Spatial and Temporal Distribution Of Larvae of Coral Reef Fishes in the Red Sea

The tropical marine ecosystem is characterized by the presence of the coral reefs, which support a large variety of fish communities, and benthic fauna that are sources of eggs and larvae of fish and benthic fauna, and the open ocean, where mesopelagic fish dominate the fish community (Nonaka et al. 2000). The distribution of the pelagic stages of coral reef fishes has received moreattention than any other aspects of their biology and show that larvae of the coral reef fishes can be found from water over the reef to the open ocean many hundreds of kilometres from any reef (Victor, 1987). As such, the knowledge of the natural history and ecology of fish larvae is very important for the understanding of the biology of fishes (Leis & Rennis, 1983).

Fish larval distribution is influenced by spawning behaviour of the adult fish, hydrographic structure at avariety of scales and the interaction with the reef topography, duration of the larval period, behaviour of the larvae and larval mortality and growth and their variation in space and time (Leis, 1991a).