A checklist of freshwater and brackish water fishes of the Fiji islands

Abstract

208A checklist of freshwater and brackish water fishes of the Fiji Islands David Boseto* & Aaron P. Jenkins** * University of the South Pacific, Institute of Applied Sciences, Suva Fiji ** Wetlands International – Oceania, Fiji Office, c/o Marine Studies Program, University of the South Pacific, Laucala Campus, Suva, Fiji Over the past seven years (2000 –2006) there has been an increasing interest in the biodiversity of freshwater and brackishwater fishes in the Fijian archipelago. In 2000 and again in 2001, Wetlands International –Oceania, in association with the University of the South Pacific, ran a series of short courses on the diversity and taxonomy of fresh and brackish water fishes in Fiji for wetland managers. Since this time these two organizations have taken a lead role in surveying and documenting freshwater fishes from the archipelago (Jenkins, 2001; Jenkins & Boseto, 2003; Waqairatu, 2003; Jenkins, 2004; Jenkins & Boseto, 2005; Jenkins, 2005; Boseto, 2006; Jenkins, Bos