Monographs

Common Reef Fishes of Terengganu, Malaysia

Authors:Jianguo Du, Kar-Hoe Loh, Wenjia Hu, Xinqing Zheng

Publication date: 2019

Publishing house: Science Press Beijing

ISBN:9787030592286

 

 

 

Introduction:

      A total of twelve sites in the Perhentian Archipelago and ten sites in Redang Archipelago were investigated using Underwater Visual Census in 2016–2018, with more than 100 dives. The underwater cameras that were used were Canon 5D4, Canon G15, Canon G1X Mark II, jointly with Sea & Sea YS-D2 flashlights. The coverage was limited to shallow reef fishes that are wholly or mainly confined to coral reefs of less than about 30 m depth. In total, 185 reef-associated fish species were recorded from these two archipelagos, belonging to 11 orders and 40 families,including 8 new record fish of Malaysia. Most of the fishes (158 species) belong to the Perciformes. 162 of them are harmless to humans, 15 are venomous, 5 are poisonous and 3 are traumatogenic. According to the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2017), 3 species (Carcharhinus melanopterus,Taeniura lymma and Plectropomus leopardus) are Near Threatened, and 2 species are Vulnerable (Cromileptes altivelis and Bolbometopon muricatum); the other species were either of Least Concern or their Status were Not Evaluated.
      The information provided for each species includes, among other things, their taxonomic classification, common names, environments, maximum lengths, morphology, distribution, trophic level, IUCN Red List status and human uses, if any. The purpose of this field guide is to help the Terengganu Marine Park, local communities, divers, tourists and other interested to acquire an overview of the common reef creatures in Terengganu, which may promote their conservation. Moreover, This book is the first monograph on the ecological Atlas of coral reef fishes in Malaysia, and get good reviews in the book launch in "The 3rd South China Sea Conference 2019" which held in Malaysia.