Site fidelity and homing behaviour in coral reef cardinalfishes

Tagged adult cardinalfishes Apogon doerlerlini, Cheilodipterus artus and Cheilodipterus quinquilineatus persisted to within an average of 36-79 cm of their initial resting positions within One Tree Reef lagoon for over 8 months in A. doederlini and over 16 months in C. artus and C. quinquilineatus. In addition, 56-81% of tagged fish displaced c. 1 km, and 33-63% of tagged fish displaced c. 2 km returned to their point of collection within 3 days. As cardinalfishes are often found densely aggregated at resting sites, their extended use of specific sites on reefs may represent a localized, predictable resource for predators and a significant source of spatial variation in nutrient input to reef systems via faeces. (C) 2000 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.