Distribución geográfica y depredación de <i>Porites lobata</i> (Antbozoa: Scleractinia) en la costa occidental de México

Abstract

The hermatypic coral Porites lobata Dana, 1846 is one of the most important species in Central American reef cornmunities , recorded in México only in 1992, at the RevillagigedoArchipeIago. This Paper describes the geographic distribution and predation piessure on P. 'lobata in the west coast of México, based on field observations andI iterature data. The species is distributed in México on a coastal section of about 200 km, from Nayarit (20" N) to ' Colima (19" N), and in the Revillagigedo Islands (18° N); P. lobata does nol occur in the Gulf of California (23" to 30" N), ot at coral cornmunities placed from 17" N toI SO N.' Its disjunct distribution can be explained considering the Revillagigedos as larval emiter to the mainland, using the Northequatorial Countercurrent as dispersal mechanism. Comparing coral communities where P. lobata is found, it was more abundanf in the Revillagigedos than at the mainland. However, predator damage seems to be greater in Nayarit-Jalisco-Colima than in the oceahic islands, possibly because corallivore fishes were less abundant in the laner. Population density of coral bioeroders (sponges, polYchaetes, sipinculans and bivalves) in P. lobata was similar and sometimes higher at the Révillagigedos than in coastal sites, suggesting the possibility of a prilllllfY productivity differential among those locations.