| Conservation |
The unfavorable current direction for recruitment from extralimital areas, the sea temperature variation and lack of coral reefs and lagoons apparently are the main reasons for the relatively impoverished fish fauna. The isolation of the Marquesas has led to the relatively high percentage of endemic species of shore fishes (11.6, the third highest level of endemism for subtropical and tropical islands of the central and western Pacific; after the Hawaiian Islands and Easter Island) (Ref. 39287). |