Habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara in the Florida Keys, USA

Frias-Torres, Sarah

doi:10.3354/esr002001

Cited by 51 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, we observed a great similarity between data on biological aspects of E. itajara gathered from the scientific biological literature in the Northern Hemisphere (e.g. Bullock et al, 1992;Sadovy & Eklund, 1999;1999;Frias-Torres, 2006) and data from fishermen's LEK at our study area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…In the Northern Hemisphere, this fish species shows a size-related habitat shift. Juveniles (< 110 cm total length) are found in well-developed fringing red mangrove shorelines, especially in sites with high structural complexity, soft sediment and eroded shorelines (Frias-Torres, 2006). Adults are found in coral reefs, isolated patch reefs, reef/rock ledges, and artificial structures (Bohnsack et al, 1999;Sadovy & Eklund, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Gerhardinger¹,

Marenzi

Bertoncini³

et al. 2006

Neotrop. ichthyol.

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The goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara is a large sized (> 400 kg) and critically endangered marine fish, which is protected in many countries, including Brazil. Through the application of semi-structured interviews, we investigated the local ecological knowledge of seven fishermen specialist on catching E. itajara from the Babitonga bay, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Local long-line fisheries for E. itajara seemed to be a disappearing tradition in the studied site, with a detailed inherent local ecological knowledge system, which is also being lost. Our study also showed that fishermen engaged in recent fisheries, such as spear-fishing, can also possess a detailed local ecological knowledge system. Through the analysis of fishermen local ecological knowledge, several aspects of E. itajara life history were registered. This species is found in the inner and outer Babitonga bay, from saline waters to areas with a large input of freshwater, and inhabits submerged wooden substrates and artificial reefs such as shipwrecks, mooring pillars and cargo containers. It is known to spawn in December and subsequent summer months in the studied area. Spawning aggregations are usually seen in December (during full moon), being also eventually observed in January and February by our informants. While lobsters, spadefishes and octopuses seem to constitute the most important food items of inner bay E. itajara, outer bay individuals may feed on catfishes, crustaceans and other fish species. The goliath grouper is regarded as pacific and curious fish, but frequently display agonistic behavior in the presence of divers. Based on the perception of well experienced spear fishermen, we hypothesize that E. itajara undertakes seasonal migrations from the inner to the outer bay during summer, and that the studied population is suffering from growth over-fishing. Our data provides a practical evidence of how joining scientific and local ecological knowledge will likely benefit E. itajara local conservation and management practices by adding important new biological data into the decision-making process.O mero Epinephelus itajara é uma espécie de peixe marinho de grandes proporções (>400 kg) e criticamente ameaçado, protegido em muitos países, incluindo o Brasil. Através da aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, investigamos o conhecimento ecológico local de pescadores de espinhel e pesca subaquática, especialistas na captura de E. itajara na baía Babitonga, Santa Catarina, Brasil. A pescaria de espinhel direcionada à E. itajara parece ser uma tradição em desaparecimento, com um detalhado sistema de conhecimento ecológico local que está também sendo perdido com o tempo. Nosso estudo mostra que pescadores envolvidos em pescarias recentes, como a pesca subaquática, podem também possuir detalhado sistema de conhecimento ecológico local. Através da análise e integração do conhecimento ecológico local dos informantes, diversos aspectos da história de vida de E. itajara foram registrados. Esta espécie é encontrada na porção interna e externa da ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Gerhardinger¹,

Marenzi

Bertoncini³

et al. 2006

Neotrop. ichthyol.

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“…These freshwater systems essentially dilute typical saline conditions to the point where many marine taxa cannot survive. Goliath grouper, however, are known to recruit to brackish water conditions and spend several years in this habitat prior to an ontogenetic shift to reef habitat (Smith 1976, Frias-Torres 2006. Thus, we expected that goliath grouper should be able to tolerate conditions within the Amazon/Orinoco barrier and would be able to disperse across, if not live within, this barrier.…”

Section: Atlantic Population Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

How many species of goliath grouper are there? Cryptic genetic divergence in a threatened marine fish and the resurrection of a geopolitical species

Craig¹,

Graham²,

Torres³

et al. 2009

Endang. Species. Res.

