The introduced Banggai cardinal fish (Pterapogon kauderni) population in Ambon Island, Indonesia

Abstract

The Banggai cardinalfish Pterapogon kauderni (commonly referred to as BCF) is a fish endemic to the Banggai Islands, Central Sulawesi. Recently, Banggai cardinalfish have been introduced to several regions in Indonesia as a side effect of Banggai cardinalfish trading and mariculture. BCF juveniles cultured by the Balai Perikanan Budidaya Laut (BPBL) Ambon were released in several locations around Ambon Bay during 2014 - 2017. Around 20 - 500 BCF were released at each location. This study was carried out in April 2018 as a first monitoring of Banggai cardinalfish population status at all “restocking” locations in Ambon Bay. The data were collected by SCUBA diving using a Belt Transect method, with BCF size classes based on standard length (SL). The results found Banggai cardinalfish at three out of five monitoring locations. The first location was the Ferry Port, where 20 Banggai cardinalfish were released in 2014; the BCF density was 41 fish/100 m2, dominated by adults (> 3.5 cm SL). The second location was behind the Natural Sciences Faculty of Pattimura University where 20 Banggai cardinalfish were also released in 2014; the density was 73 individuals/100 m2 (with evenly distributed size). The third location was the bridge behind the SUPM campus, where 500 Banggai cardinalfish were released in 2016, but only 2 fish/100 m2 (adults > 3.5 cm SL) were found during the study. No Banggai cardinalfish were found at the other two locations, namely the Port of Ambon and Suli Beach, although there were 500 individuals were released at each of those two locations in 2016 and 2017. These result shows that BCF have been able to adapt and breed rapidly in some coastal areas in Ambon Bay that provide suitable habitat for Banggai cardinalfish.

Microhabitat association and population status of the Luwuk introduced Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni Koumans, 1933) population

“…Table 1. Site coordinates and years of previous P. kauderni (BCF) observations in Luwuk (adapted from (Wibowo et al, 2019).…”

“…Other sites in Central Sulawesi Province include several sites within the Banggai Archipelago but outside the native (endemic) distribution, in particular Bakalan (Moore et al, 2017b;Ndobe et al, 2017), Paisulimukon and Lumbi-Lumbia (Yahya et al, 2012), Palu Bay (Ndobe et al, 2013a;Syahril et al, 2020) including Mamboro (Moore and Ndobe, 2007) and Kadongo (Ndobe, 2013c), as well as reported but as yet unverified sites in Parigi Moutong Province, Tomini Bay . Other introduced P. kauderni populations in Indonesia include Tumbak (EC-PREP, 2005) and Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, sites in and around Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi (Kusumawardhani et al, 2019;Moore et al, 2011), Ambon Bay in Maluku (Wibowo et al, 2019), several sites in Bali (Lilley, 2008;Putra et al, 2021;Putra and Putra, 2019;Mustika et al, 2012) and possibly sites in Sumatra and other regions of Indonesia (Ndobe et al, 2018a).…”

“…Most of the known introduced P. kauderni populations are along ornamental fish trade routes (Ndobe et al, 2018a). However, some are the result of other human activity; for example the Ambon introduced population (Wibowo et al, 2019) was founded through government programs. These introduced populations cannot be classified as "benign introductions" under IUCN (2012) criteria, most seem to qualify as "wild subpopulations resulting from introductions outside the natural range" which should be assessed (IUCN, 2019).…”

“…Figure 2. Belt transect used for surveying P. kauderni populations and microhabitat association in Luwuk(adapted from(Wibowo et al, 2019).…”

New host record of microhabitat preferences of the Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) in the introduced habitat in Luwuk waters, Sulawesi

“…Population in small portions inhabit Luwuk Harbor in Central Sulawesi, which enclosure separated from the Banggai Islands group by the Peleng Strait [3,6,7]. Some introduce populations were established along the trade routes, such as Lembeh Strait -North Sulawesi [6,[8][9][10], Tumbak -North Sulawesi [6,11,12], Palu -Central Sulawesi [13][14][15], Luwuk -Central Sulawesi [3,13], Kendari -South East Sulawesi [16][17][18], Bali [6,19,20,21], Ambon -Molluca [22,23], and Ternate -North Molluca [24].…”