Species composition of fish in the coastal zones of the Tsengwen estuary, with descriptions of five new records from Taiwan

Fishes in the estuary of the Tsengwen River and nearby coastal zone were co llected using different gear between October 1994 and July 1997. A checklis t of all fish species is given in the present paper together with their lif ecycle category, life habits, and world zoogeographical distribution. Total ly 80 families and 244 species of inshore fishes were recorded from 5 estua rine zones along the coast near the Tsengwen River mouth. Among these famil ies, Gobiidae had the most species (34 species, 13.9%); Carangidae the 2nd (15 species, 6.1%); and then Apogonidae and Clupeidae (11 species, 4.5%). N early half of these species, including 10 families and 111 species, were no t previously recorded from the entire western coast of Taiwan, and include 5 new records for Taiwan. They are Ambassis miops, A. interruptus, and A. c ommersoni of the Ambassidae; Epinephelus lanceolatus of the Serranidae; and Zenarchopterus dunkeri of the Hemiramphidae. Diagnostic characters and spe cimen photographs of these 5 species are provided. The fishes collected thr oughout the estuarine areas comprised 208 marine species, of which 124 were marine stragglers and 84 were marine estuarine-opportunists, together with 29 estuarine species, 6 freshwater species, and 1 catadromous species. Com parison of the faunistic similarities and the dendrogram among the 5 estuar ine zones near Tsengwen, the estuarine zones of Tainan (Yenshui and Erhjen) , of the Kaoping River in southern Taiwan, and the Tanshui River in norther n Taiwan indicate that the species composition of the 5 Tsengwen estuarine zones are in 1 cluster, and they group with the southern estuaries of both Tainan and Kaoshiung rather than with the northern fish fauna at Tanshui. T his result is consistent with previous studies on coral reef and mangrove f ishes whose results indicate that community structures between northern and southern Taiwan are quite different.