Abundance and Diversity of Early Stages of Shorefishes in Jeddah, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The composition of fish larval community was studied in Jeddah coast from January to December 2020. Larvae were collected from Obhur Creek and Shaara Bay on Jeddah coast twice a month using light traps that deployed for 2 hours after sunset at the new moon and the full moon. A total of 40 samples yielding 5717 larvae with an average of 1429 larvae/2h belonging to 32 fish families were collected from the two bays. The highest abundance was recorded in Shaara Bay (3413 larvae forming 59.7% of total larvae), whereas Obhur Creek recorded 2304 larvae (40.3% of total larvae). During the present work, the most abundant fish families were Clupeidae, Gobiidae, Scaridae, Pomacentridae, and Blennidae that collectively constituted about 86% of the total larvae. Family Clupeidae was the most dominant one constituted approximately 57% of total larvae followed by Gobiidae (1093 larvae) that formed 19.1% of the total larvae. Much more larvae and more families were collected during the new moon suggesting that settlement of reef fishes mostly takes place in the darker new moon than full moon periods.