Applied and Human Ecology

**141**

**Chapter 7**

**Abstract**

fishing importance.

**1. Introduction**

habitats [1].

Fish and Fisheries of the Eastern

Coast of Mexico, with Emphasis

The state on knowledge of fish communities associated with coral reefs of the southern Gulf of Mexico (Veracruz, Campeche bank), and eastern Yucatan on the Caribbean is reviewed, in addition to a description of the main fisheries of the area. The review includes coral reef fish of Veracruz, the Campeche Bank, and reefs running along the Caribbean coast up to the border with Belize. Data recorded suggest that the heterogeneity of different levels (region, reef and reef zone) may be responsible for a larger number of niches available, promoting higher specific diversity that is more evident in the Caribbean reefs. The environmental conditions create patterns of differential abundance among the three zones. The main regional fisheries include more than 60 species and the current yield suggests a 30% reduction compared to catch volumes recorded a few years ago. The changes in coral coverage and the fishing pressure over coral reefs have exerted effects on species of

**Keywords:** coral reefs, fish community, southern Gulf of Mexico, Mexican Caribbean

The fish fauna of the south Gulf of Mexico, the Campeche Bank and the Caribbean coast of Yucatan Peninsula comprise the northernmost extreme of the tropical sea, included in the region known as the Caribbean province in the tropical belt of Eastern America. This region has a high species diversity combing a marine shelf covered by terrigenous sediments and coral reefs, allowing the possibility to maintain a diverse fish community, supporting the statement that between 66 and 89% of marine fish species are dwellers of coral reefs and reef-associated

Ichthyofaunal research in the reefs of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean is just over 50 years old. The first formal documents allude to the components of Alacranes reef, Yucatan [2], Blanquilla reef, Veracruz [3] and Cozumel, Quintana Roo [4]. However, the knowledge of the ichthyological components of both the southern Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean is incomplete, because sampling efforts have been isolated and dispersed over time [5]. Among the works that synthesize the regional ichthyofauna stand out Díaz-Ruiz et al., Schmitter-Soto, and Schmitter-Soto et al. [5–7] for the Mexican Caribbean, as well

as Chávez and Beaver [8] for reef systems of the southern Gulf of Mexico.

*Carlos González-Gándara and Ernesto A. Chávez*

on Coral Reef Species
