Fish biodiversity in three northern islands of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve Colombian Caribbean

Study Extent

The San Andrés, Old Providence and Santa Catalina archipelago (Colombia) occupies an important, but relatively small, portion of the central western Caribbean Sea between 82 and 86 °W meridians and 12 and 16 °N parallels. The three main islands are populated by raizales, mainland Colombians, and foreigners, mainly traders. Small islands are kept under protection by organic members of the Colombian Navy. The archipelago includes about three fourths of the more than a hundred Colombian coral formations. Since 2014 the Colombian government (Comisión Colombiana del Océano, CCO) has been organizing an annual scientific expedition to the Reserve. So far three northern islands have been intensively sampled: Roncador (2015), Serrana (2016), and Serranilla (2017).

Sampling

The dataset entitled “Fish biodiversity in three northern islands of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve (Colombian Caribbean)” is herewith reported. Dataset were compiled from 1) a peer reviewed paper (Bolaños-Cubillos et al., 2015) that published a baseline checklist of the fishes known from the Reserve, reporting a total of 653 fish species, distributed in 121 families. That original list was based on 28 papers and grey reports of the scientists that have worked on the islands fish biodiversity since 1944 as well as on unpublished data gathered by the authors in the last two decades. 2) Biological records unpublished and partially available at SIB Colombia, reporting some results of several projects developed during the Seaflower Expeditions 2015, 2016 and 2017 (Acero A. 2018; Acero et al. 2018; Polanco F. 2018) and 3) species found on the deep shelves and upper slopes of the islands of the Reserve and already reported by Robertson & Van Tassell (2015) and Polanco F. (2015). During the expeditions organized by the CCO data were collected by scuba diving as well as snorkeling (total of 250 man-hours of underwater observation). Material collected or photographically recorded by other researchers and expedition members was used when pertinent. In the case of Serranilla, seven species come from videos taken by the project “Elasmobranch diversity and abundance estimates using baited remote underwater video stations” developed by team of researchers from the Colombia Azul Foundation, the Universidad de los Andes and the Florida International University.

Quality Control

Scientific names follow the Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer et al., 2018) and the classification follows Eschmeyer et al. (2018) for cartilaginous fishes and Betancur-R. et al. (2017) for bony fishes.

Method steps

1. The included dataset comprises a depurated inventory of the fish species reported from the northern area of the Reserva, that is the three islands already mentioned and Quitasueño, the larger and more western island, which has not been yet the official target of an expedition. The dataset include all the fish species seen during the expeditions carried upon between 2015 and 2017 to the islands of Roncador, Serrana, and Serranilla (Table 1) plus the reports previously published in Bolaños-Cubillos et al. (2015), Polanco F. (2015) and Robertson & Van Tassell (2015).

A total of 412 species are listed, included in 103 families and 233 genera.

1. Chimaeridae
   rank: family
2. Ginglymostomatidae
   rank: family
3. Lamnidae
   rank: family
4. Scyliorhinidae
   rank: family
5. Triakidae
   rank: family
6. Carcharhinidae
   rank: family
7. Sphyrnidae
   rank: family
8. Hexanchidae
   rank: family
9. Squalidae
   rank: family
10. Narcinidae
    rank: family
11. Rhinobatidae
    rank: family
12. Rajidae
    rank: superfamily
13. Urotrygonidae
    rank: family
14. Dasyatidae
    rank: family
15. Myliobatidae
    rank: family
16. Megalopidae
    rank: family
17. Albulidae
    rank: family
18. Congridae
    rank: family
19. Muraenidae
    rank: family
20. Nettastomatidae
    rank: family
21. Ophichthidae
    rank: family
22. Chlopsidae
    rank: family
23. Moringuidae
    rank: family
24. Clupeidae
    rank: superfamily
25. Engraulidae
    rank: family
26. Argentinidae
    rank: family
27. Synodontidae
    rank: family
28. Chlorophthalmidae
    rank: family
29. Parazenidae
    rank: superfamily
30. Zeniontidae
    rank: family
31. Grammicolepididae
    rank: family
32. Merlucciidae
    rank: family
33. Polymixiidae
    rank: family
34. Berycidae
    rank: family
35. Trachichthyidae
    rank: family
36. Holocentridae
    rank: family
37. Ophidiidae
    rank: family
38. Apogonidae
    rank: family
39. Gobiidae
    rank: family
40. Aulostomidae
    rank: family
41. Fistulariidae
    rank: family
42. Syngnathidae
    rank: family
43. Dactylopteridae
    rank: family
44. Callionymidae
    rank: family
45. Mullidae
    rank: family
46. Gempylidae
    rank: family
47. Nomeidae
    rank: family
48. Scombridae
    rank: family
49. Polynemidae
    rank: family
50. Sphyraenidae
    rank: superfamily
51. Carangidae
    rank: family
52. Coryphaenidae
    rank: family
53. Echeneidae
    rank: family
54. Rachycentridae
    rank: family
55. Bothidae
    rank: family
56. Paralichthyidae
    rank: superfamily
57. Grammatidae
    rank: family
58. Opistognathidae
    rank: family
59. Pomacentridae
    rank: family
60. Atherinidae
    rank: family
61. Belonidae
    rank: family
62. Exocoetidae
    rank: family
63. Hemiramphidae
    rank: family
64. Mugilidae
    rank: family
65. Gobiesocidae
    rank: family
66. Blenniidae
    rank: family
67. Chaenopsidae
    rank: family
68. Labrisomidae
    rank: family
69. Tripterygiidae
    rank: family
70. Caproidae
    rank: family
71. Gerreidae
    rank: family
72. Haemulidae
    rank: family
73. Lutjanidae
    rank: family
74. Malacanthidae
    rank: family
75. Pomacanthidae
    rank: family
76. Priacanthidae
    rank: family
77. Sciaenidae
    rank: family
78. Uranoscopidae
    rank: family
79. Labridae
    rank: family
80. Scaridae
    rank: family
81. Lobotidae
    rank: family
82. Ephippidae
    rank: family
83. Sparidae
    rank: family
84. Chaetodontidae
    rank: family
85. Antennariidae
    rank: family
86. Ogcocephalidae
    rank: family
87. Triacanthodidae
    rank: family
88. Diodontidae
    rank: family
89. Tetraodontidae
    rank: family
90. Balistidae
    rank: family
91. Monacanthidae
    rank: family
92. Ostraciidae
    rank: family
93. Acanthuridae
    rank: family
94. Acropomatidae
    rank: family
95. Pempheridae
    rank: family
96. Cirrhitidae
    rank: family
97. Kyphosidae
    rank: family
98. Percophidae
    rank: family
99. Serranidae
    rank: family
100. Scorpaenidae
     rank: family
101. Setarchidae
     rank: family
102. Peristediidae
     rank: family
103. Triglidae
     rank: family

The San Andrés, Old Providence and Santa Catalina archipelago (Colombia) occupies an important, but relatively small, portion of the central western Caribbean Sea between 82 and 86 °W meridians and 12 and 16 °N parallels. The three main islands are populated by raizales, mainland Colombians, and foreigners, mainly traders. Small islands are kept under protection by organic members of the Colombian Navy. The archipelago includes about three fourths of the more than a hundred Colombian coral formations. Since 2014 the Colombian government (Comisión Colombiana del Océano, CCO) has been organizing an annual scientific expedition to the Reserve. So far three northern islands have been intensively sampled: Roncador (2015), Serrana (2016), and Serranilla (2017).