: 
EANHS Bulletin 30(1) 
and the subsequent political instability 
ol the country. Bock (1996) has 
provided a checklist of coral reel fish 
from the Diani and Galu lagoons in 
Kenya to the south, and a recent 
checklist of fish species captured by 
trawlers operating between 20 m and 
300 m depth in the Gulf of Aden and 
Arabian Sea has been provided by 
al Sakaff and Essccn (1999). However, 
fish species occurring in the cooler, 
upwclling. phytoplankton rich waters 
of the Somalia coast are likely to differ 
considerably from those of the tropical, 
nutrient poor waters of the Kenyan 
coast to the south and the Red Sea to 
the north. Furthermore, many inshore 
species do not occur in the deeper 
waters frequented by trawlers. The 
most recent information on the marine 
biota of the Somalia region is a 
checklist of living marine resources 
compiled from the literature by 
Sommer et al. (1996). The authors 
state that the list is not comprehensive 
as it was not possible to travel to 
Somalia to sample fish in the field. 
During the course of a recent 
lobster survey conducted along the east 
coast of Somalia (Fielding and Mann, 
1999). considerable diving work was 
undertaken (both SCUBA and snorkel 
diving) and a number of fishing 
villages were visited. All fish observed 
by us underwater or captured by 
fishermen, were identified and noted 
as part of an additional information 
gathering exercise. These data arc 
presented here and provide some 
interesting new fish distribution 
records. 
METHODS 
Nomenclature 
Species names used in this checklist 
arc taken from Fischer and Bianchi 
(1984), Smith and Heemstra (1986). 
Debclius (1993) and Sommer el al. 
(1996). 
Study area 
Originally, the lobster survey was 
intended to cover the area between 
Benda Beyla and Eyl in the western 
Indian Ocean (Figure I). On reaching 
Dudura 50 km south of Benda Beyla 
political problems arose, and on 
relocating to Eyl the situation became 
life-threatening. The diving team 
therefore returned to Benda Beyla and 
worked by sea as far north as 
Barmadobe The survey thus 
eventually covered the area between 
Dudura and Barmadobe, a distance of 
approximately 133 km (Figure 1). 
Sources of fish examined 
Dive sites were selected randomly on 
the basis of boat travelling time and 
the availability of subtidal reefs. The 
diving was done from an open 6.5 m 
GRP boat powered by a 1 5 hp outboard 
motor Altogether, 35 sites between 
Barmadobe and Dudura were dived to 
assess lobster densities. Almost all 
these sites were situated close inshore 
on shallow rocky reefs 2-6 m deep. 
Extensive efforts were made to locate 
deeper reefs with an echo sounder, but 
with limited success, and there 
appeared to be little local knowledge 
of deeper reefs However, three dives 
were made north of Barmadobe. on 
