Variation in the Physiological Condition of Common Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Unrelated to Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Morgan S. Pratchett; Ciemon F. Caballes; Jean-Paul A. Hobbs; Joseph D. DiBattista; Brock Bergseth; Peter Waldie; Curtis Champion; Samuel P. Mc Cormack; Andrew S. Hoey

doi:10.3390/fishes8100497

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Variation in the Physiological Condition of Common Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Unrelated to Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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Variation in the Physiological Condition of Common Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Unrelated to Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Morgan S. Pratchett, Ciemon F. Caballes, Jean-Paul A. Hobbs, Joseph D. DiBattista, Brock Bergseth, Peter Waldie, Curtis Champion, Samuel P. Mc Cormack and Andrew S. Hoey

Fishes, Vol.8(10), 497

05/10/2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes8100497

Appears in Recent Faculty of Science and Engineering Publications

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Abstract

coral trout (Plectropomus)

coral reefs

disturbance

Great Barrier Reef

habitat degradation

physiological condition

Abstract: There are a wide variety of fishes that occur exclusively on coral reefs, though it is unclear to what extent these species (especially larger-bodied fisheries target species) are reliant on the specific reef habitat provided by corals. This study explored variation in the physiological condition of common coral trout (Plecropomus leopardus) on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, explicitly testing whether fish condition varied with local coral cover in the aftermath of severe mass bleaching and coral loss. Both the physiological condition (specifically, the length–weight relationships, hepatocyte vacuolation, and electrical phase angle) of P. leopardus and the live cover of habitat-forming corals varied greatly among the sites considered in this study, but there was little correspondence between these factors. Fish condition was largely influenced by fish size and varied with latitude. While there was no apparent effect of recent coral bleaching and coral loss on the physiological condition of P. leopardus, this does not mean that these key fisheries species will be unaffected by further changes to the environmental conditions and reef habitat. It is important, therefore, that fisheries managers remain vigilant to apparent effects of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures on fisheries stocks. Key Contribution: Mass coral bleaching on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 2016–2017 and the corresponding degradation of coral reef habitats was expected to adversely affect piscivorous fishes. Contrary to expectations, this study showed no apparent effect of local coral cover on the physiological condition of common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus).

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Title: Variation in the Physiological Condition of Common Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Unrelated to Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Creators: Morgan S. Pratchett - James Cook University
Ciemon F. Caballes - James Cook University
Jean-Paul A. Hobbs - James Cook University
Joseph D. DiBattista - Griffith University
Brock Bergseth - James Cook University
Peter Waldie - The Nature Conservancy (Honiara, Solomon Islands)
Curtis Champion - NSW Department of Primary Industries
Samuel P. Mc Cormack - Australian Institute of Marine Science
Andrew S. Hoey - James Cook University
Publication Details: Fishes, Vol.8(10), 497
Publisher: MDPI
Identifiers: 991013143607502368
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

Variation in the Physiological Condition of Common Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) Unrelated to Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

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