Reef-associated fishes of Mozambique: What is known about them

Abstract

The first studies undertaken in Mozambique regarding reef fishes were carried out at Inhaca Island in the final 30’s (Lopes 1937; 1938). In the 50’s and 60’s, mainly taxonomic studies were conducted and reef fish species lists were made available especially for Inhaca Island (e.g. Smith 1958; Sanches 1963; Smith 1968). Only recently, investigations of other aspects of the reef fish fauna has begun. Kalk (1995) elaborated on the trophic composition of the reef fish fauna at Inhaca Island and Loureiro (1998) studied the artisanal reef fisheries in Mécufi District, north of Mozambique. Under the Darwin/Frontier Mozambique project (Whittington et al. 1998) the diversity, species composition, abundance and fisheries of the coral reef fish fauna of the Quirimbas Archipelago was investigated. A short-term study at Inhaca Island, conducted by Swedish researchers investigated the fisheries and tourism interaction with reef associated fishes (Nagel and Degerstedt 1999). Also at Inhaca Island, Pereira (2000a) conducted a comparative study of reef fish communities from two distinct coral reefs and analysed fishhabitat relationships.