Biodiversity of Fishes Diversity of the Oceans

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Biodiversity of FishesDiversity of the Oceans

• Rainer Froese
• 29.01.09

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Fish Diversity of the Oceans
Arctic 130
Atlantic 4,900
Pacific 10,500
Pacific 10,500
Indian 6,000
Antarctic 370
Total 16,000 marine or diadromous fishes,
several thousand in more than one Ocean
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Diversity in Large Marine Ecosystems
North Sea 190
Greenland 190
Alaska 320
Mediterranean 700
East-China 1,040
Caribbean 1,600
Canary 1,300
California 800
Red Sea 1,200
Hawaiian 840
Bay of Bengal 700
Indonesian 2,400
South Brazil 970
Agulhas 1,400
Humboldt 750
Polynesian 810
Benguela 820
West 470
East 1240
Australian
Patagonian 340
Weddell Sea 25
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Equatorial Species Richness Transect across the
Indo-Pacific
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Environment by Half-degree Cell

• www.aquamaps.org
• Environmental data

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Diversity Patterns by Class

• Hagfishes (Myxini)
• Lampreys (Cephalaspidomorphi)
• Chimaeras (Holocephali)
• Sharks Rays (Elasmobranchii)
• Lobe-finned fishes (Latimeria)
• Ray-finned fishes (Actininopterygii)

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Hagfishes (Myxini, 21 of 72 species)
In all oceans, mostly temperate, along the
continental shelves incomplete!
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Lampreys (Cephalaspidomorphi, 6 of 42 species)
Mainly temperate zones of all oceans incomplete!
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Chimaeras (Holocephali, 20 of 40 species)
In all Oceans, deeper part of continental shelves
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Sharks Rays (Elasmobranchii, 460 of 996
species)
All Oceans, absent from abyss and poles
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Lobe-finned fishes (Latimeria chalumnae, 1 of 2
marine species)
Deeper shelf areas, only known from Indian Ocean
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Ray-finned fishes (Actininopterygii, 6,544 of
about 15,000 marine fishes)
In all habitats, from shore to abyss and from
poles to tropics
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Diversity Patterns by Order Family

• Sturgeons (Acipenseriformes)
• Herrings, Sardines (Clupeiformes)
• Rockfish, Sebastes (Scorpaeniformes)
• Surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae)
• Cods (Gadidae)
• Hakes (Merlucciidae)
• Lanternfishes (Myctophidae)
• Tunas Mackerels (Scombridae)

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Sturgeons (Acipenseriformes, 4 of 32 species)
Incomplete! Coastal temperate waters of the
Northern Hemisphere
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Herrings, Sardines (Clupeiformes, 132 of 388
species)
Over continental shelves, high diversity in
western central Pacific
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Rockfish (Sebastidae, 77 of 138 species)
Mostly in temperate waters on the continental
shelf
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Surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae, 56 of 81 species)
Typical tropical reef-associated fishes
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Cods (Gadidae, 23 of 25 species)
Mainly temperate and polar northern hemisphere,
on the shelf
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Hakes (Merlucciidae, 15 of 25 species)
Mostly anti-tropical over upper slope and shelf
absent from Indian Ocean and western Pacific
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Lanternfishes (Myctophidae, 173 of 249 species)
Meso-pelagic with migrations to the surface at
night, in all oceans
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Tunas Mackerels (Scombridae, 45 of 57 species)
Tropical and subtropical, highly migratory
pelagic predators
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Species Maps (online in www.aquamaps.org)

• Whale shark (cosmopolitan)
• Blackfin spiderfish (continental shelves)
• Porbeagle (Lamna nasus, anti-tropical)
• Tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon, Florida)
• Lion fish (Pterois volitans, Florida)
• Mnemiopsis leidyi (invasive Black Sea)

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Exercise MPA Placement

• Select a large marine ecosystem (e.g. North Sea,
  Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean)
• Find the best area for an MPA
• Number and of species in LME
• Selected threatened species
• Selected low-resilience species
• What species may invade your MPA
• Present and justify your MPA placement