Determination of Fish Diversity in the Northern Coasts of Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean) by Visual Census Method

Abstract

The present study aims to determine fish assemblages spreading between 0 and 40 m depth on the northern coasts of Cyprus. During the study, Underwater Observations (UO) have been conducted in 54 locations and photographed the fish species. The hourly imaging figures of the recorded species were determined by using the Time-Transect Method (TTM). Also, dominance Analysis (DA) and Incidence Frequency Analysis (IFA) of the identified species were performed. As a result, 72 different fish species belonging to 26 families were found to occur in the studied area. After the evaluation of identified species, 56 of them were determined as native species of the Mediterranean and 14 of them as Indo-Pacific origin. Additionally, we provide two new records (Dasyatis chrysonota and Gobius fallax) from Cyprus.

Keywords

• Cyprus
• Dominance analysis
• Incidence frequency analysis
• Fish diversity
• Time-transect method
• Underwater observations

References

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