The marine fishes of St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean

In this paper, the findings are presented of the ichthyofaunal component of the Statia Marine Biodiversity Expedition, 2015. Roving visual surveys were used to rapidly assess presence/ absence of fish species at 37 sampling locations within the waters of St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean. A total of 206 fish species were observed. Using a species accrual curve, total species richness was estimated to be between 240 and 250. Prior to the expedition, 215 fish species were recorded on St. Eustatius, bringing the total richness to 307 listed species (43 % increase). Of these, 246 were recorded by visual observation and fisheries data. The ichthyofaunal richness of St. Eustatius exceeds the upper estimate of 250 gained from these surveys, highlighting the inadequacies of visual surveys alone. St. Eustatius has comparable levels of species richness to similar-sized islands in the Caribbean. There were significant differences among fish communities in different habitats and depth classes. Further sampling is recommended using a variety of methods in order to produce a more accurate species richness estimate.