| Citation |
|
Description |
Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa, north to southern Japan, south to New Caledonia. Absent in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf.
Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: The Blue and Gold Fusilier, Caesio caerulaurea, is widespread in the tropical Indo-West Pacific from East Africa, including the Red Sea but not the Persian Gulf, to French Polynesia; north to southern Japan and south to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Countries occurrence:
Native:
American Samoa; Australia; Cambodia; Comoros; Cook Islands; Djibouti; Egypt; Eritrea; Fiji; French Polynesia; Guam; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Mauritius; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Mozambique; Nauru; New Caledonia; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Samoa; Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; Viet Nam; Wallis and Futuna; Yemen
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Native:
Indian Ocean – western; Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – western central
Additional data:
? Lower depth limit (metres): 40
? Upper depth limit (metres): 2
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
Population [top]
Population: In a study by Ohman et al. (1997) in the Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary, Sri Lanka this species was found to be common. 576 individuals were collected from 11 Porites dome sites.
Current Population Trend: Unknown
Additional data:
? Population severely fragmented: No
Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: The Blue and Gold Fusilier, Caesio caerulaurea, is found in coastal areas on coral reefs on the foreslope, outer reef channel, inter-reef soft substrate, and in lagoons. This species schools in large midwater aggregations, to feed on zooplankton. From what is known of the few species studied, reproduction is characterized by early sexual maturity, high fecundity, small pelagic eggs, spawning prolonged throughout most of the year, and mass spawning on a lunar cycle (FAO 1988).
Systems: Marine
Congregatory: Congregatory (and dispersive)
Use and Trade [top]
Use and Trade: This species is harvested as a food source and for bait in some areas of its range.
Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): The Blue and Gold Fusilier is moderately important in coastal fisheries, and is common in markets in Indonesia and the Philippines (FAO 1988). This species is caught by drive-in nets, gill nets, traps, trawls, and handlines. Juveniles are important as tuna baitfish in some areas (Randall 2005). This species is usually taken in multispecies catches of fusilier fish.
In Indonesia, blast-fishing is a common method used by fishers to harvest large numbers of schooling species such as siganids and caesionids (Fox and Erdmann 2000). In this study on blast fishing, a bomb was thrown into a school of caesionids and another at random over a reef slope. The first bomb targeted at the caesionids yielded 2,153 individuals, of which this species comprised 93% by weight. The second random bomb yielded 971 individuals of which only 43 were caesionids. Blast fishing is a significant threat when targeted at large schools of fish. Despite it being an illegal fishing method, it is still widespread through South East Asia (Fox and Erdmann 2000). However this species has a broad geographic range, is only fished in parts of its range, and is resilient to moderate levels of harvest therefore these threats are not considered to pose a significant threat to the global population at present.
Conservation Actions [top]
Conservation Actions: There are no known species-specific conservation measures in place for Caesio caerulaurea, however this species is known to occur in a number of marine protected areas.
Monitoring of the harvest levels and population numbers of this species is needed.
Citation: Fricke, R. 2010. Caesio caerulaurea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T155097A4703967. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T155097A4703967.en. Downloaded on 20 February 2019.
Disclaimer: To make use of this information, please check the .
Feedback: If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided
|
