Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records

Abstract

A checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province is presented, with special emphasis on Kavieng District, combining both previous and new records. After the recent KAVIENG 2014 expedition, a total of 1325 species in 153 families were recorded from the region. The largest families are the Gobiidae, Pomacentridae, Labridae, Serranidae, Apogonidae, Lutjanidae, Chaetodontidae, Blenniidae, Carangidae, Acanthuridae, Scaridae, Holocentridae, Syn-gnathidae, Lethrinidae and Scorpaenidae. A total of 810 fish species (61.1 % of the total marine and estuarine fish fauna) are recorded from New Ireland for the first time.The fish fauna of New Ireland includes 142 species in transitional waters and 1264 species in marine habitats, and 54 species species in freshwater habitats. Zoogeographically, 1179 species have a wide distribution range, most frequently a broad Indo-West Pacific distribution. Among the remaining species, just 12 are endemic to New Ireland.