AWARE-Fish Identification. Visit the same dive site again and again, year after year and the first thing you notice is that it changes. In remote areas, environmental preserves and other areas where we protect nature where we protect nature from the onslaught of human encroachment and pollution, these changes may appear neither good nor bad, but simply natural growth and adaptation of ecosystem. In other areas, you may see the damaging effects of over fishing, pollution and coastal development, and yet in others, you may see damaged ecosystem return to health and flourish under new protection and care.
As someone who scuba dives or snorkels, you undoubtedly see the changes in our underwater world. People care about what they love, so today snorkelers and scuba divers are among the strongest supporters of initiatives to benefit the aquatic environment. Scuba divers and snorkelers participate in underwater and beach cleanups, support establishing underwater parks and preserves, and back legislation and regulation to protect threatened species and habitats. Snorkelers and scuba divers have become the underwater worlds natural ambassadors because they see and care about it. Fish Identification Strategy.
One of project AWARE’s most visible and successful efforts has been tying with REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) to develop a system by which divers gather data about the diversity and abundance of fish. These data supply scientists with important information they need to determine the health of global and regional underwater ecosystems. We’ll look at these fish surveys in more detail shortly, so lets begin with what you need to know to identify fish on a dive.
Current estimates say that there are more than 21,000 fish species worldwide, with more than 4000 of these found on coral reefs. Obviously, even for an ichthyologist (biologist who studies fish) it’s a hopeless task to expect to learn every one of these, or even a substantial percentage.
Fortunately, you don’t have to. Whether you’re diving in the tropics or temperate waters, most of the fish you see belong to the same few families. This makes things more manageable. Fish watching emphasizes identifying common characteristics that let you place a fish in about 30 to 50 families instead of 21,000 species. This becomes easy with practice because in a given area, you learn to focus on the most common and representative species for these families. Through a basic understanding of key fish characteristics, plus some basic information about the local ecology, you’ll have the foundation you need to classify (to the family level) most fish you see in tropical or temperate water. Categorizing Fish.
During a dive, you want a simply way to categorize fish as you spot them. One technique is to divide a slate into boxes, one for each family group you would expect to see. You might also carry a fish identification slate that reminds you about family characteristics. When you see a fish that fits the characteristics, you note them in the appropriate family box. Later, you can confirm the family by looking up the fish in the reference book.
Another important point is to leave room on your slate to sketch or describe a fish that doesn’t fit into any category. That way, you can determine its family later. As you gain experience, you’ll recognize more and more local fish on sight and spend more time gathering population data then identifying.
Keep in mind that by its nature you must make fish watching passive interaction. You’ll see more fish and learn more about a fish by being still and by floating relaxed and neutrally buoyant than by chasing them, sculling your hands or kicking up the bottom. The more you seem like you’re a natural part of the environment, the less fish regard you as a threat. For more about passive and interactive interactions, see the Underwater Naturalist section.
Fish Groups And Characteristics.
When surveying fish in temperate or tropical waters, you can easily group most fish into one of 12 groups,
each of which represents several families.
These groups are:
Click on the group for more information:
1. Butterflyfish, angelfish and surgeonfish. 2. Jacks, barracuda, porgy and chubs.3. Snappers and grunts. 4. Damselfish, chromis and hamlets. 5. Groupers, seabass and basslets.6. Parrotfish and wrasse.7. Squirrelfish, bigeyes and cardinalfish. 8. Blennies, gobies and jawfish. 9. Flounders, scorpionfish, lizardfish and frogfish.10. Filefish, triggerfish, puffers, trunkfish, cowfish, goatfish, trumpetfish and drums. 11. Eels. 12. Sharks and rays. Lets look at each group and the characteristics of the families that make them up. You’ll see examples of each, and your instructor may have some pictures of local representative species, too. Fish Surveys.
As mentioned earlier, Project AWARE teamed up with REEF to get divers involved in gathering marine life data.
The REEF survey project is an ongoing cooperative effort between REEF and The Nature Conservancy,
which was established in 1951 to preserve plants, animals and natural communities. Through the survey project, volunteers gather species and abundance data, which REEF puts into its project database. In cooperation with biologists from the conservancy, the University of Miami and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), REEF developed the procedures for gathering, transferring and organizing data. The database provides fish population data to scientists, resource managers and conservation communities.
To participate in the REEF fish survey project, you need the basic fish identification skills you’re learning here and will practice in the fish identification adventure dive, and you need to be a member of REEF (www.reef.org). Alternatively, you may enjoy identifying and collecting fish information for personal satisfaction or for another scientific endeavor, in which case you record your data as needed for that purpose. Let’s look at the REEF methods as an example of effective data gathering and recording. The REEF fish survey project uses the “roving diver” technique to gather data. This means you don’t alter the way you dive, but simply swim along as usual, spotting and identifying fish as you go. You record the fish you identify on a slate.
You don’t need exact fish counts, though you do need to estimate relative abundance. You can note S for a single fish (1), F for few (2-10), M for many (11-100), or A for abundant (>100). You record sightings as soon as you enter the water, and continue throughout the dive, including exploring places like sand flats, grass beds, rubble fields and looking into cracks and crevices.
If you discover a “mystery” fish you can’t identify, note its distinguishing marks and sketch it on your slate. After the dive, you can consult with some more experienced fish watchers, or check a fish guide. Include the fish in your survey data only if you positively identify the species.
If you’re part of the REEF Fish Survey Project, after the dive transfer your recorded sightings to the project’s computer scansheet. You can record species and abundance data for a single dive, or species-only data from a series of dives. As you might expect, the species and abundance date are much more useful.
Record only those fish you identify positively, with special attention to thouse species marked with a black triangle on the scansheet. Next, record your position (latitude and longitude) as precisely as possible, using GPS (global positioning system) if available. Check that you’ve filled in all the requested information, and mail the completed sheets to REEF Fish Survey Project, PO Box 246, Key Largo FL 33037, USA. Sunrise Diving, Phuket, Thailand. PADI 5 Star National Geographic Instructor Development Center. 198/12 Rat-U-Thit Road, Patong, Phuket, Thailand. Phone: (+66) 076292052 Fax: (+66) 076293034
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