How well do sunken vessels approximate fish assemblages on coral reefs? Conse…

Abstract The amount of artificial habitat (termed ‘artificial reef’, AR) in marine systems is rapidly increasing, yet the effect of most types of AR on reef communities remains unknown. We examined the role of well-established vessel-reefs in structuring coral reef fish assemblages by comparing assemblages on 7 World War II wrecks (>65 years old) to those on interspersed coral patch reef…