Checklist of the shorefishes of Wallis Islands (Wallis and Futuna French Territories, south-central Pacific)

2006

Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000242697000006

Williams J. T., Wantiez L., Chauvet C., Galzin R., Harmelin Vivien M., Jobet E., Juncker M., Mou-Tham Gérard, Planes S., Sasal P.

Cybium, 2006, 30 (3), p. 247-260 ISSN 0399-0974

The Wallis Islands, part of Wallis and Futuna French Territories, are located in the central South Pacific Ocean. They are positioned at the boundary of two biogeographic provinces, the Pacific Plate and the Indian-Australian Plate. Our survey is the first comprehensive survey of the shorefishes of the Wallis Islands. The shorefishes were surveyed using a combination of visual censuses and specimens collecting using rotenone and spear fishing. We recorded or collected 639 species of shorefishes from the 1999-2000 surveys, 7 additional species were added based on crest net collections taken in 2002-2003 and 2 additional species based on specimens previously cataloged in museum collections, resulting in a total of 648 species of shorefishes in 79 families known from Wallis Islands. Combining rotenone collecting with visual censuses was critical to determining the shorefish biodiversity of Wallis Islands. Of the 648 species now known from Wallis Islands, 42.9% of the species were taken only by rotenone sampling and 29.5% were recorded only by visual censuses. Neither method alone provides a comprehensive survey of shorefish biodiversity. Biogeographically, the species composition of shorefishes at Wallis Islands is a mixture of faunal elements from the Pacific Plate and Indian-Australian Plate bioeographic regions. The overlapping biogeographic faunas are reflective of the geographic position of Wallis Islands on the boundary between these two lithospheric plates.

Limnologie biologique / Océanographie biologique [034]

PAR00001325