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Commercial Species
Non-Commercial Species
Sportfishing Species
COMMERCIAL SPECIES
Turneffe has long been a prolific commercial fishery. Key target species are Spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), Queen conch (Strombus gigas) and several species of fin fish. Links to some pertinent publications are listed below.
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| Spiny Lobster |
Queen Conch |
Nassau Grouper |
Belize Fisheries Department, 2002 Annual Report
Heyman W., Requena N., "Status of Multi-Species Spawning
Aggregations in Belize”, The Nature
Conservancy September 2002
Heyman , William D., ‘Spawning
Aggregations in Belize - A Report Generated for the Workshop, "Towards A Sustainable Management of Nassau
Groupers in Belize”’, The Nature Conservancy,
July 30, 2001
Gardiner R, Harborne A. Coral Cay
Conservation Ltd, "Summary of Coral Caye Conservation’s Data on Commercially
Important Reef Fish and Invertebrates from Turneffe Atoll, Belize”, September
2000
NON COMMERCIAL SPECIES
Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System Project
(MBRS), September 19, 2003 (inputs from: Mito Paz, Hugo Hidalgo, Jose Antonio
Fuentes, Eloy Sosa, Kevin Rhodes and Björn Kjerve)
Luczkovich, J. J. and M. Keusenkothen
(2007). "Behavior and Sound Production by Longspine Squirrelfish
Holocentrus rufus During Playback of Predator and Conspecific Sounds."
Ben-David, J. and J. P. Kritzer (2005).
"Early life history and settlement of the slender filefish, Monacanthus
tuckeri (Monacanthidae), at Calabash Caye, Turneffe Atoll, Belize."
Environmental Biology of Fishes 73(3): 275-282.
Edited by Harborne A., September 2000,
"Fish and Coral Species Lists compiled by Coral Cay Conservation: Belize
1990-1998”
Chittaro, P., et al. (2005). "Using
otolith microchemistry of Haemulon flavolineatum (French grunt) to characterize
mangroves and coral reefs throughout Turneffe Atoll, Belize: Difficulties at
small spatial scales." Estuaries 28(3): 373-381.
Chittaro, P. M., et al. (2006). "Spatial
variation in otolith chemistry of Lutjanus apodus at Turneffe Atoll,
Belize." Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 67(4): 673-680.
Chittaro, P., et al. (2006). "The
differentiation of Stegastes partitus populations using lapillar and sagittal
otolith chemistry." Journal of Fish Biology 68(6): 1909-1917.
Mumby, P. J. (2006). "Connectivity of reef
fish between mangroves and coral reefs: algorithms for the design of marine
reserves at seascape scales." Biological Conservation 128(2): 215-222.
Allsop DJ, West SA. Sex
allocation in the sex-changing marine goby on atoll fringing reefs. Evolutionary
Ecology Research 6843-855. 2004.
Bernardi G, Alva-Campbell YR,
Gasparini JL, Floeter SR. Molecular ecology, speciation, and evolution of the
reef fish genus Anisotremus. Molecular Phylogenetics
and Evolution 48(3): 929-935. 2008.
Bernardi G, Lape J. Tempo and
mode of speciation in the Baja California disjunct fish species Anisotremus
davidsonii. Molecular Ecology
14(13): 4085-4096. 2005.
Bond ME, Babcock EA, Pikitch
EK, Abercrombie DL, Lamb NF, Chapman DD. Reef Sharks Exhibit Site-Fidelity and
Higher Relative Abundance in Marine Reserves on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. PLoS
ONE 7(3): e32983. 2012.
Chapman DD, Pikitch EK,
Babcock EA, Shivji MS. Deep-diving and diel changes in vertical habitat use by
Caribbean reef sharks Carcharhinus perezi. Marine
Ecology Progress Series 344271-275. 2007.
Chittaro P, Fryer B, Sale P.
