A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE FISH FAUNA OF THE SISHA ISLANDS, CHINA

(1) In our present survey a total of 119 species of the fish fauna was found in the vicinity of Sisha Islands, belonging to 70 genera and 41 families, of which 5 species are new records for China, 28 new records for Sisha Islands. (2) The fish fauna of Sisha Islands belongs to the Indo-Malayan zoogeographical region, all of them are warm water elements. (3) Based on the zoogeographical distribution of 119 species of the fish of Sisha Islands, 90 are Indo-West-Pacific elements, 22 are West-Pacific elements and 7 are widely distributed over the three great Oceans. (4) The fish fauna of Sisha Islands, compared with the adjacent waters, is rather closely allied to that of Philippine and Indonesia than that of our Kwangtung coast. (5) The majority of fishes of Sisha Islands are of Coral forms, a part of them are of economic species, such as Lutiamus erythropterus, Cephalopholis sonnerati and Pristipomoides microlepis etc.