The distribution of shallow marine fishes of the Kimberley, Western Australia, based on a long-term dataset and multiple methods

Abstract

The Kimberley and offshore marine waters of Western Australia are some of the least impacted environments in the world. The region is facing increasing pressure from anthropogenic stressors and there is a need to understand the baseline faunal communities. Fish surveys were conducted between 2009 and 2014, using a variety of methods, including UVC and extractive techniques. The results of these contemporary surveys were added to all known shallow water fish records from more than 100 years of historical museum databases. We present the first comprehensive species by site table, based on nearly 15,000 species records to summarise species presence at more than 134 unique locations across the Kimberley marine region and highlight new distributional records. This reference dataset of 1,529 species should inform managers and assist the development of representative marine protected areas.