Coral reef carnivorous fish biomass relates to oceanographic features depending on habitat and prey preference.

Carnivorous fish are a key part of the Indonesian human population sustenance, and it is important to design marine protected areas that include environmental features that allow these species to thrive. Many studies report the role of coral cover and habitat complexity in determining fish distribution on coral reefs but broader environmental factors such as current velocity and productivity are less studied. Southern Indonesia is characterised by upwellings and strong currents, stemming from the tidal cycle and the Indonesian Throughflow. In this study we investigate how current velocity, chlorophyll-a (chl-a), sea surface height and temperature relate to the biomass of carnivorous fish, considering the influence of habitat complexity and coral cover. Data were collected by surveying seven sites around Nusa Penida MPA for a total of 97 h of observation. Serranids and Lutjanids showed higher dependency on coral cover than fish from family Lethrinidae, Carangidae and Scombridae for which current, sea surface height, chl-a, and temperature were more influential predictors. Considering the similar trophic ecology of these species, the different relationship with oceanographic factors is likely related to different body shapes, living, and feeding habits between fish families. Changes in sea surface temperature and current velocity induced by vertical mixing are affecting coral reef fisheries-targeted species distribution in Nusa Penida and investigating these relationships on a broader scale will better inform marine spatial planning decisions.

New encrusting species of Lanceoporidae (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) from the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Three new species of lanceoporids from the southern Great Barrier Reef are described. Calyptotheca trimandibulata n. sp. is recorded from inter-reefal sites, Stephanotheca bahloo n. sp. is recorded from a coral reef site, and Stephanotheca kutyeri n. sp. is recorded from inter-reefal sites and also Bass Strait and the Great Australian Bight, and is therefore unusual amongst Australian lanceoporids in occurring in both tropical and temperate locations. The known variation in morphological characters is widened for both genera: C. trimandibulata n. sp. is the only known Calyptotheca species typically having three adventitious avicularia per zooid, S. bahloo n. sp. has the most pronounced orifice dimorphism and the most transversely oval primary orifice for the genus, and S. kutyeri n. sp. is distinguished by long, narrow, slit-like pseudopores in the frontal shield. All three species have occasional dimorphic autozooids, distinguished by larger orifices resembling those of the respective ovicellate zooids, and this is documented for the first time for both genera.

Three new species of Calyptotheca (Bryozoa: Lanceoporidae) from the Great Barrier Reef, tropical Australia.

The cheilostome bryozoans Calyptotheca wulguru n. sp. and Calyptotheca tilbrooki n. sp. (Lanceoporidae) are described from inter-reefal, sediment-dominated habitats of the Great Barrier Reef, and Calyptotheca churro n. sp. was washed up on a Heron Island beach, with uncertain origin. Calyptotheca wulguru n. sp. and C. churro n. sp. belong to a subgroup of Calyptotheca species with numerous small, oval, marginal adventitious avicularia and suboral nodular thickening or umbones. The vicarious avicularia of C. tilbrooki n. sp. are elongate-oval, unlike those of other known Calyptotheca species, and C. tilbrooki n. sp. has more pronounced orificial dimorphism than in any other known Calyptotheca species. Calyptotheca churro n. sp. has the most pronounced suboral umbo of all known Calyptotheca species. This study increases the known Calyptotheca species of the Great Barrier Reef to ten, and of tropical Australia to 14.