Abstract

The importance of the ecological connections was studied among mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs for the ontogeny of Scaridae in San Andrés island, Colombian Caribbean, in rain season (October-December) of 2009. In places where the reefs are next to swamps and/or grasses, and places where they are isolated, it was evaluated composition, abundance and state of develop-ment of the fish in each habitat by means of visual censuses with band transects. These variables were compared statistically among habitats and they were correlated with physical-chemical and physiographic attributes. Additionally, using analysis of similarity was related the ichthyct structure among habitats. It was observed a richness of seven species, an abundance of 322 individuals, and a Shannon´s index of 1.73. The half richness in seagrasses and mangrove was similar, and in reefs next to these habitats, the half richness and diversity was bigger. The densities of adults of Scarus iseri, Sparisoma chrysopterum and Sparisoma viride were bigger in reefs connected to the swamp and/or seagrasses, being evidenced distribution patterns bound to the ontogeny. The analyses of similarity contained seagrasses and mangrove, showing to the reefs relatively independent. The depth varied approxi-mately a meter between swamps and seagrasses, and between 5 and 13 m in reefs. The length of leaves of Thalassia testudinum among seagrasses, and the covering of soft coral, spongy and macroalgas, and the topographical complexity among reefs varied significantly. It was verified that mangrove and seagrasses serve as functional nursery habitats for some parrotfishes and the influence of the biotope complexity on the ichthyct composition. The results agree with the literature, they enrich this with new observations, and they provide input for the environmental administration.

PDF Preview