Diversity of butterfly fishes and its relationship to coral cover at Pulau Bidong

Abstract

A study on diversity of butterfly fishes and its relationship to coral cover was conducted at Bidong Island. A total of 110 individuals of Chaetodontids were recorded and from these individuals, three species were identified. The species were Chaetodon octofasciatus ( I 00), Chelmon rostratum (9) and Coradion chrysozonus (1 ). C. octofasciatus was the dominant species observed in the transects, followed by C. rostratum and C. chrysozonus. From this finding, there were two groups of corallivores butterfly fishes recorded, which were obligate corallivore (C. octofasciatus) and facultative corallivores (C. rostratum and C. chrysozonus). It has been suggested that due to the close association between butterfly fishes and corals, these coral reef fishes could serve as indicator organisms. Even thought there were some hypothesis indicated that butterfly fishes and coral cover were related however, based on this study which was done at Bidong Island, there were no correlation between numbers of butterfly fishes and coral cover observed (P > 0.05). The presence of Chaetodontids correlated to the health and condition of reefs areas. However, the result obtained from this study showed that butterfly fishes were not suitable to serve as indicator for reef health at Bidong Island.