The Community Structure of Coral Reef Fishes

Abstract

Observations of the community of chaetodontid fish at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef [Australia] indicated that it is structured in ways similar to terrestrial vertebrate communities. The data do not support the need for alternative hypotheses centered on larval habitat preferences and stochastic recruitment. Broad geographic patterns of chaetodontids in the Pacific Ocean are similar to those seen in terrestrial vertebrates.