|Scientific Name:||Paralabrax albomaculatus|
|Species Authority:||(Jenyns, 1840)|
Gracila albomaculata Jenyns, 1840
Serranus albomaculatus Jenyns, 1840
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Endangered A2bd ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Robertson, R., Allen, G., Dominici-Arosemena, A., Edgar, G., Rivera, F. & Merlen, G.|
|Reviewer(s):||Carpenter, K., Polidoro, B. & Livingstone, S. (Global Marine Species Assessment Team)|
This species is endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Although it is present in the Galápagos Marine Protected Area, it is targeted by commercial fisheries. A 70% decline in population over the past 10 years (less than 3 generation lengths) is inferred based on a severe decrease in fisheries landings with continued effort between 1998 and 2001 in the Galápagos. It is listed as Endangered.
|Range Description:||This species is endemic to the Galápagos Islands.|
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:||
Pacific – southeast
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||There is no population information available for this species. However, a substantial decline (approximately 70%) in population numbers occurred between 1998 and 2001, as inferred from landings of fishes in the Galápagos with no evidence of a decrease in fishing effort (Danulat and Edgar 2002).|
|Habitat and Ecology:||
This reef-associated species inhabits rocky reefs and nearby sand patches. Depth of occurrence varies within the archipelago according to temperature, with preference for cooler water (Reck 1983) but ranges between 10-75 m. The diet consists of mobile benthic crustaceans, octupus, squid, and cuttle fishes.
Although exact generation length is not known, age of first maturity is estimated to be between 1-2 years and longevity is estimated to be about 10-12 years based on Paralabrax maculatofasciatus (Andrews et al. 2005), and therefore generation length is conservatively estimated to be 5 years.
|Use and Trade:||This species is targeted and commercially exploited by handline fishers in Galápagos.|
|Major Threat(s):||In the Eastern Tropical Pacific, severe localized fish species declines have occurred after strong ENSO events that result in shallow waters that are too warm and nutrient poor for extended periods of time (Grove 1985, Edgar et al. 2009). The frequency and duration of ENSO events in this region of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (e.g., the up-welling zone off the coast of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and associated offshore islands) appears to be increasing (Glynn and Ault 2000, Soto 2001, Chen et al. 2004). This deep water species is unlikely to be affected by oceanographic changes caused by ENSO/climate change events. However, juveniles of this cool water species have primarily been observed in relatively shallow water including near mangroves, where they may be affected by increased temperatures during severe El Niño events.|
|Conservation Actions:||Although this species' entire range is in the Galápagos Marine Protected Area, it is still subject to active commercial fishing.|
Andrews, A.H. Laman, E.A., Bennett, T., Jones, E. and Cailliet, G.M. 2005. Age and Growth of Spotted Sand Bass, Paralabrax maculatofasciatus, in Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico, with Age Validation using Otolith Edge Analysis. Bulletin, Southern California Academy of Sciences 104(1): 14-25.
Chen, D., Cane, M.A., Kaplan, A., Zebiak, S.E and Huang, D. 2004. Predictability of El Niño over the past 148 years. Nature 428: 733-736.
CMAR -Conservation International. 2006. Corredor Marino de Conservación del Pacifico Este Tropical. Documento Informativo. Secretaría Técnica Pro-Tempore del CMAR.
Danulat, E. and Edgar, G.J. 2002. Reserva Marina de Galápagos. Línea Base de la Biodiversidad.: 484.
Edgar, G.J., Banks, S.A., Brandt, M., Bustamante, R.H., Chiriboga, A., Earle, S.A., Garske, L.E., Glynn, P.W., Grove, J.S., Henderson, S., Hickman, C.P., Miller, K.A., Rivera, F. and Wellington, G.M. 2009. El Niño, grazers and fisheries interact to greatly elevate extinction risk for Galapagos marine species. Global Change Biology doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02117.x.
Froese, R., Palomares, M. and Pauly, D. 2002. Estimation of life history key facts of fishes. Available at: www.fishbase.org.
Glynn, P.W. and Ault, J.S. 2000. A biogeographic analysis and review of the far eastern Pacific coral reef region. Coral Reefs 19: 1-23.
Grove, J.S. 1985. Influence of the 1982-1983 El Niño event upon the ichthyofauna of the Galápagos archipelago. Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, Quito, Ecuador.
IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.3). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 2 September 2010).
Reck, G.K. 1983. The coastal fisheries in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: Description and consequences for management in the context of marine environmental protection and regional development. Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
Robertson, D.R. and Allen, G.R. 2006. Shore fishes of the tropical eastern Pacific: an information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panamá.
Roca, R., Earle, S., Shillinger, G., Mourra, V., Zumbrunn, S. and Mckenna, S. 2003. Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape: an oceanic and coastal conservation and sustainable development corridor.
Soto, C.G. 2001. The potential impacts of global climate change on marine protected areas. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 11(3): 181-195.
|Citation:||Robertson, R., Allen, G., Dominici-Arosemena, A., Edgar, G., Rivera, F. & Merlen, G. 2010. Paralabrax albomaculatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 27 March 2015.|