Discrimination of French grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum, Desmarest, 1823) from
mangrove and coral reef habitats using otolith microchemistry. Journal
of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
308(2): 169-183. 2004.
Chittaro P, Hogan J, Gagnon J,
Fryer B, Sale P. In situ experiment of ontogenetic variability in the otolith
chemistry of Stegastes partitus. Marine Biology
149(5): 1227-1235. 2006.
Chittaro P, Hogan JD. Patterns
of connectivity among populations of a coral reef fish. Coral
Reefs 32(2): 341-354. 2013.
Chittaro PM, Usseglio P, Sale
PF. Variation in fish density, assemblage composition and relative rates of
predation among mangrove, seagrass and coral reef habitats. Environmental
Biology of Fishes 72(2): 175-187. 2005.
Ellison A, Leaniz CG,
Consuegra S. Inbred and furious: negative association between aggression and
genetic diversity in highly inbred fish. Molecular
Ecology 22(8): 2292-2300. 2013.
FISCHTHAL JH. Some digenetic
trematodes of marine fishes from the Barrier Reef and Reef Lagoon of Belize. Zoologica
Scripta 6(2): 81-88. 1978.
FISCHTHAL JH. Allometric
growth in four species of digenetic trematodes of marine fishes from Belize. Zoologica
Scripta 7(1‐4): 13-18. 1978.
Graham RT, Castellanos DW.
Courtship and spawning behaviors of carangid species in Belize. Fishery
Bulletin 103(2): 426-432. 2005.
Hogan JD, Thiessen RJ, Heath
DD. Variability in connectivity indicated by chaotic genetic patchiness within
and among populations of a marine fish. Marine
Ecology Progress Series (MPES). 2010.
Hogan JD, Thiessen RJ, Sale
PF, Heath DD. Local retention, dispersal and fluctuating connectivity among
populations of a coral reef fish. Oecologia
168(1): 61-71. 2012.
Kobara S, Heyman WD. Sea
bottom geomorphology of multi-species spawning aggregation sites in Belize. Marine
Ecology Progress Series 405243-254. 2010.
Nolan CJ, Danilowicz BS.
Advantages of using crest nets to sample presettlement larvae of reef fished in
Caribbean Sea. Fishery Bulletin (Seattle)
106(2): 213-221. 2008.
Paz G, Sedberry GR, Alicea E.
Spawning of Black Grouper (Mycteroperca Bonaci, Serranidae) in Belize. Greenreef
Belize. 2007.
Paz M, Grimshaw T. 2001.
Status report on Nassau groupers for Belize, Central America. In: Workshop
report ‘Towards Sustainable Management of Nassau Groupers in Belize’, Belize
City.
SELWYN J, DOWNEY-WALL A,
USSEGELIO P, HOGAN D. 2013. Decadal Changes in Reef Fish Recruitment at
Turneffe Atoll, Belize: Before and After Lionfish Invasion. In: 66th Gulf and
Caribbean Fisheries Institute.
Stevenson DE. 1998. Stock
identification in Nassau grouper, Epinephelus striatus, using microsatellite
DNA analysis. In: 50th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries
SPORTFISHING SPECIES
Very little research has been done world-wide on the major saltwater sportfishing species pursued in Belize, the Yucatan, Florida, the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean. Two key studies, by Rachel Graham and Aaron Adams, have been done at Turneffe.
Links to these publications are listed below.
Adams AJ, Wolfe RK, Tringali
MD, Wallace EM, Kellison GT. Rethinking the Status of Albula spp. Biology in
the Caribbean and Western Atlantic. In: Biology and management of the world
tarpon and bonefish fisheries.Edited by, p. 203. 2007.
Adams, A. J., et al. (2006). "Patterns of juvenile habitat use and seasonality of settlement by permit, Trachinotus falcatus."
Economic Impact of Recreational Fishing
for Bonefish, Permit and Tarpon in Belize for 2007, Fedler, A., Hayes, C.
