From CSIRO Marlin
JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

Influence of Coastal Processes on Large Scale Patterns in Reef Fish Communities of Torres Strait 1995-1996

Created 25/06/2025

Updated 25/06/2025

JSON format icon JSON RDF format icon RDF ISO19115-3 XML

The fish fauna of the edge of coral reefs in Torres Strait was investigated by underwater visual transects at 276 sites on 41 reefs between August 1995 and January 1996. The fish community contained most common families of tropical Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Acanthurids, Chaetodontids, Pomacentrids and Labrids were the most widespread and speciose families observed. The relative abundance of each species at each site was used to classify sites with multi-dimensional scaling (MDS). The species composition varied strongly across the region with sites classifying into four distinct groups. These represented groups of fish species most abundant on (1) the eastern outer ribbon reefs; (2) the mid- shelf reefs; (3) central Warrior reef complex and (4) the western reefs north of Moa Island. These patterns in fish community structure were related to changes in the relative proportions of the major benthic habitats in each area. Many species tended to be abundant either in areas of high coral cover (eastern outer ribbon reefs) or high algal cover (central and western reefs). Other factors that were correlated with fish species composition included the distance from sources of terrestrial runoff in Papua New Guinea and Cape York, northern Australia. This effect is likely to be indirect, through the influence of runoff of benthic habitats. These results show that fish communities in Torres Strait are strongly structured and influenced by the benthic habitats. The distribution of benthic habitats are in turn heavily influenced by the regional physical processes that occur because of the location of Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Refer to the published report: Milton DA and Long BG. (1997) Influence of Coastal Processes on Large Scale Patterns in Reef Fish Communities of Torres Strait, Australia. Final Report June 1997 (MR-GIS 97/6). CSIRO Marine Research, Cleveland. 14pp.

Files and APIs

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Influence of Coastal Processes on Large Scale Patterns in Reef Fish Communities of Torres Strait 1995-1996
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/c2228f16-eb3b-491a-9d7e-2f4cc35928e7
Contact Point
CSIRO Marlin Data Catalogue
data-requests-hf@csiro.au
Reference Period 01/08/1995 - 02/01/1996
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        141.5,
        -11.0
      ],
      [
        143.0,
        -11.0
      ],
      [
        143.0,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        141.5,
        -9.0
      ],
      [
        141.5,
        -11.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal CSIRO Marlin

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on CSIRO Marlin "Influence of Coastal Processes on Large Scale Patterns in Reef Fish Communities of Torres Strait 1995-1996". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://marlin.csiro.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/influence-of-coastal-processes-on-large-scale-patterns-in-reef-fish-communities-of-to-1995-19961