Distribution, diversity, and abundance of rocky intertidal fishes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Iran

Abstract

Distribution and abundance patterns of rocky intertidal fish assemblages in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman were examined. Specimens were collected at low tide from tide pools, using chlorine as an ichthyocide. A series of collections undertaken between May and July 2006 at 6 stations yielded 1497 fishes, comprising 20 species from 8 families. Permanent tide pool residents (Gobiidae and Blenniidae) comprised 93.5% of the total fish assemblage; secondary residents comprised the remaining 6.5%. The most common fish species were Antennablennius variopunctatus (Blenniidae; 23.4%), Istigobius ornatus (Gobiidae; 19.8%), Bathygobius meggitti (Gobiidae; 18.7%) Cryptocentroides arabicus (Gobiidae; 10.5%), Istiblennius pox (Gobiidae; 7.3%), and Omobranchus fasciolatus (Blenniidae; 6.8%). The results of the present study revealed that, compared to the Gulf of Oman, diversity indices in the Persian Gulf are low. Although Qeshm Island is located in the Persian Gulf, the diversity indices are high at this station most probably due to enhanced contact with the adjacent open ocean, the Gulf of Oman. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that the Persian Gulf stations are more similar to each other than to the stations located in the Gulf of Oman.

Intertidal rockpool icthyofauna of El Pital, La Libertad, El Salvador

“…Richness differences could be due to greater area of sampling effort or pool sampling closer to estuaries which allowed occurrence of fresh water and brackish waters species. On the other hand the species richness recorded in this study is higher than the reported for Palma Island, Colombia by Castellanos-Galindo et al Studies from temperate latitudes show that resident species are more abundant than transients and accidental visitors in the intertidal zone (Yoshiyama 1981, Varas and Ojeda 1990, Griffiths 2003a, Ghanbarifardi and Malek 2009). The reason is that resident fish spend all their lives in the intertidal zone (some in the larval stage) and have developed anatomical, morphological and physiological adaptations as adhesive disks, fins that allow them to hold onto the substratum avoiding being flushed by tide, and physiological adaptations to cope with changes in environmental conditions Bridges 1999, Zander et al 1999).…”

“…Total length (TL in mm) of each fish was measured and used to estimate the life history of each fish by using minimum length of postlarval fish (2 cm) for each species with published records of maximum lengths and dividing the length range into three equal size classes to represent juvenile, subadult and adult. In this study, fish are classified into two groups, juvenile or adult (including subadult and adult) (Pfister 1996, Faria and Almada 2001, Griffths 2003b, Ghanbarifardi and Malek 2009. Finally, all fish were preserved in 70% alcohol and donated to the University of El Salvador Zoology Museum (UES) under registration numbers UES 1 to UES 43 and two specimens of Tomicodon zebra were donated to Museo de Historia Natural de El Salvador (MUHNES) under registration number MUHNES 40-381.…”

Description of a new goatfish species, <i>Upeneus randalli</i> n. sp. (Mullidae), from the Persian Gulf, with remarks and identification keys for the genus <i>Upeneus</i>

“…The discovery of another species of the genus Upeneus in the Persian Gulf, in addition to U. oligospilus (cf. Uiblein and Heemstra, 2010), indicates that this area has been insufficiently studied and may be biogeographically distinct (see also Ghanbarifardi and Malek, 2009). Due to the lack of data from adjacent areas and the complex geological history of this part of the Western Indian Ocean (e.g.…”

Intertidal fishes of Mauritius with special reference to shallow tidepools

“…Two tidepool studies took place in the northern Indian Ocean. Ghanbarifardi and Malek (2009) examined pool communities along the Iranian coast (Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman). The large majority of fish (93.5%) represented permanent residents of gobies and blennies; three species of either family were most abundant.…”

“…The assignment to one of these categories was established on the basis of literature references such as Murase (2013) and Sindorf et al (2015), our own observations and information about size as well as developmental stage of the examined fishes in different studies, such as Ntiba et al (1993), Durville and Chabanet (2009), Ghanbarifardi and Malek (2009) and González-Murcia et al (2016). It is worth mentioning that there are no generally used abbreviations of the aforementioned categories in the existing literature, for example, PR means partial resident in Cox et al (2011), but permanent resident in Sindorf et al (2015).…”