[Coral-List] Canthigaster rostrata masive death in San Andres Archipelago,

[David Obura]

Hi Frank,

this probably doesn't help with your specific query, but we've had mass mortalities of small/juvenile Canthigaster in Kenya (Indo-Pacific) too - I'm sure i've seen it twice, once in 1993 I think, in Watamu. I didn't see them, and didn't hear of reports of high densities, in the water - but for a few days at most they washed up on the beach by the thousands and thousands, at least over 10s of kilometers, and about the same size as you report. I do recall asking scientists about it and hearing of other events in other locations, though I'm afraid I can't remember much more than that!!

cheers,

David


CORDIO East Africa
#9 Kibaki Flats, Kenyatta Beach, Bamburi Beach
P.O.BOX 10135 Mombasa 80101, Kenya
www.cordioea.net       //      www.iucn.org/cccr
Mobile: +254-715 067417
Email: dobura at cordioea.net; davidobura at gmail.com
Skype dobura

On 13 Sep 2013, at 15:12, coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote:

> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 10:44:50 -0400
> From: Franck Gourdin
> 	<franck.gourdin.carspaw at guadeloupe-parcnational.fr>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Canthigaster rostrata masive death in San Andres
> 	Archipelago, Seaflower Biophere Reserve, Colombia
> To: coral-list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Message-ID: <5231D362.50805 at guadeloupe-parcnational.fr>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
> 
> 
>   Dear Colleagues,
>    In the island of San Andr??s, southwestern Caribbean, Colombia, over the
>   past two weeks we hav beene observing massive death of fish from the specie
>   Canthigaster rostrata, family Tetraodontidae, and common name "Caribbean
>   sharpnose puffer". Mortality has been observed in individuals around 4 cm
>   (1.5 inches) total length, which are driven by currents to all the beaches
>   of the island and appear dead in large numbers. In contrast, biologist,
>   recreational divers and fishermen have observed that the species densities
>   have increased dramatically in the coral reef and can be observed all over
>   the water column. Moreover, we have received reports from the mainland in
>   Colombia, Santa Marta and Islas del Rosario near Cartagena, where increases
>   in population densities of this species in coral reefs were also observed,
>   although not at the same level of what we have seeing here.
>   From field observations, and consults to experts, we are dealing with a
>   possible hypothesis of a reproductive event that generated a population
>   explosion , which has resulted in overpopulation exceeding the carrying
>   capacity . Nevertheless, CORALINA, has taken a series of actions in order to
>   establish the possible causes. In this regard , the Institute of Marine
>   Research , INVEMAR, gave us a protocol for mortalities of marine organisms;
>   according to this protocol we proceeded to take water and fish samples at
>   different sites of the island , which were sent to INVEMAR for lab analysis.
>    We are aware of a similar case with the same species in the Yucatan
>   Peninsula in 2008, but we have no further information about it. It is our
>   interest to know whether this phenomenon has occurred in other regions of
>   the Caribbean and the possible causes for this.
>   We appreciate any further information.
>   Estimados colegas
> 
>   En la isla de San Andr??s, Caribe insular colombiano, desde hace poco m??s de
>   dos semanas se ha presentado una mortandad masiva de peces de la especie
>   Canthigaster rostrata, perteneciente a la Familia Tetraodontidae, de nombre
>   com??n ???Caribbean sharpnose-puffer???. La mortandad se da sobre individuos de
>   aproximadamente 4 cm de longitud total, que llevados por las corrientes
>   aparecen muertos en todas las playas de la isla en grandes cantidades.   En
>   contraste con esto, bi??logos, operadores de buceo recreativo y pescadores
>   artesanales  han  visto  c??mo  las  densidades  de esta especie se han
>   multiplicado notoriamente en el arrecife coralino. En este sentido, se han
>   recibido reportes desde la costa continental, zonas de Santa Marta e Islas
>   del Rosario cerca de Cartagena, donde tambi??n se registran aumentos en las
>   densidades poblacionales de esta especie, aunque no de la misma magnitud de
>   lo que se ve ac?? en la isla.
> 
>   Por observaciones en campo, y consultas a expertos, estamos manejando la
>   hip??tesis de un posible evento reproductivo que ha generado una explosi??n
>   demogr??fica, la cual ha tenido como consecuencia una sobrepoblaci??n y un
>   eventual sobrepaso de su capacidad de carga. Sin embargo, la Corporaci??n
>   para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Archipi??lago, CORALINA, ha tomado una
>   serie  de acciones para tratar de establecer puntualmente las posibles
>   causas, por lo que le ha solicitado apoyo de varias entidades. En este
>   sentido, el Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas, INVEMAR, nos ha facilitado
>   un protocolo de actuaci??n en caso de mortandades de organismos marinos; de
>   acuerdo con ??ste se procedi?? a la toma de muestras de agua en diferentes
>   puntos de la isla, y muestras de individuos, las cuales fueron enviadas a
>   INVEMAR para su an??lisis.
> 
>   Sabemos de un caso similar con la misma especie en la Pen??nsula de Yucat??n
>   en 2008, pero no tenemos mayor informaci??n al respecto. Es nuestro inter??s
>   conocer si este fen??meno se ha presentado en otras regiones del Caribe y las
>   posibles causas de ??ste.
> 
>   Agradecemos cualquier informaci??n.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   Nacor Bola??os-Cubillos
>   Coordinador ??reas Protegidas y Proyecto Biodiversidad
>   Nacor Bola??os [1]<areas.protegidas at coralina.gov.co>
>   Corporaci??n para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Archipi??lago de San Andr??s,
>   Providencia y Santa Catalina - CORALINA
>   Reserva de Biosfera y ??rea Marina Protegida Seaflower ??? COLOMBIA
>   Tel??fonos: 57- 8- 5120080 - 57-8-5128272
>   San Andr??s Isla Colombia
> 
> References
> 
>   1. mailto:areas.protegidas at coralina.gov.co