Identification and assess anthropogenic impacts on species richness of coral reef fishes in Larak Island, Persian Gulf

Abstract

Coral reefs are amongst the most important and rich ecosystems in the world and are provide habitat for a diverse range of species groups of fishes and invertebrates. Larak Island is one of fourteen islands found in the Persian Gulf which was selected for this study. The reef fish distribution around this island was identified and then for sampling, six stations were randomly selected by Manta Tow method. The identification was conducted using visual census technique in all stations. A total of 54 species belonging to 42 genera and 23 families were identified and amongst them the abundant species group belonged to family Pomacentridae with 11 species. The results indicated that further the stations were from an urban area higher species richness was.