Inter-reef movement of the common coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine the extent to which large reef fish, principally the common coral trout, Plectropomus leopardus, move among individual reefs. This was achieved through a large scale tagging study done on five reefs south of Innisfail, in the Cairns Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, from April 1992 to February 1994. The main aims of the study were to determine: i) what was the extent of movement among individual reefs; ii) what proportion of the population moved among reefs; iii) whether movement among reefs was related to the spawning season of P. leopardus.