Publications:
Kosaki et al. 2016


scientific article | Marine Biodiversity

100% endemism in mesophotic reef fish assemblages at Kure Atoll, Hawaiian Islands

Kosaki RK, Pyle RL, Leonard JC, Hauk BB, Whitton RK, Wagner D


Abstract

The Hawaiian Archipelago is one of the most isolated island chains on Earth, and is known for a high proportion of endemism in its coral-reef fish fauna (Randall 2007). In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), percent endemism based on numerical densities increases with latitude on shallow coral reefs (<30 m), and peaks at 62 % at Pearl and Hermes Atoll (Friedlander et al. 2009). On mesophotic reefs (50–80 m) of the NWHI, endemism was also found to increase with latitude, reaching a peak of 92 % at Midway Atoll (Kane et al. 2014). Here, we report the highest levels of endemism recorded from the deepest coral reefs at the northernmost atoll in the world.

Research sites
Keywords
Meta-data
Depth range
86- 91 m

Mesophotic “mentions”
4 x (total of 347 words)

Classification
* Presents original data
* Focused on 'mesophotic' depth range
* Focused on 'mesophotic coral ecosystem'

Fields
Biodiversity
Ecology

Focusgroups
Fishes

Locations
USA - Hawaii

Platforms
Rebreather

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