Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:45:24.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Estimating the impact of sea kraits on the anguilliform fish community (Congridae, Muraenidae, Ophichthidae) of New Caledonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2008

François Brischoux  and
Xavier Bonnet
François Brischoux
Affiliation:
Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé – CNRS, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois, France Université François Rabelais, 3 rue des Tanneurs, 37041 Tours Cedex 1, France
Xavier Bonnet
Affiliation:
Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé – CNRS, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois, France
Get access

Abstract

It has been previously shown that two guilds of predators, the sea kraits and their prey, the anguilliform fish (predator themselves), are far more abundant and diverse than previously suspected in coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific area. Based on diet, foraging range, feeding rate, and population size of two sea krait species, we estimated the annual uptake of anguilliform fish around Signal Island, New Caledonia. We found that more than 4000 snakes live on this 15 ha islet and that they can take up to 45 000 fish (>1.3 t) per year, essentially from 10 fish species previously considered as rare. One third of these fish are captured on the reef flat, the two other thirds within a 17 km radius surrounding Signal Island. We suggest that the foraging areas of the different snake populations belonging to numerous islets (and the surrounding reef flats) overlap greatly.

Keywords

PredationAnguilliform fishSea kraitUptake
Type
Brief Report
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 395 - 399
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Böhlke E.B., McCosker J.E., Smith D.G., 1999, Muraenidae. In: Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (Eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific 3, FAO, Rome, pp. 1643–1657.
Bonnet, X., Naulleau, G., 1996, Catchability in snakes: consequences on breeding frequency estimates. Can. J. Zool. 74, 233–239. CrossRef
Bonnet, X., Ineich, I., Shine, R., 2005, Terrestrial locomotion in sea snakes: the effects of sex and species on cliff-climbing ability in sea kraits (Serpentes, Elapidae, Laticauda). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 85, 433–441. CrossRef
Bonnet, X., Pearson, D., Ladyman, M., Lourdais, L., Bradshaw, D., 2002, “Heaven” for serpents? A mark-recapture study of tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) on Carnac Island, Western Australia. Austral Ecol. 27, 442–450. CrossRef
Brischoux F., Bonnet X., 2008, Life history of sea kraits in New Caledonia. Mem. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat., in press
Brischoux, F., Bonnet, X., De Crignis, M., 2007a, A method to reconstruct anguilliform fishes from partially digested items. Mar. Biol. 151, 1893–1897. CrossRef
Brischoux, F., Bonnet, X., Shine, R., 2007b, Foraging ecology of sea kraits (Laticauda spp.) in the Neo-Caledonian lagoon. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 350, 145–151. CrossRef
Caley, M.J., 1993, Predation, recruitment and the dynamics of communities of coral-reef fishes. Mar. Biol. 117, 33–43. CrossRef
Carpenter, S.R., Kitchell, J.F., Hodgson, J.R., 1985, Cascading trophic interactions and lake productivity: fish predation and herbivory can regulate lake ecosystems. Bioscience 35, 634–639. CrossRef
Cogger, H., Heatwole, H., 2006, Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905) and Laticauda saintgironsi n. sp. from Vanuatu and New Caledonia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Laticaudinae) – a new lineage of sea kraits? Rec. Aust. Mus. 58, 245–256. CrossRef
Finke, D.L., Denno, R.F., 2004, Predator diversity dampens trophic cascades. Nature 429, 407–410. CrossRef
Heatwole H., 1999, Sea snakes. Australian Natural History Series. University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Hixon M.A., 1991, Predation as a process structuring coral reef fish communities. In: Sale P.F. (Ed.) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 475–508.
Ineich I., Laboute P., 2002, Sea snakes of New Caledonia. IRD et Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle Editions, Coll. Faune et flore trop., Paris
Ineich, I., Bonnet, X., Brischoux, F., Kulbicki, M., Séret, B., Shine, R., 2007, Anguilliform fishes and sea kraits: neglected predators in coral reef ecosystems. Mar. Biol. 151, 793–802. CrossRef
Jennings, S., Polunin, N.V.C., 1997, Impacts of predator depletion by fishing on the biomass and diversity of non-target reef fish communities. Coral Reefs 16, 71–82. CrossRef
Kulbicki, M., 1997, Bilan de 10 ans de recherche (1985–1995) par l'ORSTOM sur la structure des communautés des poissons lagonaires et récifaux en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cybium 21, 47–79.
McCann, K.S., Hasting, A., Huxel, G.R., 1998, Weak trophic interactions and the balance of nature. Nature 395, 794–798. CrossRef
Otis, D.L., Burnham, K.P., Anderson, D.R., 1978, Statistical inference for capture data on closed animal populations. Wildl. Monogr. 62, 1–135.
Reed R.N., Shine R., Shetty S., Cogger H., 2002, Sea kraits (Squamata: Laticauda spp.) as a useful bioassay for assessing local diversity of eels (Muraenidae, Congridae) in the western Pacific Ocean. Copeia, 1098–1101.
Saint Girons, H., 1964, Notes sur l'écologie et la structure des populations des Laticaudinae (Serpentes : Hydrophiidae) en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Rev. Ecol. 111, 185–214.
Séret, B., Brischoux, F., Bonnet, X., Shine, R., 2008, First record of Cirrimaxilla formosa (Teleostei: Muraenidae) from New Caledonia, found in sea snake stomach contents. Cybium 32, 191–192.
Smith D.G., 1999a, Myrocongridae: thin morays. In: Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (Eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific 3, FAO, Rome, pp. 1641–1642.
Smith D.G., 1999b, Congridae: Conger eels. In: Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (Eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific 3 FAO, Rome, pp. 1680-1688.
Smith D.G., McCosker J.E., 1999, Ophichthidae: snake eels, worm eels. In: Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (Eds.). FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific 3 FAO, Rome, 1662–1669.
Voris, H.K., 1972, The role of sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) in the trophic structure of coastal ocean communities. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. India 14, 429–442.
Voris, H.K., Voris, H.H, 1983, Feeding strategies in marine snakes: an analysis of evolutionary, morphological, behavioural, and ecological relationships. Am. Zool. 23, 411–425. CrossRef