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The goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara (Epinephelidae) is an exceptionally large marine fish that inhabits sub-tropical and tropical waters of the Americas and western Africa. Due to a lack of readily observable morphological variation in specimens across its range, the goliath grouper has been regarded as a single species. We tested the hypothesis that Pacific and West Atlantic populations constitute a single species by analyzing nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data. We found numerous fixed genetic differences for mitochondrial loci between Pacific and West Atlantic goliath grouper (genetic distance D ≈ 3.5% at 16S and D ≈ 6% at cytochrome b; ϕ st = 0.98 [p < 0.001] for 16S and ϕ st = 0.98 [p < 0.001] for cytochrome b). The nuclear S7 intron showed 3 fixed nucleotide differences between Pacific and West Atlantic populations. Within the West Atlantic, we found few absolute genetic differences (D < 0.01 at 16S and D < 0.02 at cytochrome b), but statistically significant population structure based on haplotype frequency data (ϕ st = 0.04 [p = 0.05] at 16S; ϕ st = 0.14 [p < 0.001] at cytochrome b). These data indicate that (1) goliath grouper in the West Atlantic are subdivided into discrete populations, (2) goliath grouper populations in the Pacific and western Atlantic represent 2 (or more) distinct species, and (3) these distinct populations/species require separate management and conservation strategies. We resurrect the species Epinephelus quinquefasciatus (Bocourt 1868) for Pacific goliath grouper. KEY WORDS: Epinephelus itajara · Epinephelus quinquefasciatus · Phylogeography · EpinephelidaeResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher OPEN PEN ACCESS CCESS Contribution to the Theme Section 'Range-wide status and conservation of the goliath grouper'Endang Species Res: 7: 167-174, 2009 tinue to be at the forefront of conservation efforts. Surprisingly, this basic information is lacking in many areas, despite its obvious importance for conservation measures.In the marine environment, biodiversity inventories often reflect the fact that marine species tend to be more broadly distributed than their terrestrial counterparts, with some organisms ranging more than 10 000 km (Jablonski & Lutz 1983). With the now widespread use of molecular genetic techniques, it has become clear that cryptic genetic diversity may confound estimates of both species ranges and biodiversity (reviewed in Bickford et al. 2006). Species once thought to be distributed over immense oceanic expanses are now known to be comprised of discreet lineages that may or may not occur in sympatry (reviewed in Rocha et al. 2007). Although this phenomenon was thought to occur most commonly in small or difficult-to-study organisms, recent evidence shows that these cryptic genetic lineages also occur amongst Earth's largest and most well-studied marine animals (e.g. Bass et al. 2005, Quattro et al. 2006, Vianna et al. 2006. In addition, these genetic studies often elucidate genetic patterns that reflect...

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“…tion of reproductive shoals in predictable periods, the dependence of the species on mangrove habitats and its slow maturation rates all contribute to its vulnerability (Sadovy and Eklund, 1999;Frias-Torres, 2006). According to Morris et al (2000), around 40% of the epinephelids are currently listed at some level of extinction risk by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic characterisation of populations of the critically endangered Goliath grouper ( Epinephelus itajara, Serranidae) from the Northern Brazilian coast through analyses of mtDNA

Silva-Oliveira¹,

Rêgo²,

Schneider³

et al. 2008

Genet Mol Biol

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The Goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) is one of the most endangered species of fish of the subfamily Epinephelinae. Slow to develop and mature, and dependent on mangrove habitats for breeding, the species also suffers intense harvesting, which has reduced drastically in numbers in many areas. To contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of E. itajara populations, we conducted a molecular genetics study of the species, focusing on populations from the Northern Brazilian coast. The mtDNA control region (D-loop) of 116 individuals from five localities (Bragança, Ajuruteua, Parnaíba, Fortaleza and Natal) was analysed, and a sequence of 499 base pairs identified. Analyses of the sequences indicated that genetic variability was generally lower in E. itajara than in other endangered species of the genus. AMOVA found no significant grouping structure among the populations. Nested Clade Analysis revealed a significant association between genetic variability and geographic distribution among only three populations (Ajuruteua, Parnaíba and Natal). Genetic diversity was higher in populations from the Amazon region, which may be related to the better conservation of mangrove habitats in this area. Therefore, the present study could be used for the implementation of conservation and management measures in order to protect and consolidate these populations.

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Habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara in the Florida Keys, USA

Cited by 51 publications

References 10 publications

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

Local ecological knowledge on the goliath grouper epinephelus itajara (teleostei: serranidae) in southern Brazil

How many species of goliath grouper are there? Cryptic genetic divergence in a threatened marine fish and the resurrection of a geopolitical species

Genetic characterisation of populations of the critically endangered Goliath grouper ( Epinephelus itajara, Serranidae) from the Northern Brazilian coast through analyses of mtDNA

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