Variaciones en la abundancia de peces en sitios con diferente grado de contaminación del sublitoral de Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

Abstract

The impact of human activity affects fish populations. We studied the abundance of three selected fish species (Stegastes partitus, Thalassoma bifasciatum and Halichoeres bivittatus) in four sites with different degrees of pollution in Havana City: 30th street and 16th street; Miramar; Red Boy of Havana Bay; and the ending of Almendares ́s River. The sites were divided into five zones depending on their bottom characteristics. The counts were made with the visual census technique with a 5m2 quadrat, from June-July 2003 to January 2004. Each time we made nine counts per zone. S. partitus and T. bifasciatum were more abundant in clean water areas, while Halichoeres bivittatus seems to resist the levels of pollution present in the area.