Luzonichthys earlei 

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
Animalia	Chordata	Actinopterygii	Perciformes	Serranidae

Scientific Name:	Luzonichthys earlei
Species Authority:	Randall, 1981
Common Name(s): English – Earle's Splitfin

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2010
Date Assessed:	2009-02-04
Assessor(s):	Sadovy, Y.J.
Reviewer(s):	Collen, B., Richman, N., Beresford, A., Chenery, A. & Ram, M.
Contributor(s):	De Silva, R., Milligan, H., Lutz, M., Batchelor, A., Jopling, B., Kemp, K., Lewis, S., Lintott, P., Sears, J., Wilson, P. & Smith, J. and Livingston, F.
Justification: Earle's Splitfin (Luzonichthys earlei) has been assessed as Least Concern. This is a wide-ranging species with no known major threats at present. Although this species may be locally affected by habitat degradation in the form of coral bleaching, and is also occasionally collected for the aquarium trade, these threats are not thought to be causing any significant population declines at present. Monitoring of the habitat status and harvest levels of this species is needed in case these threats intensify in the future.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Earle's Splitfin (Luzonichthys earlei) is found off the coast of the Maldives, Christmas Island, New Britain, the Marshalls, the Hawaiian Islands and throughout Micronesia.
Countries occurrence:	Native: Christmas Island; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Papua New Guinea (Bismarck Archipelago); United States (Hawaiian Is.)
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – western central
Additional data:	♦ Lower depth limit (metres): 205 ♦ Upper depth limit (metres): 15
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	There is no population information available for Earle's Splitfin.
Current Population Trend:	Unknown
Additional data:	♦ Population severely fragmented: No

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Earle's Splitfin is a reef-associated species that forms large, zooplankton-feeding aggregations along steep outer reef slopes. The depth profile of this benthopelagic species is 15-205 m.
Systems:	Marine
Congregatory:	Congregatory (and dispersive)

Use and Trade [top]

Use and Trade:

Luzonichthys earlei is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):

Earle's Splitfin is potentially impacted by habitat degradation and bleaching events on reef systems (Kelty and Kuartei 2004, NCCO 2005). This species is also occasionally collected for the aquarium trade. However, these are localized threats only, and therefore presently do not represent major threats to this species.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:

There are no known species-specific conservation measures in place for Earle's Splitfin, however its distribution may cover a number of marine protected area designations, including the Hanauma Bay Marine Life Conservation District in the Hawaiian Islands. Monitoring of the habitat status and harvest levels of this species are needed.

Errata [top]

Errata reason:

This errata assessment has been created because the map was accidentally left out of the version published previously.