Abstract:
The ecosystem of coral reefs is a fundamental process for marine resources
playing an important role in supporting the lives of various aquatic organisms,
with coral reef fish being one of the main dependent sea animals. The current
study was purposely undertaken to assess coral reef fish biodiversity and its
association with coral coverage on Halang Melingkau Island, Kotabaru, South
Kalimantan, Indonesia. This research was conducted in April 2019 on Halang
Melingkau Island, Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The research was
carried out at 6 stations with 18 observation points that were considered to be
representative of the conditions of coral reefs and coral reef fish in the waters of
the island. The field observation method was applied by laying down 50-meter
line transects (line intercept transects) and using visual census (underwater
visual census) to obtain data concerning fish and coral populations. The
findings indicated that the average coral reef coverage in Halang Melingkau
Island was moderate ( 33.77%) , and it was remarkable that station 6 had the
best coral reef coverage ( 53.71%) . Additionally, station 6 possessed the
highest fish population as well as the highest number of fish species. Findings
of the present study predict that correlation analysis indicated a strong positive
correlation between coral coverage and the abundance of coral reef fish. In this
essence, when the coral coverage increases, the coral reef fish abundance
would also increase. Simultaneously, a decrease in the coral reef coverage in a
specific location could result in the decrease in the abundance of coral reef fish
