Coral reef fishes attracted by recreational feeding in thailand

This study aims to determine the species of bread feeder fishes in Thailand, and their relative abundance in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. There were 20 species of bread feeder fishes from 11 families recorded in this study (Pomacentridae, Siganidae, Labridae, Scaridae, Caesionidae, Carangidae, Hemiramphidae, Lutjanidae, Echeneidae, Nemipteridae and Terapontidae). Quantitative assessment revealed that Pomacentridae were the dominant bread feeder fishes, comprising 70–96% of the aggregations. The species that dominated the bread feeder fish assemblages in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea was the Indo-Pacific sergeant, Abudefduf vaigiensis, which comprised 56–73% of the aggregations. In addition, the results from this study indicated that most of the bread feeder fishes were omnivores. Therefore, the omnivores that exhibited high relative abundance, including A. vaigiensis, A. bengalensis and A. sexfasciatus, were appropriately targeted for further studies on the impacts of recreational feeding on bread feeder fishes.