Long-distance movements of coral reef fishes

Most coral reef fishes are thought to be highly sedentary with movements limited to a few kilometers for even the most mobile species (Holland et al. 1996; Zeller 1997). Long distance (>200 km) movements to spawning aggregations have been reported for Epinephelus striatus (Nassau grouper) often with return to home reefs. Other reports on large spatial-scale movements in tropical fishes have been limited to pelagic and non-typical reef species like the blue runner, Caranx fuses (155 km) (Beaumariage 1964) and the blue trevally, Caranx melampygus (72 km) (Holland et al. 1996). Movements are demanding in energy requirements (Bernstein et al. 1991) and are not without functional role. Among coral reef fishes, local movements have been associated with feeding, spawning, and ontogenetic shifts in habitat requirements (Sale 2002). Additionally, movements may ensure connectivity between stocks. However, a major unanswered question in marine ecology is the degree of connectedness between populations (Robert et al. 2000). In coral reef environments, the open nature of reproduction in most fishes has made pelagic larval dispersal the dominant linkage between reef fish populations (Cowen et al. 2000). However, active adult dispersal between source and sink populations (Crowder et al. 2000) may complement larval dispersal in maintaining connectivity between populations and is thought to be a more stable mechanism evolutionarily (Holt 1996). In this paper we document long-distance movements in three species of coral reef fishes.