Gerres longirostris | UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes

Taxa
Gerres longirostris | (Lacepède, 1801)
Location
Countries in Assessment
United Arab Emirates
Country ISO code(s)
ARE
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Off
Scope (Assessment)
National
Taxon
Taxonomic Group
Vertebrates
Taxonomic Group Level 2
Fishes
Assessed taxon level
Species
Taxonomic Notes
Gerres britannus, G. poieti, and G. acinaces, and four other species, are considered synonyms of G. longirostris (Iwatsuki et al. 2001).
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
This species occurs throughout UAE waters. Globally, it is widespread in the Indo-West Pacific. Its depth range is 1 to 12 m (Allen and Erdmann 2012).
Habitats and Ecology
Ecological system type
Terrestrial system
No
Freshwater system
No
Marine system
Yes
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species inhabits shallow waters over sandy bottoms, from coral reefs to seagrasses and brackish waters (Sommer et al. 1996). Adults are most often found in clear coastal waters, and juveniles are often observed in estuaries or lagoons influenced by freshwater (Iwatsuki et al. 2001). The species occurs singly or in groups and consumes small benthic invertebrates (Lieske and Myers 1994, Iwatsuki et al. 2001). Its maximum total length is 44.5 cm (Randall 1995, Allen and Erdmann 2012) and longevity is 9 years (Hashim and Salamah 1985). This species grows quickly. Off the UAE, the mean size and age at first sexual maturity is 16.3 cm and 1.1 years for males and 20.6 cm and 1.5 years for females (Grandcourt et al. 2006). In a study conducted in the Gulf off Saudi Arabia, size at first sexual maturity was 19.1 and 19.8 cm total length for females and males, and spawning occurred in late spring-early summer (Hosny and Al-Jaber 2017). When applying an age at first reproduction of 1.5 years and longevity of 9 years, its estimated generation length is 5.25 years based on the following equation recommended by the IUCN Red List methods: Age at first reproduction + (Age at last reproduction -“ age at first reproduction)/2.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Assessed status
Asessment status in full
Data deficient
Assessment status abreviation
DD
Assessment rationale/justification
This demersal, inshore species occurs throughout UAE waters. Catch in Abu Dhabi has declined by 87% since 2010, but a stock assessment conducted in 2015 concluded it was underexploited. Considering the catch declines cannot be explained at this time, and these information are conflicting, it is listed as Data Deficient in the UAE. Improvements in fisheries monitoring are needed.
About the assessment
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
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.
Endemism
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Conservation
Threats listed in assessment
Overfishing is a potential major threat to this species in the UAE, but this is poorly understood. The large-scale anthropogenic modification of estuarine habitats in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf region may impact this species. 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
Gerres longirostris Animalia Chordata Actinopterygii Perciformes Gerreidae Gerres