Andrew L. Rhyne

Revealing the Appetite of the Marine Aquarium Fish Trade: The Volume and Biodiversity of Fish Imported into the United States

The aquarium trade and other wildlife consumers are at a crossroads forced by threats from global climate change and other anthropogenic stressors that have weakened coastal ecosystems. While the wildlife trade may put additional stress on coral reefs, it brings income into impoverished parts of the world and may stimulate interest in marine conservation. To better understand the influence of the trade, we must first be able to quantify coral reef fauna moving through it. Herein, we discuss the lack of a data system for monitoring the wildlife aquarium trade and analyze problems that arise when trying to monitor the trade using a system not specifically designed for this purpose. To do this, we examined an entire year of import records of marine tropical fish entering the United States in detail, and discuss the relationship between trade volume, biodiversity and introduction of non-native marine fishes. Our analyses showed that biodiversity levels are higher than previous estimates. Additionally, more than half of government importation forms have numerical or other reporting discrepancies resulting in the overestimation of trade volumes by 27%. While some commonly imported species have been introduced into the coastal waters of the USA (as expected), we also found that some uncommon species in the trade have also been introduced. This is the first study of aquarium trade imports to compare commercial invoices to government forms and provides a means to, routinely and in real time, examine the biodiversity of the trade in coral reef wildlife species.

MARINE ORNAMENTAL DECAPODS—Popular, Pricey, And Poorly Studied

Abstract The growing demand for highly priced marine ornamental species has contributed to the endangered status of coral reefs. A list of 128 of the most heavily traded marine ornamental decapod crustacean species is tabulated. The development of commercial culture techniques, the knowledge of the larval development, and the association with vertebrate and invertebrate organisms are presented for these species. Forty-nine of the species are caridean shrimp, with the Hippolytidae family alone accounting for 15. Anomuran and brachyuran crabs are the next most traded groups (32 and 27 species, respectively), with the pricey stenopodidean shrimp, Astacidea, and Palinura lobsters being represented by a considerably lower number of species (7, 7 and 6, respectively). The main bottlenecks impairing the commercial culture of ornamental shrimp and lobsters are their long larval development and poor survival rates. The main constraint for the development of culture techniques for hermit and brachyuran crabs is their low commercial value. The ecological impacts of harvesting ornamental species are still poorly studied. Nevertheless, the collection in considerable numbers of hermit and small majid crabs (e.g., Clibanarius and Mithraculus) from tidal areas, fish cleaning shrimp (e.g., Lysmata and Stenopus), and the crown-of-thorns sea star eaters Hymenocera, is likely to have serious impacts on the ecosystem. The cooperation between researchers working on larval biology, population dynamics, ecology, aquaculture, and fisheries is essential to properly manage the collection of marine ornamental decapods.

A rearing system for the culture of ornamental decapod crustacean larvae

Abstract The design and operation of a small research scale and a mass commercial scale rearing system for the culture of marine ornamental decapod crustacean larvae are described in the present paper. Preliminary data on the culture of the Mediterranean cleaner shrimp ( Lysmata seticaudata ), peppermint shrimp ( Lysmata wurdemanni ), blue-white partner shrimp ( Periclimenes sagittifer ), sponge crab ( Cryptodromiopsis antillensis ) and green emerald crab ( Mithraculus sculptus ) are also presented. The use of these “plantonkreisel” based systems allowed the complete larval development of the above-mentioned species, inducing minimal mechanical stress while keeping an excellent water quality. Higher survival rates (up to 70% and 60% for L. seticaudata and L. wurdemanni , respectively) to the post-larval stage and a shorter larval stage duration (27 and 22 days for L. seticaudata and L. wurdemanni , respectively) were achieved, in comparison to conventional rearing systems. This culture technology may play a key role in the realisation of a commercial culture of these highly priced crustacean species and therefore the reduction of wild specimen collection.

