The Fish Fauna of Tubbataha Reefs is highly Biodiverse and distinctively Oceanic

Gerlie T. Gedoria, Klaus Stiefel, Jeffrey T. Williams, Angelique M. Songco, Kent E. Carpenter

We surveyed the fish fauna of Tubbataha Reefs, a remote and well-protected coral reef system in the Philippines. Tubbataha is located in the Coral Triangle, the region with the highest marine biodiversity in the world, and is a no-take marine protected area. We found a total of 534 species, with the Labridae (65 species), Pomacentridae (60 species), Gobiidae (60 species), Chaetodonidae (33 species), Serranidae (33) and Acanthuridae (32 species) being the most species-rich families present. Species accumulation curves predicted that fish richness across all surveyed stations will asymptotically reach 603 species. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were calculated to be 329 and 260, respectively, and are predicted to asymptotically reach 343 and 266. Within Tubbataha, the North and South Atolls show similar ichthyofauna, with the Jessie Beazley Reef (a shoal) slightly differing. The ichthyofauna of the lagoons of both the North and the South Atoll are distinct from the outer reefs and cluster together, with distinct, and fewer species. Our study provides a baseline for the fish fauna of a coral reef ecosystem in the Coral Triangle affected by a few local anthropogenic stressors.