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2 Comments
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December 17, 2014
Whilst the Banggai may be endangered in its natural habitat, what about the invasive fish elsewhere? (http://reefbuilders.com/2011/03/01/invasive-banggai-cardinalfish) . Instead of relying on a expensive breeding project, why can they not be caught elsewhere and relocated back to their natural environment?
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December 19, 2014
Hi, Mark. Thanks for the question. The question of the introduced populations in locations outside the species’ native range is a good one. While there are many anecdotal reports of “swarms” of Banggai cardinalfish in Lembeh Straits, it’s important to keep in mind these reports are anecdotal. While the Lembeh Straits population has rapidly swollen to invasive proportions, researchers have pointed out that even if Banggai cardinalfish occupy all available habitat in the area (something that should be avoided because of the negative ecological effect), the entire Lembeh population would still represent a small fraction of the overall population. It is also a population that, like much of the population in the Banggai Islands, is at high risk to anthropogenic habitat destruction. In the other sites where there are introduced populations around Indonesia (e.g., Secret Bay and Pemuteran in Bali), many of those populations are not healthy populations expanding at anything close to the Lembeh Straits population. I’m not sure to what you are referring when you say “an expensive breeding project,” but I can say that, based on the extreme philopatry of the species and the genetic uniqueness of distinct populations, reintroductions for conservation purposes is a very complex proposition that should not be undertaken without intensive study.