Introduction
The primary purpose of this book is to provide a means to
identify the more than 2 200 species of fishes that are known
or likely to occur in the seas off southern Africa. This region
is bounded by the latitudes of 20° and 40 0 S and the longitudes of 10° and 400E. On our west coast, the 20 0 S latitude is
about midway between Walvis Bay and the Cunene River,
which is the northern boundary of Namibia (South-West
Africa); the 20
0
S latitude intersects the east coast just south
of Beira, Mozambique. The marine fish fauna of southern
Africa is still not thoroughly known, and new species or new
records for our area are being discovered every year. We
have included, therefore, many "extralimital" species that
are known from just outside our boundaries and are considered likely to be found in our area.
Another goal of this book is to present a guide to the
literature of the marine fishes of southern Africa. We thus
include for each species the original species description
reference, synonyms described from our area, and other
important taxonomic or biological references. For many
commercially important species or fishes of interest to anglers,
we have added information on life history, size and capture.
Fishes are the most abundant, diverse and poorly known
group of vertebrate animals. In the second (1984) edition of
his excellent book Fishes o/the World, Joseph Nelson estimates that there are some 21 723 species of living (i.e. not
extinct) fishes. This represents about half of all the known
vertebrate species. Newly discovered fish species are much
more common than are new species in other vertebrate
groups, and the number ofliving fish species may eventually
approach 28000. Fishes have colonised every aquatic
habitat on earth, from lakes, rivers, caves and hot (44°C)
freshwater pools to polar seas (- 2 0C), tropical reefs and
the deepest ocean bottoms.
With some 2 200 species, the southern African fish fauna
comprises about 15 per cent of the total number of marine
fish species in the world. The richness of our fauna is mainly
due to the variety of habitats in our area: coral reefs, estuaries, sandy beaches, mud flats, rocky shores, kelp beds
and ocean depths exceeding 5 000 metres. Another important factor in the diversity of our fish fauna is that southern
Africa is the meeting place of three great oceans and is thus
the recipient of species from each of these three separate
faunas. The largest contribution, about half of our total
number of species, is from the vast tropical Indo-Pacific
fauna. A few species, some three to four per cent of our
total, are of Atlantic origin (e.g. Trigla lyra, Serranus cabrilla and Lithognathus mormyrus). Less than one per cent of
our species are members of a temperate southern ocean
fauna that occurs at South Africa, Australia, New Zealand
and South America (e.g. Thyrsites atun, Genypterus capensis, Cyttus traversi, Chelidonichthys kumu and Emmelichthys nitidus). The second largest component of our
fauna (some 29 per cent) comprises deep-sea species, many
of which are found worldwide in the oceans of the southern
hemisphere. About 13 per cent of our species are endemics,
(known only from southern Africa). This relatively high
level of endemism is primarily due to only five families:
Clinidae (38 endemics), Gobiidae (28 endemics), Sparidae
(25 endemics), Scyliorhinidae (11 endemics) and Batrachoididae (7 endemics). The remainder of our fauna
(some four per cent) comprises cosmopolitan shallow-water
(littoral and epipelagic) species (e.g. the elf, Pomatomus
saltatrix, and the dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus).
Another indication of the great diversity of our fish fauna
is revealed by the ratio of the number of families represented in our area, 270 (including the Anguillidae but not
the Cichlidae) to the total number of marine fish families,
325. This ratio of 83 per cent of the world's marine fish
families is much greater than the 60 per cent of the Philippines or the 68 per cent of Australia. Only Japan, with
about 86 per cent, has more marine fish families than we
have represented in our area.
1
The primary purpose of this book is to provide a means to
identify the more than 2 200 species of fishes that are known
or likely to occur in the seas off southern Africa. This region
is bounded by the latitudes of 20° and 40 0 S and the longitudes of 10° and 400E. On our west coast, the 20 0 S latitude is
about midway between Walvis Bay and the Cunene River,
which is the northern boundary of Namibia (South-West
Africa); the 20
0
S latitude intersects the east coast just south
of Beira, Mozambique. The marine fish fauna of southern
Africa is still not thoroughly known, and new species or new
records for our area are being discovered every year. We
have included, therefore, many "extralimital" species that
are known from just outside our boundaries and are considered likely to be found in our area.
Another goal of this book is to present a guide to the
literature of the marine fishes of southern Africa. We thus
include for each species the original species description
reference, synonyms described from our area, and other
important taxonomic or biological references. For many
commercially important species or fishes of interest to anglers,
we have added information on life history, size and capture.
Fishes are the most abundant, diverse and poorly known
group of vertebrate animals. In the second (1984) edition of
his excellent book Fishes o/the World, Joseph Nelson estimates that there are some 21 723 species of living (i.e. not
extinct) fishes. This represents about half of all the known
vertebrate species. Newly discovered fish species are much
more common than are new species in other vertebrate
groups, and the number ofliving fish species may eventually
approach 28000. Fishes have colonised every aquatic
habitat on earth, from lakes, rivers, caves and hot (44°C)
freshwater pools to polar seas (- 2 0C), tropical reefs and
the deepest ocean bottoms.
With some 2 200 species, the southern African fish fauna
comprises about 15 per cent of the total number of marine
fish species in the world. The richness of our fauna is mainly
due to the variety of habitats in our area: coral reefs, estuaries, sandy beaches, mud flats, rocky shores, kelp beds
and ocean depths exceeding 5 000 metres. Another important factor in the diversity of our fish fauna is that southern
Africa is the meeting place of three great oceans and is thus
the recipient of species from each of these three separate
faunas. The largest contribution, about half of our total
number of species, is from the vast tropical Indo-Pacific
fauna. A few species, some three to four per cent of our
total, are of Atlantic origin (e.g. Trigla lyra, Serranus cabrilla and Lithognathus mormyrus). Less than one per cent of
our species are members of a temperate southern ocean
fauna that occurs at South Africa, Australia, New Zealand
and South America (e.g. Thyrsites atun, Genypterus capensis, Cyttus traversi, Chelidonichthys kumu and Emmelichthys nitidus). The second largest component of our
fauna (some 29 per cent) comprises deep-sea species, many
of which are found worldwide in the oceans of the southern
hemisphere. About 13 per cent of our species are endemics,
(known only from southern Africa). This relatively high
level of endemism is primarily due to only five families:
Clinidae (38 endemics), Gobiidae (28 endemics), Sparidae
(25 endemics), Scyliorhinidae (11 endemics) and Batrachoididae (7 endemics). The remainder of our fauna
(some four per cent) comprises cosmopolitan shallow-water
(littoral and epipelagic) species (e.g. the elf, Pomatomus
saltatrix, and the dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus).
Another indication of the great diversity of our fish fauna
is revealed by the ratio of the number of families represented in our area, 270 (including the Anguillidae but not
the Cichlidae) to the total number of marine fish families,
325. This ratio of 83 per cent of the world's marine fish
families is much greater than the 60 per cent of the Philippines or the 68 per cent of Australia. Only Japan, with
about 86 per cent, has more marine fish families than we
have represented in our area.
1