2025 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 1-17
While conducting Reef Check, a global coral reef monitoring program, in Kushimoto, which is located in a non-reef area at a high latitude (33ºN, 135ºE), we supplemented many local species with the world standard as survey targets. In addition, we set a new objective for the survey to detect global warming through changes in marine fauna. The survey was conducted over a 25-year period from 2000 to 2024, basically following the Reef Check methodology. The survey results showed a significant decline in native tropical species. Furthermore, changes in marine fauna indicative of global warming, such as the decline of temperate species and the increase of non-native tropical species, were hardly detected. These findings were attributed to the fact that the shallow marine communities in Kushimoto are more strongly influenced by the Kuroshio Current than by global warming.
