Checklist of the coastal fishes of Lord Howe, Norfolk and Kermadec islands

The
subtropical islands of the north Tasman Sea have a fascinating mix of
tropical, subtropical and temperate marine fishes. Species diversity and the
proportion of tropical species in the fauna decline from west to east (Lord
Howe > Norfolk > Kermadec Islands) (Francis 1993, Francis & Duffy
2015). This checklist has been compiled as a resource for those wishing to
understand and interact with the fish faunas of these islands, monitor
biodiversity and coastal fish biogeography, and to assess changes in the
faunas as a result of global climate change.

Coastal fishes are defined here as those species that occur
within 50 m of the surface and 1 km of the shore, excluding oceanic pelagic
species. Most species included in the checklist
are reef fishes, but species living on or in sand, and in open water near the
coast, are also included. Inclusion or exclusion of species is inevitably
sometimes arbitrary, especially where information on the normal depth ranges
of species is poor.

This
checklist is updated and revised from earlier checklists of fishes from Lord
Howe and Norfolk Islands (Francis 1993) and Kermadec Islands (Francis &
Duffy 2015). Some species reported in those earlier lists have been omitted,
mostly as a result of improved information on their depth ranges. Additions
to the previous checklists and changed or verified specific names are noted,
and the sources for these are documented. Generic and specific names follow
those in Eschmeyer's 'Catalog of Fishes' (Fricke et al. 2019) unless a recent
taxonomic revision has changed them. Species that range westward to mainland
Australia and south-eastward to mainland New Zealand are shown in adjacent
columns.