Published in

American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, 6446(364), p. 1189-1192, 2019

DOI: 10.1126/science.aav3384

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Demographic dynamics of the smallest marine vertebrates fuel coral reef ecosystem functioning

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Little fish make a big contributionCoral reefs represent one of the most biodiverse and rich ecosystems. Such richness conjures up images of coral heads and large colorful reef fishes. Brandlet al.show, however, that one of the most striking and important parts of the reef ecosystem is almost never seen (see the Perspective by Riginos and Leis). Small cryptobenthic fish, like blennies, make up nearly 40% of reef fish biodiversity. Furthermore, the majority of cryptobenthic fish larvae settle locally, rather than being widely dispersed, and have rapid turnover rates. Such high diversity and densities could thus provide the biomass base for larger, better-known reef fish.Science, this issue p.1189; see also p.1128