Stony corals, echinoderms and fish associated to coral communities and reefs from the Parque Nacional Huatulco, Southern Mexican Pacific

Abstract

As a result of literature review, collection visit and field work we compile the systematic list of stonycorals (10 species), echinoderms (32 species) and fish (150 species) that inhabit the Parque Nacional Huatulco (PNH).The number of reported species (191) represents an increase ~ 66.9% respect to previous studies. Respect to otherProtected Areas (PA) in Mexico, the PNH harbors larger species richness than PA located in the Central MexicanPacific, but below the richness recorded in PA located in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the PNHharbors a relatively large number of species, the taxonomic diversity of stony corals and fish is lower than expectedsince only protects taxonomically related species, therefore is taxonomically impoverished regarding the tropicaleastern Pacific fauna. The management of the PNH is strategic for the maintenance of the shallow marine communitiesfrom western Mexico, since it guarantees the entrance of species from Central America to the Mexican Pacific, butalso because the PNH is the only protected reservoir of species from the Panamic Province in the entire MexicanPacific.