Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T17:29:18.149Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

North-eastern range extension of the anemone Stichodactyla haddoni to the Marshall Islands represents a new record of host use by the endemic anemonefish Amphiprion tricinctus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2014

J.-P.A. Hobbs*
Affiliation:
Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
M. Beger
Affiliation:
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072Australia
M. De Brauwer
Affiliation:
The Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
M.J. Emslie
Affiliation:
Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville MC, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J.-P.A. Hobbs, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Amphiprion tricinctus is an anemonefish endemic to the Marshall Islands that was previously reported to inhabit four species of sea anemone. Underwater visual surveys in 2009 and 2010 located five individuals of the anemone Stichodactyla haddoni in the shallow lagoon of Majuro Atoll. This is the first record of S. haddoni in the Marshall Islands and a significant north-eastern range extension by 2200 km from its nearest record in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. Stichodactyla haddoni was inhabited by juvenile and adult A. tricinctus. This report is the first to describe a symbiotic relationship between A tricinctus and S. haddoni. The number of host anemone species inhabited by A. tricinctus now extends to five.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Fautin, D.G. and Allen, G.R. (1997) Field guide to anemonefishes and their host sea anemones. Revised edition. Perth: Western Australian Museum, 160 pp.Google Scholar
Hobbs, J-P.A., Frisch, A.J., Ford, B.M., Thums, M., Saenz-Agudelo, P., Furby, K.A. and Berumen, M.L. (2013) Taxonomic, spatial and temporal patterns of bleaching in anemones inhabited by anemonefishes. PLoS ONE 8, e70966. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huebner, L.K., Dailey, B., Titus, B.M., Khalaf, M. and Chadwick, N.E. (2012) Host preference and habitat segregation among Red Sea anemonefish: effects of sea anemone traits and fish life stages. Marine Ecology Progress Series 464, 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, M.C., Lewis, P.D., Gaughan, D.J. and Newman, S.J. (2005) Variability in spawning frequency and reproductive development of the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) along the west coast of Australia. Fishery Bulletin 103, 344354.Google Scholar
Munday, P.L. (2004) Habitat loss, resource specialization, and extinction on coral reefs. Global Change Biology 10, 16421647.Google Scholar
OBIS (2014) Available at: http://www.iobis.org (accessed 1 March 2014).Google Scholar
Saville-Kent, W. (1893) The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: its products and potentialities. London: W.H. Allen & Co., 387 pp.Google Scholar
Schultz, L.P., Herald, E., Lachner, E., Welander, A. and Woods, L. (1953) Fishes of the Marshall and Marianas Islands. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar