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The Biogeography of the Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus)

by Trevor Morris, student in Geography 316

Thank you for visiting our site. This web pages was written by a student in Geography 316: Biogeography and edited by the instructor, Barbara Holzman, PhD. All photos and maps are posted with specific copyright permission for the express use of education on these web pages. The students have tried to be as accurate as possible with the information provided and sources and references are cited at the end of each page.

Figure 1. The Garibaldi fish.	Kingdom: Metazoan Phylum: Chordate Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Family: Pomacentridae Genus: Hypsypops Species: Hypsypops rubicundus
Peering into the the water along the shoreline on Catalina Island you can see kelp, rocks and little else. Although the water is clean and clear it is also dark and deep. However, if you wait just a minute or two you will see what looks like a giant goldfish darting from rock to rock. This fish is the Garibaldi and it is prevalent in the waters all around Catalina.

Description of Species:

Hypsypops rubicundus, commonly known as the Garibaldi, is a large, bright orange fish found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California and Mexico. The name Garibaldi comes from the Italian Army leader, Guiseppi Garibaldi, whose forces wore bright red shirts.
The Garibaldi is a member of the damselfish, or damsel, family. Of the 240 members of the damselfish family, the Garibaldi is the largest. It can grow up to 14 inches in length with the average adult around 10-12 inches.

Figure 2. A male Garibaldi.

Natural History:

     The Garibaldi are extremely territorial and will defend their food, shelter and nesting areas against other predators (Sikkel, 95). Although hardly menacing, the Garibaldi have been known to attack divers in defense of their nests.
    Young Garibaldi are multi-colored. Their orange and red bodies are covered with iridescent blue spots (figure 3). As the Garibaldi ages it begins to lose its spot and turns a deep, and bright orange (Sikkel, 97).
     The Garibaldi eat mollusks, algae, worms, and sponges. As a territorial fish, the Garibaldi makes its home in rocky shorelines just below the low tide mark. It can also be found where kelp forests grow near the shore (fishbase, 2001).

Figure 3. Juvenile Garibaldi with spots.

It is the spawning habits of the Garibaldi that make it a unique fish. Like other damselfish it is the males that build and tend to the nesting site. What sets the Garibaldi apart is that the males use this nest to attract females. More common forms of attraction in fish include physical appearance or intricate dances performed to attract the female. The male Garibaldi will use a dance to get the families attention, however it is the quality of the nest that will make the decision for the female.

Starting in March, the male Garibaldi will return to its nesting site and begin work. The Garibaldi is on of the few fishes to use the same nesting site every year (Sikkel, 88). The Garibaldi will spend one month building and tending his nest. Built on a rock, or rocks, within their own territory, the nests range in size from one square foot to a maximum of ten square feet (figure 4.) (Sikkel, 95).

To build an attractive nest the male will first remove any debris from the site. Next, he will begin biting and removing all of the brown and green algae. The male will leave the maroon, or red algae, alone to encourage growth. As the red algae grows the male will keep it trimmed to about an inch in length (Sikkel, 97).
Actual spawning occurs in April and can continue until as late as October (Sikkel, 95). Females who are ready to spawn make themselves conspicuous to males by leaving their nest and swimming past males with fins erect (Sikkel, 88). Like other damsels, male Garibaldi will then begin a series of dipping maneuvers to attract the females to their nests. The Female Garibaldi will enter several nests before making her decision. When a female finds a suitable nest she will deposit her eggs and return to her own territory.

With eggs in his nest the male will fertilize the eggs and fan them with his fins. The eggs are about 1mm in diameter and turn from a bright yellow to a gray color in about 5 days. The eggs will hatch in two to three weeks. The male may take up to four broods in a single season (Sikkel, 95). Until they hatch, the male will defend the eggs against egg predators (Sikkel, 88).
Paul Sikkel, an assistant professor of biology at the University of the Virgin Islands, has done extensive research on the reproductive habits of the Garibaldi. Sikkel was the first to note that the females are in fact more attracted to the nest than the mate. Sikkel attributes this to the fact that females may be looking for a mate that has better skills at caring for and protecting the eggs. A good nest maker might have those same characteristics as a good nest tender (Sikkel, 97). Sikkel also found that the female was more likely to deposit her eggs in a nest that already had eggs in it. This left better nest filled with many different broods of eggs and other nests with one or no eggs. Eggs in mostly empty nests often became a meal for the male Garibaldi (Sikkel, 95). In a National Geographic article Paul Sikkel described Garibaldi reproductive behavior as similar to a man who attracts a date with a sports car (National Geographic, 95).

Evolution:
Reference to the evolution of the Garibaldi can only be found for the taxonomic order Perciformes, or Perch. Perciformes belong to the class Actinopterygii. The Garibaldi is one of 20,000 different species of Actinopterygians. Actinopterygii means ray-finned, referring to the fins that are made up of webs of skin supported by bones. The ray-finned fish make up half of all vertebrates today. The earliest fossil record from the ray-finned fishes dates back to 350-400 million years ago, during the Devonian period (UC Berkeley, 01).

Distribution:

Map of Distribution:

The species of the damselfish family can be found in all tropical and some sub-tropical seas. Damselfish live in tropical reefs and rocky shorelines of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Some damsels do occur in fresh waters and brackish waters.
The Garibaldi is one of the few damselfish to live in the more temperate waters such as its home in the cold-water California Current. The Garibaldi are found in the approximate area stretching south from Monterey Bay to the southern tip of Baja California, in Mexico (fishbase, 02). Garibaldi also inhabit the Channel Islands of California including Catalina where they are prevalent (Figure 5.) The Garibaldi are exclusive to these areas.

Figure 5. Map of Garibaldi distribution.

Other interesting issues:

In 1995, the California State Legislature passed AB77. This bill designated the Garibaldi as the state marine fish. It also placed a temporary moratorium on the commercial collection of Garibaldi fish and extended a permanent prohibition on the commercial collection from Catalina's southern shores.

Bibliography
Fishbase. 2002. "Species Summery for Hypsypops rubicundus, Garibaldi Damselfish". [online]. Available: www.ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr [11/20/02]

Sikkel, Paul. 1988. "Factors Influencing Spawning Site Choice by Female Garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus". Copeia. Number 3.

Sikkel, Paul 1995 "Effects of Nest Quality On Male Courtship and Female Spawning-Site Choicein an Alal-Nesting Damselfish". Bulletin of Marine Science. 57 (3).