Abstract

Small cryptobenthic coral reef fish, despite its strong association with the reef environment and high diversity, are commonly poor represented in regional fish characterizations, due to the difficulty generated at the time of identify and quantify them in the field. The aim of this study is to characterize the cryptobenthic fish community associated to shallow reefs at the Isletas de Píritu, in Anzoátegui State, as a first contribution to the knowledge of this group in the area. The evaluation was carried out employing visual censuses in 10*2 m band transects along the depth gradient. A total of 16 species from 5 families were recorded (4 Blennidae, 3 Chaenopsidae, 3 Labrisomidae, 1 Tripterygiidae y 5 Gobiidae). The family Chaenopsidae was the most important group, followed by Gobiidae and Bleniidae. This order of importance was similar at both localities, standing out the dominance of the family Chaneopsidae, which is frequent and abundant in Caribbean reefs, although it generally follows the family Gobiidae in terms of abundance, which is the most diverse marine fish group. In this sense, probably the environmental characteristics, represented by shallow reefs that do not overcome 5 m of depth, are determining in this results, additionally the high importance of the family Chaenopsidae in shallow reefs has been also reported in the National Parks San Esteban and Archipiélago de Los Roques, which is explained by the specificity and strong association between these small fish and the coral reef.

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