Crawling to Collapse: Ecologically Unsound Ornamental Invertebrate Fisheries

Background Fishery management has historically been an inexact and reactionary discipline, often taking action only after a critical stock suffers overfishing or collapse. The invertebrate ornamental fishery in the State of Florida, with increasing catches over a more diverse array of species, is poised for collapse. Current management is static and the lack of an adaptive strategy will not allow for adequate responses associated with managing this multi-species fishery. The last decade has seen aquarium hobbyists shift their display preference from fish-only tanks to miniature reef ecosystems that include many invertebrate species, creating increased demand without proper oversight. The once small ornamental fishery has become an invertebrate-dominated major industry supplying five continents. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we analyzed the Florida Marine Life Fishery (FLML) landing data from 1994 to 2007 for all invertebrate species. The data were organized to reflect both ecosystem purpose (in the wild) and ecosystem services (commodities) for each reported species to address the following question: Are ornamental invertebrates being exploited for their fundamental ecosystem services and economic value at the expense of reef resilience? We found that 9 million individuals were collected in 2007, 6 million of which were grazers. Conclusions/Significance The number of grazers now exceeds, by two-fold, the number of specimens collected for curio and ornamental purposes altogether, representing a major categorical shift. In general, landings have increased 10-fold since 1994, though the number of licenses has been dramatically reduced. Thus, despite current management strategies, the FLML Fishery appears to be crawling to collapse.

Opportunities for Public Aquariums to Increase the Sustainability of the Aquatic Animal Trade

The global aquatic pet trade encompasses a wide diversity of freshwater and marine organisms. While relying on a continual supply of healthy, vibrant aquatic animals, few sustainability initiatives exist within this sector. Public aquariums overlap this industry by acquiring many of the same species through the same sources. End users are also similar, as many aquarium visitors are home aquarists. Here we posit that this overlap with the pet trade gives aquariums significant opportunity to increase the sustainability of the trade in aquarium fishes and invertebrates. Improving the sustainability ethos and practices of the aquatic pet trade can carry a conservation benefit in terms of less waste, and protection of intact functioning ecosystems, at the same time as maintaining its economic and educational benefits and impacts. The relationship would also move forward the goal of public aquariums to advance aquatic conservation in a broad sense. For example, many public aquariums in North America have been instrumental in working with the seafood industry to enact positive change toward increased sustainability. The actions include being good consumers themselves, providing technical knowledge, and providing educational and outreach opportunities. These same opportunities exist for public aquariums to partner with the ornamental fish trade, which will serve to improve business, create new, more ethical and more dependable sources of aquatic animals for public aquariums, and perhaps most important, possibly transform the home aquarium industry from a threat, into a positive force for aquatic conservation.

Lysmata rafa , a new species of peppermint shrimp (Crustacea, Caridea, Hippolytidae) from the subtropical western Atlantic

Lysmatarafa n. sp. is described from freshly collected specimens from the Keys West Lakes, Florida Keys, and from a museum specimen collected at Bear Cut, Biscayne Bay, Florida. The new species is morphologically most similar to the western Atlantic Lysmatarathbunae Chace, 1970 and the eastern Pacific Lysmatagracilirostris Wicksten, 2000, but can be distinguished from them by the number of carpal segments in the second pereiopod; the length and dentition of the rostrum; the shape and number of spines on the dactylus of the third to fifth pereiopods; and the absence of a tooth on the pterygostomial margin of the carapace. Despite being a shallow-water species, L. rafa n. sp. has extremely elongate walking legs and third maxilliped that are more typical to deep-water or cave dwelling carideans.

Expanding our understanding of the trade in marine aquarium animals

The trade of live marine animals for home and public aquaria has grown into a major global industry. Millions of marine fishes and invertebrates are removed from coral reefs and associated habitats each year. The majority are imported into the United States, with the remainder sent to Europe, Japan, and a handful of other countries. Despite the recent growth and diversification of the aquarium trade, to date, data collection is not mandatory, and hence comprehensive information on species volume and diversity is lacking. This lack of information makes it impossible to study trade pathways. Without species-specific volume and diversity data, it is unclear how importing and exporting governments can oversee this industry effectively or how sustainability should be encouraged. To expand our knowledge and understanding of the trade, and to effectively communicate this new understanding, we introduce the publically-available Marine Aquarium Biodiversity and Trade Flow online database (https://www.aquariumtradedata.org/). This tool was created to communicate the volume and diversity of marine fishes and/or invertebrates imported into the US over three complete years (2008, 2009, and 2011) and three partial years (2000, 2004, 2005). To create this tool, invoices pertaining to shipments of live marine fishes and invertebrates were scanned and analyzed for species name, species quantities, country of origin, port of entry, and city of import destination. Here we focus on the analysis of the later three years of data and also produce an estimate for the entirety of 2000, 2004, and 2005. The three-year aggregate totals (2008, 2009, 2011) indicate that just under 2,300 fish and 725 invertebrate species were imported into the US cumulatively, although just under 1,800 fish and 550 invertebrate species were traded annually. Overall, the total number of live marine animals decreased between 2008 and 2011. In 2008, 2009, and 2011, the total number of individual fish (8.2, 7.3, and 6.9 million individuals) and invertebrates (4.2, 3.7, and 3.6 million individuals) assessed by analyzing the invoice data are roughly 60% of the total volumes recorded through the Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS) dataset. Using these complete years, we back-calculated the number of individuals of both fishes and invertebrates imported in 2000, 2004, and 2005. These estimates (9.3, 10.8, and 11.2 million individual fish per year) were consistent with the three years of complete data. We also use these data to understand the global trade in two species (Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni, and orange clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris / percula) recently considered for Endangered Species Act listing. Aquariumtradedata.org can help create more effective management plans for the traded species, and ideally could be implemented at key trade ports to better assess the global trade of aquatic wildlife.

