There are two characteristics of fish in Xisha Islands: first, the fish yield is abundant, and second, there are many kinds. Xisha Islands is the main tropical fishing ground in China, where there are more than 400 species of coral fish and marine fish. It is an important fishing ground for tuna, mackerel, red fish, bonito, flying fish, shark and grouper. There are dozens of seafood, such as soft-shelled turtle, sea cucumber, pearl, shellfish, abalone, fish algae and so on. There are also precious leatherback turtles, the king of turtles, the king of plum-blossom ginseng and sea cucumber, and more than a dozen of the world's most famous pearls-Nanzhu, Bao Bei and Kirin.

Animal resources in Xisha Islands;

Coral reefs in Xisha Islands are one of the four famous high-yield regional types in the world. There are 432 species of coral reef fish in Xisha Islands, accounting for 8 1.3% of the marine fish species in this sea area.

There are 6 genera and 6 species of Echinodaceae, 7 species of Hydrozoa, 1 1 species belonging to coelenterates in intertidal zone, 5 species of honeycomb corals, 3 species of pericoraceae, 3 species of cup corals, 3 species of woody corals, 3 species of polyporaceae and 3 species of bacteriaceae. There are 65,438+0 species of comb corallidae, 65,438+0 species of loquat corallidae, 65,438+0 species of Syringaceae, 65,438+0 species of iron star corallidae, 65,438+0 species of aeroplane corallidae, 65,438+0 species of sphagnum corallidae and 65,438 species of whipple corallidae.

A total of 4 1 species of benthic crustaceans were found in Xisha sea area, belonging to 28 genera of 13 family, among which, there were 25 species of short-tailed crustaceans, belonging to 5 families 15 genus. The main crabs are fan crabs, spider crabs, swimming crabs, magnetic crabs, frog crabs, king crabs and rhombic crabs. There are more than 200 species of shrimp resources, and the main species are Jinxiu lobster, dense-hairy lobster, China lobster, black shrimp, Japanese shrimp, newborn shrimp, Macrobrachium nipponense, Macrobrachium rosenbergii and sugar shrimp.

Benthic molluscs 19 families, 25 genera and 26 species have been found in Xisha Islands, which is second only to crustaceans and ranks second in the total number of benthic organisms in Xisha Islands. Among bivalves, there are 3 genera and 3 species of ornithidae, 2 genera and 3 species of Claudidae and 2 genera and 2 species of Claudidae. There are 287 species of molluscs 5 1 family in intertidal zone. The average biological density of swimming fish in Xisha reef plate area is higher than that in the open sea; Plum blossom has the highest biological density, mainly concentrated in the waters of Dongdao, Yongxing Island and Qilianyu.