Premium
Biomass and distribution of herbivorous blennies in the southern Great Barrier Reef
Author(s) -
Townsend K. A.,
Tibbetts I. R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2000.tb00871.x
Subject(s) - heron , biology , reef , biomass (ecology) , herbivore , ecology , abundance (ecology) , coral reef fish , fishery
At the small scale (<1 m 2 ), a correlation between microhabitat availability and abundance of comb–toothed blennies was apparent at Heron Island. Investigation of medium scale (>20 m2) differences, showed that community structure and biomass of herbivorous blennies differed among the 14 geomorphological zones identified. Large scale differences (>10 km 2 ), detected using comparisons between Heron, Lady Elliot and North West reefs, revealed that species composition and biomass, but not density, differed significantly. At Heron Reef, density and biomass of comb–toothed blennies exceeded published estimates for most groups of conspicuous herbivorous fish in equivalent zones. The influence of scale on interpretation of patterns of fish distribution and the role of inconspicuous grazers such as comb–toothed blennies, deserves closer attention.