or discussed: Multitestis pyriformis from Platax orbicularis off Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia and Platax teira off New Caledonia; Multitestis coradioni n. sp. (syn. Multitestis pyriformis Machida, 1963 of Bray et al. (1994)) from Coradion chrysozonus off Heron Island, which differs from M. pyriformis in its oval body-shape, the more posteriorly situated testicular fields and larger eggs, Multitestis elongatus from Platax pinnatus off Lizard Island, Multitestis magnacetabulum from P. teira off Heron Island, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and New Caledonia, Multitestis paramagnacetabulum n. sp. from P. orbicularis off Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, which differs from M. magnacetabulum in the more posteriorly situated testicular fields.

Habitat Selection before Settlement by Pomacentrus coelestis

1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Doherty ◽  
M Kingsford ◽  
D Booth ◽  
J Carleton
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Light Traps ◽  
Direct Sampling ◽  
Temperature Records ◽  
Newly Hatched Larvae ◽  
Pelagic Juveniles

The neon damsel, Pomacentrus coelestis, is characteristic of surge zones on Australian coral reefs and is most abundant on outer slopes of reefs in the southern Great Barrier Reef. When settling, it appears to 'avoid' lagoonal habitats. Recruitment records confirm that this is a general pattern regardless of whether lagoons have permanent or temporary connections to the ocean. This study included direct sampling, around One Tree Reef from the southern Great Barrier Reef, of all presettlement stages of P. coelestis with the aid of light-traps, channel nets and a plankton purse seine. Pelagic juveniles were abundant in catches from light-traps moored outside of the reef crest. In contrast, this developmental stage was rare in catches from all gear types used within the lagoon. The channel nets collected newly hatched larvae that entered the lagoon at night, but either they did not remain in the lagoon or they did not survive because they were not taken from the lagoon by diurnal purse seines. This direct evidence shows that broad-scale habitat selection can begin in the planktonic stage. It implies that pelagic juveniles have excellent sensory and motor capabilities, which disqualify them from being classified and modelled as plankton. Temperature records from inside and outside of the lagoon indicated that warm plumes (up to 3�C above ambient) influence reef waters near One Tree Reef, and temperature may be one of the cues that presettlement fish use to identify lagoonal habitats.

THE DEVONIAN GREAT BARRIER REEF OF THE CANNING BASIN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Phillip E. Playford
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Debris Flows ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Canning Basin ◽  
Platform Margin ◽  
Slope Deposits

A remarkable example of an exhumed Middle to Late Devonian barrier-reef belt extends for about 350 km along the northern margin of the Canning basin in Western Australia. The reefs form a series of rugged limestone ranges cut by deep river gorges which provide spectacular sections through the reefs and associated facies. The gross morphology of the ranges and intervening valleys closely resembles that of the Devonian seafloor, so that from the air the reefs are displayed much as they were in Devonian time.The Canning basin reef complexes offer exceptional opportunities for carbonate research because of the excellence of exposures and the wide variety of facies represented; moreover the rocks are little deformed, are not dolomitized extensively and are unmetamorphosed. Some facies have undergone significant compaction through stylolitization; however, most structures and textures in the limestones can be shown to have had depositional or early diagenetic origins.The reef complexes developed as reef-fringed limestone platforms flanked by marginal-slope and basin deposits. They were built by stromatoporoids, algae, and corals in the Givetian and Frasnian and by algae in the Famennian. The platform and basin facies were laid down nearly horizontally, whereas the marginal-slope facies accumulated with steep depositional dips away from the platform. Marginal slopes commonly were as high as 35° in loose talus and were up to vertical where algal binding occurred in association with early lithification. Geopetal fabrics quantify depositional and tectonic/compactional components of observed dips for paleobathymetric studies of the complexes and their fossil biotas.Four main types of platform margin are present: retreating, back-stepping, upright and advancing. The advancing type is characteristic of the Famennian platforms, whereas the other three are typical of the Frasnian. Pinnacle reefs developed during periods of rapid subsidence, especially during the middle Frasnian, are associated with back-stepping and retreating platform margins.Very early submarine cementation was widespread around the platform margins and on parts of the marginal slopes, but it was not generally extensive in the platform interiors. Early fracturing of reef limestones along the platform margins, probably associated with earthquakes, resulted in the development of neptunian dikes and the collapse of some sections of the reef as submarine rockfalls. These often initiated massive debris flows, many of which carved channels in and, somewhat deformed, the underlying marginal-slope deposits.

