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FishBase’s Dominican Republic saltwater checklist lists 493 fish species. That is a database count of marine species, not a definitive census of every fish in the country’s waters or freshwater habitats. A separate study recorded 150 reef-fish species in one southeastern marine sanctuary, using surveys conducted from 2013 to 2016.
What does the count of 493 include?
FishBase’s country/island listing reports 493 marine species currently present in the Dominican Republic. The checklist includes records classified as native, introduced, reintroduced, or endemic; it is not limited to fish found on coral reefs. The listing is dynamic, so taxonomic revisions and new records may change the figure. Treat it as a broad saltwater checklist count, rather than an audited total covering every habitat. View FishBase’s Dominican Republic checklist.
Why did a reef study count 150 species?
A peer-reviewed checklist of the Southeastern Reefs Marine Sanctuary (SMASE) recorded 150 species from 86 genera and 47 families. The researchers based it on 360 visual reef surveys conducted from 2013 through 2016, and reported 14 new records for the Dominican southeast coastline. It describes the sanctuary and that survey effort—not all Dominican waters—so its smaller number does not contradict FishBase’s broader country/island listing. Read the SMASE reef-fish checklist.
Most species-rich families in the SMASE inventory
- Serranidae: 16 species
- Haemulidae: 12 species
- Pomacentridae: 10 species
These are the leading family counts in that sanctuary’s inventory, not rankings for every fish species in the country.
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Does 4,563 mean there are 4,563 fish species?
No. A Dominican Ministry of Environment baseline study reported 4,563 individual fish observed across selected groups at sites in nine coastal provinces. Its focus was four families: parrotfishes (Scaridae), surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae), angelfishes (Pomacanthidae), and butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae). The government announcement broke the observations down as 2,911 Scaridae, 1,512 Acanthuridae, five Pomacanthidae, and 135 Chaetodontidae. These are summed individual observations, not a species count or a national population estimate. Read the Ministry baseline announcement.
What does the government baseline say about reef fish?
The Ministry’s 2022 summary described reefs in the study as generally deteriorated and reported that juveniles made up 60.77% of the individuals in its evaluated groups, compared with 39.23% that were pre-adult or adult. Those percentages apply to the families and sites covered by the baseline, not all fish or reefs in the Dominican Republic. See the Ministry’s study summary.
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How should you interpret other biodiversity figures?
The Dominican Republic’s National Statistics Office reported 718 coastal and marine ecosystems in 2023 data published in a 2025 infographic. That figure indicates habitat variety; it is not a count of fish species. View the infographic.
Fish counts also depend on what is being counted and how. A country-level database checklist, a survey of reef fish in one sanctuary, and a tally of individuals from selected fish families measure different things. Caribbean bony-fish literature also notes gaps in regional knowledge, so no single figure should be read as a final count of every fish inhabiting Dominican waters.
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