title: Annotated checklist of marine fishes from the Sanctuary of Bahía Chamela, Mexico with occurrence and biogeographic data.
abstract: An annotated checklist of marine fishes of the Sanctuary of Islands and Islets of Bahía Chamela in the central Mexican Pacific is presented. Records of fish species were obtained by different methods including visual census, sampling with anesthetics, fisherman-nets, and trawling with a biological dredge. Additional records were obtained from natural history collections and publications. The list comprises 196 species in 64 families and 141 genera. The Carangidae is the most speciose family with 11 species, followed by the Labridae with 10 and the Pomacentridae with nine. Fourteen species are endemic in Mexican Pacific waters, but none is restricted to Bahía Chamela. The most dominant species recorded during underwater surveys were Epinephelus labriformis, Stegastes flavilatus, and Halichoeres dispilus. Most species are of tropical affinities distributed throughout the tropical eastern Pacific (123), eastern Pacific (23), and Mexican Pacific (14). Other species are known from the eastern and Indo-Pacific regions (18), eastern Pacific and western Atlantic oceans (2), and some are circumtropical (9). A new record of the Gulf Brotula Ogilbia ventralis is provided for the Bahía Chamela and its geographical distribution is extended to Mexican central Pacific.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecosistemas Marinos y Acuicultura, Departamento de Ecología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara. Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. 45110.
authors.forename: Cristian Moisés
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Galván-Villa
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecosistemas Marinos y Acuicultura, Departamento de Ecología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara. Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. 45110.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ríos-Jara
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecosistemas Marinos y Acuicultura, Departamento de Ecología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara. Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. 45110.
authors.forename: Dafne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bastida-Izaguirre
authors.affiliation: Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California. San Diego, La Jolla, CA. 92093-0208.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hastings
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Necton y Ecología de Arrecifes, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C. La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. 23096.
authors.forename: Eduardo F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Balart
keywords: Ichthyofauna; Species richness; biogeographic affinity; eastern Pacific; systematic list