Fish fauna of the Sikao Creek mangrove estuary, Trang, Thailand

Abstract

Between September 1996 and March 1999, a total of 135 fish species in 43 families were recorded from the mangrove estuary of Sikao Creek, Trang Province, Thailand, using two sizes of beach seine and a bag net. A checklist of the species is given, with preliminary descriptions of their assemblage structure. In terms of the number of species per family, Gobiidae was the most diverse (28 species), followed by Leiognathidae (11 species) and Engraulidae (10 species). In terms of individual numbers, Engraulidae, Leiognathidae and Ambassidae were the most dominant, whereby the 20 most abundant species comprised 88.5% of the total number of individuals collected. The fish assemblage structure was compared with published accounts of other tropical Indo‐West Pacific mangrove estuaries, and found to be similar to those of tropical Australia. Although a grater number of species were recorded from Sikao Creek than in comparable studies in other geographic regions, all of the studies were similar in that they have relatively few species that are clearly dominant in abundance.

Tidal, diel and lunar patterns in intertidal and subtidal mangrove creek fish assemblages from southwest Thailand

“…The overall fish fauna composition and relative abundances in this study were consistent with previous findings from Sikao Creek (Tongnunui et al 2002;Ikejima et al 2003). Despite a relatively short sampling period of three months, the total number of species as well as the average number of subtidal species, subtidal abundance and catch mass were similar to findings from a 3-year study in Sikao Creek (Ikejima et al 2003).…”

“…Species-rich fish communities were found in the region (Chong et al 1990;Sasekumar et al 1991;UNDP/UNESCO 1991;Tongnunui et al 2002;Ikejima et al 2003). Despite the potential of tides causing important and predictable changes in intertidal assemblage composition and feeding of fishes in the Andaman Sea, the studies focussed mainly on spatial and/or monsoon-driven seasonal dynamics in assemblage structure.…”

Juvenile morphology and occurrence patterns of three Butis species (Gobioidei: Eleotridae) in a mangrove estuary, southern Thailand

“…All B. humeralis and B. koilomatodon were <16.5 mm SL (n = 79) and <13.7 mm SL (n = 30), respectively, except for one adult specimen of each (86.3 and 32.0 mm SL, respectively), and did not differ significantly in size among reaches (H = 2.7, P > 0.05 and H = 3.3, P > 0.05, respectively). Tongnunui et al (2002; using a 3-mm-mesh seine and bag nets and a 13-mm-mesh seine net) and Ikejima et al (2003; using a 3-mm-mesh seine net), both conducting sampling in almost the same sites as in the present study, collected only B. butis. This discrepancy was most likely the result of the larger mesh sizes used compared to that used in the present study (1 mm), the smallest specimen collected by Ikejima et al (2003) being 20 mm SL.…”

Socioeconomic study and economic value of living fossil, Lingula sp. in mangrove ecosystem in Trat Province, Thailand

“…Like the livelihoods of other coastal communities of Thailand, the local people in Trat are dependent on mangrove (Macnae 1968;Tongnunui et al 2002;Ikejima et al 2003;Sudtongkong & Webb 2008). However, these communities have hardly mentioned their Lingula utilization but focus on economic fishery resources such as finfish and crustacean.…”