Fishes of Clipperton Atoll, Eastern Pacific: Checklist, Endemism, and Analysis of Completeness of the Inventory1

An updated checklist of cartilaginous and bony fishes from reefs and nearby areas around Clipperton Atoll (eastern Pacific) is presented. The register was compiled from field surveys between 1997 and 2012, an exhaustive literature review, and consultation of museum collections and databases. Records were then used to assess completeness of the local fish inventory using six nonparametric rarefaction formulations. A total of 197 species in 62 families was recorded, and of these 106 correspond to reef fishes; most of these are immigrants from the eastern and central Pacific, and only seven species were identified as endemics of the atoll. Estimated level of endemism in reef species (6.6%) is high for the eastern Pacific as a whole but intermediate when compared with data for other oceanic islands of the same region. From nonparametric tests it was estimated that expected number of reef fishes present at Clipperton is 110 + 4 species, and because the difference from the reported number from this new checklist was not significant, we suggest that the current listing is practically complete. Comparisons of completeness of the inventory at Clipperton (~95%) with that reported for fish fauna of the eastern Pacific and worldwide revealed that quality of the current inventory is remarkably high, even in spite of the geographic isolation of the atoll and the still limited scientific data.