Density-dependent effect on reproductive behaviour of Lysmata amboinensis and L. boggessi (Decapoda: Caridea: Hippolytidae)

We compared the reproductive behaviours of two protandric simultaneous hermaphroditic species ( Lysmata amboinensis and L. boggessi ) that belong to two groups of Lysmata shrimp with different morphology, geographical distribution, and density. Lysmata amboinensis occurs in tropical waters at low population densities, and L. boggessi is found in aggregation in sub-tropical and temperate areas. Reproductive behaviour of L. boggessi under two densities and L. amboinensis in different habitats were compared. Results show that L. amboinensis was much less active during mating than L. boggessi . Male shrimp of L. amboinensis did not display obvious pre-copulation behaviour. They also took significantly longer to transfer spermatophores and lay eggs after mating than L. boggessi shrimp did. For L. boggessi , moulting time of female shrimp, copulation time and the interval between moulting and mating were significantly shorter when three male shrimp were present than when only one male shrimp was present. Our study suggests that the reproductive behavioural differences in the two shrimp species are possibly the results of density-dependent effect.

Performance of Larval Florida Pompano Fed Nauplii of the Calanoid Copepod Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus

Abstract The Florida pompano Trachinotus carolinus is a highly prized marine fish species, the larviculture of which currently includes the feeding of live rotifers and nauplii of brine shrimp Artemia spp. However, no previous studies have evaluated the feeding of copepod nauplii. In this study, the growth and survival of Florida pompano larvae fed nauplii of the calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus pelagicus were compared with those of larvae fed the standard reference diet of enriched rotifers Brachionus plicatilis. Experiments were conducted during the first 7–9 d posthatch (DPH), a period preceding the provision of Artemia nauplii. Treatments included feeding only copepod nauplii during the first day, the first three days, and on all days, as well as copepod nauplii mixed with rotifers during the entire experiment. In addition, the dietary effects on larval fatty acid composition were examined. Feeding copepod nauplii at a density of 2.0–3.5 nauplii/mL during the first day or the first three days of feedi...

Larval development and first crab of Mithraculus sculptus (Decapoda: Brachyura: Majoidea: Mithracidae) described from laboratory-reared material

The present work describes the complete larval development of Mithraculus sculptus (two zoeal stages, the megalopa) and the ¢rst crab instar from laboratory cultured material. The larval morphology is compared with other descriptions currently available for the Mithrax ^ Mithraculus complex: Mithraculus coryphe, M. forceps, Mithrax hispidus, M. pleuracanthus, M. spinosissimus and M. verrucosus. Although the diierent species of the Mithrax ^ Mithraculus complex display uniform morphological characters, the ¢rst zoeal stage of M. sculptus diiers from other species in the setal meristics of the carapace and the number of aesthetascs of the antennule. The second zoeal stage diiers in the number of aesthetascs of the antennule and the number of setae in the distal margin of the coxal endite of the maxillule. The megalopa of M. sculptus can be distinguished by the presence of 3^4 aesthetascs and a simple seta in the distal segment of the antennule. The morphological diierences between the larvae from the genus Mithrax and Mithraculus are insu⁄cient to support the separation of the two genera using adult morphology. Future studies should address in detail setal meristics.