New observations on the genus Hypocreadium Ozaki, 1936 (Digenea: Lepocreadiidae) in the Indo-West Pacific region, including the description of one new species

Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2110 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
RODNEY A. BRAY ◽  
THOMAS H. CRIBB ◽  
JEAN-LOU JUSTINE
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
West Pacific ◽  
Atypical Form ◽  
Lizard Island ◽  
One New Species

The following members of the genus Hypocreadium are described or redescribed: Hypocreadium cavum from the starry triggerfish, Abalistes stellatus, Swain Reefs, Great Barrier Reef; Hypocreadium patellare ‘Typical form’ from Abalistes stellatus, Swain Reefs, the masked triggerfish, Sufflamen fraenatum, Ningaloo, Western Australia and off New Caledonia and the titan triggerfish, Balistoides viridescens, off Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef; Hypocreadium patellare ‘Atypical form A’ from the black-bar triggerfish, Rhinecanthus aculeatus, off Lizard Island and Palau and blackbelly triggerfish, R. verrucosus, off Palau; Hypocreadium patellare ‘Atypical form B’ from the yellow-spotted triggerfish, Pseudobalistes fuscus off Lizard Island; Hypocreadium picasso n. sp. from Rhinecanthus aculeatus, off Lizard Island and Palau, characterised by its broadly pyriform shape and lack of an anterior notch. A key to the species of Hypocreadium is presented. The similarity of the genus Lutianotrema to Hypocreadium is pointed out, but both known species of Lutianotrema are described with ‘dorsal’ oral suckers.

Acoustic tracking of a large predatory marine gastropod, Charonia tritonis, on the Great Barrier Reef

2020 ◽  
Vol 642 ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
A Schlaff ◽  
P Menéndez ◽  
M Hall ◽  
M Heupel ◽  
T Armstrong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Spatial Ecology ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Reef Environment ◽  
Cumulative Distance ◽  
Natural Predator ◽  
Mere Presence

Crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci (COTS) outbreaks are a major cause of coral cover loss on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), with manual culling having only localised success. The endangered giant triton snail Charonia tritonis is a natural predator of COTS, although aquarium and field observations indicate the intensity of direct predation may be inadequate to significantly mediate outbreaks. However, their mere presence can elicit a chemically induced sensory behavioural response which may suppress COTS populations when in non-outbreak status. While there is increasing knowledge of the sensory biology of both species, little is known regarding giant triton snail numbers on the GBR or about how they move and occupy space, making it difficult to determine their true zone of influence and thus their capacity to disrupt COTS behaviour. We used passive acoustic telemetry to establish short-term activity space and movement patterns of giant triton snails on the GBR. Individuals were tracked for up to 41 d, were observed to travel 234.24 m d-1, with a mean total cumulative distance travelled at night (1923.19 m) nearly double that observed during the day (1014.84 m). These distances encompass those reported for COTS (10.3 m d-1) and align with COTS nocturnal behaviour. Space utilisation distributions (UDs) revealed a mean (±SD) home range of 1179.40 ± 659.40 m2 (95% UD) and a core area of 195.68 ± 141.31 m2 (50% UD). Revealing the short-term movement patterns of this natural COTS predator within a reef environment advances knowledge of its spatial ecology and will provide information for its future conservation and for COTS management efforts.

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