Bruce's Top 20 Fish Picks of 2007 (Fish of the Marianas assignment)

Common names: Scientific Name: Location:

Tiger Shark Galeocerdo cuvier Outside reefs and sometimes inside Saipan’s lagoon

Manta Ray Manta birostris Often seen in deep waters around TIQ, SPN Lagoon

Giant Moray Gymnothorax javanicus Saipan’s Barrier Reef, Reef Patchs in Tinian and Rota

Estuarine stonefish Synanceia horrida Throughout the beaches of the CNMI

Giant trevally Caranx ignobilis Throughout the deep waters within and outside of the reefs

Pacific Double-saddle butterflyfish Chaetodon ulietensis Throughout the beaches of the CNMI

Emperor angelfish Pormacanthus imperator Throughout the beaches of the CNMI as well as the reefs

Twoband anemonefish Amphiprion bicinctus along the sea anemone on the reefs

Great Barracuda Sphyraena barracuda In and out of Lagoons, deep waters.

Bluebarred parrotfish Scarus ghobban In and around the reefs

Bluespine unicornfish Naso unicornis In, around and around reefs

Pacific Blue Tang Paracanthurus hepatus Around the reef

Forktail rabbitfish Siganus argenteus Around the reef

White-barred triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus Around the reef and in the lagoon

Longhorn cowfish Lactoria cornuta Around the lagoon and reef

Solander’s sharpnose puffer Canthigaster solandri all over the reef and in lagoons

Harlequin snake eel Myrichthys colubrinus Inside of lagoons and around the reefs

Hawaiian lionfish Pterois sphex In holes of reefs

Red bass/ Red Snapper Lutjanus bohar deep waters in lagoons and outside re

Panther flounder Bothus pantherinus sandy beaches depending on their colors for camouflage

Coral Reefs!

1. How is each reef structure formed?

Fringing reefs are formed around a volcanic island that subsides completely.

Barrier reefs form when land masses sink, and fringing reefs become separated from shorelines by wide channels.

If the land mass is a small island, it may eventually disappear below the ocean surface, and the reef becomes an atoll. Atolls are reefs that surround a central lagoon. The result is several low coral islands around a lagoon. An atoll can also be formed when a the volcanoes completely blows up and is no longer visible.

2. Where is each reef structure found?

Fringing reefs border shorelines of continents and islands in tropical seas. (when no body of water is in between/separating the land and the reef)Fringing reefs are commonly found in the South Pacific Hawaiian Islands, and parts of the Caribbean.

Barrier reefs are common in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific which occurs farther offshore. Here, the reef and island is separated by a body of water (lagoon).

Atolls commonly occur in the Indo- Pacific. They are found mostly as circular

3. Give examples of the types of corals found on reefs.

Hard, Stony, table, staghorn, mushroom, and hermatypic coral. (and many more!)

4. Give examples of competition, predation, and grazing.

Competition: Coral vs. Coral (For Space!)

Predation: A Killerwhale hunting seals

Grazing: Sea urchins eating kelp

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS: CHAPTER 14

1. What factors might account for the fact that the vast majority of atolls occur in the Indian and Pacific oceans and that atolls are rare in the Atlantic?

First, the waters are warm in the Indo-Pacific. therefore, coral reefs could survive. Again, Coral needs warm water. unlike the Atlantic Ocean, the waters there are cold. Next is that the Pacific Ocean is home to the Ring of Fire (chains of vocanic activity) which is one known main factor for making atolls.

2. Scientists predict that the ocean will get warmer and the sea level will rise as a result of an intensified greenhouse effect. How might this affect coral reefs?

The one thing about coral is that its very fragile! cold water would kill it just as water thats too warm or hot. So if the sea becomes warmer, then it would be possible to have coral reefs in the atlantic, but the ones in the pacific would die because the water will be too warm. Now if the sea level rises, then both oceans won't be capable of sustaining a coral reefs because coral would be too deep down in the water that it won't be able to capture sunlight needed for survival.

3. There are only a few reefs off the northeast coast of Brazil, even though it lies in the tropics. How would you explain this?

There are only a few reefs in the northeastern coast of Brazil simply because of erosion. There are numerous rivers that flow in and out of the area, depositing sedmient particles of dirt and rubble as well as human pollution. Also, during storms, it is known that the area gets flooded, dragging in more and more pollution and erosion out into the ocean. Only a few reefs in the area manages to stay alive.

Similarities:

1. All can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific

2. Fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls are all related stages in the sequence of atoll reef formation

3. All could be found in warm waters

4. All were once a volcanoe.

5. All can sustain life.

Differences:

1. Location

2. Fringing reefs are most common

3. Atolls are fully emerged.

4. Barrier reefs have open water in between land and itself.

5. Atolls are much older than barrier and fringing reefs.