Epinephelus polylepis | UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes
Taxa
Epinephelus polylepis | Randall & Heemstra, 1991
Publication
Asessment status in full
Data deficient
Assessment status abreviation
DD
Assessment rationale/justification
This reef-associated species occurs throughout UAE waters. In the UAE, it is infrequently observed in markets, and is not recorded in fisheries statistics. It is heavily exploited in much of its range, and fishing pressure has been increasing and is expected to continue increasing. The relatively poor understanding of its' population status is in part due to it being historically misidentified as Epinephelus chlorostigma until its formal description in 1991 (only about 25 years ago). There are anecdotal reports of declining catch per unit effort in Oman, but landings quantified in the Arabian Gulf over the past 15 years have not declined, possibly due to increases in effort. The status of population(s) outside the UAE are not well-understood, though it is also taken by fisheries elsewhere. Based on the uncertainty regarding the population trend of this exploited species, it is listed as Data Deficient in UAE waters. Improvements in fisheries monitoring are needed.
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Threats listed in assessment
Overfishing is a potential major threat to this species, although declines have not yet been quantified and only anecdotal reports of declining catch per unit effort are known. Given that fishing effort has been increasing in the fisheries that take this species throughout its range, there is concern that declines are either occurring or will occur. Corals in the UAE and Arabian Gulf have severely declined due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures, which is a consequence of climate change, as well as pervasive coastal development (Riegl et al. 2018, Burt et al. 2019).
Conservation Measures
Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:
Scientific Name | Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Epinephelus polylepis | Animalia | Chordata | Actinopterygii | Perciformes | Epinephelidae | Epinephelus |