Reef fish diversity at Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles, during the five years following the 1998 coral bleaching event

Abstract

Quantitative surveys of fish-species diversity were undertaken at 10 m and 20 m water depth on the outer reef at Aldabra Atoll, southern Seychelles, between November 1999 and May 2003. No significant changes in total fish-species diversity, numbers of families represented by these species, or numbers of pomacentrid or chaetodontid species were seen, contrary to fish-diversity changes seen on coral bleaching-impacted reefs elsewhere. The lack of additional anthropogenic pressures at remote Aldabara may make this system, and others like it, more tolerant of bleaching-related population changes.