A comparison of the gobiid fauna between a shoal and an island habitat in the central Visayas (Philippines)

Abstract

We surveyed the marine gobies of Malapascua island (Philippines), the surrounding islets and the nearby Monad shoal. We found 59 species in 19 genera, including 2 undescribed species of the genus Trimma, and 3 geographic and 6 depth range expansions. Furthermore we describe a new type of mimicry between the goby Koumasetta hectori and the cardinalfish Apogon nigrofasciatus. The comparison of the island versus shoal goby fauna showed a lesser species richness of shrimp-associated gobies at the shoal. This likely reflects the fact that hydrodynamic features of the environment play a dominant role in selecting which gobiid species, or their symbiotic shrimp, will be found in a certain location. We also observed a bias towards hovering species (of the genus Trimma) and away from shrimp-associated gobies at greater depths. These findings are in accord with the suspected shift of gobies towards planctotrophy with increasing depth.\n\nWe furthermore compare this study to previous surveys of goby faunas, and plot the recorded species numbers against the survey areas. This species-area plot provides support for the notion of high speciation rates in gobies due to their low mobility.