Diel and vertical movements of preflexion fish larvae assemblage associated with <i>Posidonia oceanica</i> beds

Yoana del Pilar Ruso; Just T. Bayle-Sempere

doi:10.3989/scimar.2006.70n3399

Authors

Yoana del Pilar Ruso Unidad de Biología Marina, Departamento de Ciencias del Mar y Biología Aplicada. Universidad de Alicante.
Just T. Bayle-Sempere Unidad de Biología Marina, Departamento de Ciencias del Mar y Biología Aplicada. Universidad de Alicante.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2006.70n3399

Keywords:

preflexion fish larvae, Posidonia oceanica, habitat complexity, shelter, Sparidae, Sardinella aurita

Abstract

Habitat complexity is a strong determinant of fish assemblage structure. Enhanced food resources and protection from predators are generally considered the main benefits of vegetated areas. We investigated the diel and vertical movements of preflexion fish larvae within and above the leaf canopy of Posidonia oceanica to determine if it acts as an important habitat for larval stage fish. Samples were taken with moored plankton nets during the night and day at two depths (13 and 15 m) over five consecutive days in July 2000 in the Marine Protected Area off Tabarca Island (Spain, SW Mediterranean Sea). In total, 353 fish larvae were captured. The most abundant taxa were Sardinella aurita, Sparidae, Engraulis encrasicolus and Gobiidae. Sparidae were more abundant within the leaf canopy during the day but increased in waters 2 m above the canopy at night. In contrast, Sardinella aurita were present throughout the entire water column during both the day and night. We conclude that the P. oceanica leaf canopy is important as a transitional shelter for the early stage larvae of some demersal fish species.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aboussouan, A. – 1989. Identification of fish larvae from the Mediterranean Sea. Cybium, 13(3): 259-262.

Anderson, M.J. – 2005. PERMANOVA: a Fortran computer program for permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Department of statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Ault, T.R. and C.R. Johnson. – 1998. Relationships between habitat and recruitment of three species of damselfish (Pomacentridae) at Heron Reef, Great Barrier Reef. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 223: 145-166. doi:10.1016/S0022-0981(97)00158-5

Beck, M.W., K.L. Heck, K.W. Able, D.L. Childers, D.B. Eggleston, B.M. Gillanders, B. Halpern, C.G. Hays, K. Hoshino, T.J. Minello, R.J. Orth, P.F. Sheridan and M.P. Weinstein. – 2001. The identification, conservation, and management of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and invertebrates. Bioscience, 51: 633-641. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0633:TICAMO]2.0.CO;2

Bell, J.D. and M.L. Harmelin-Vivien. – 1982. Fish fauna of French Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica meadows. 1 Community structure. Tethys. 10 (4): 1 - 14.

Bell, J.D. and M. Westoby. – 1986b. Importance of local changes in leaf height and density over a wide spatial scale: effects on associated with seagrass. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 104: 249-274. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(86)90109-7

Bell, J.D., M. Westoby, and A.S. Steffe. – 1987. Fish larvae settling in seagrass: do they discriminate between beds of different leaf density? J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 111: 133-144. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(87)90051-7

Bordehore, C. – 2000. Ictioplancton costero en la Reserva Marina de Tabarca (SE Ibérico): Estudio faunístico y variabilidad a distintas escalas temporales. Thesis of Licenciature, Univ. Alicante.

Bordehore, C., J.T. Bayle Sempere, and A.A. Ramos Esplá. – 2001. Composición y variabilidad del ictioplancton costero en la Reserva Marina de Tabarca, sudeste ibérico. Bol. Inst. Esp. Oceanogr., 17 (1 y 2): 61-71.

Bulgakova, Y. – 1993. Daily feeding dynamics of the Black Sea anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus. J. Icththyol., 33(7): 78 - 88.

Carr, M.H. – 1994. Effects of macroalgal dynamics on recruitment of a temperate reef fish. Ecology, 75(5): 1320-1333. doi:10.2307/1937457

Champalbert, G. and C. Koutsikopoulos. – 1995. Behaviour, transport and recruitment of bay of Biscay sole (Solea solea): Laboratory and field studies. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U.K., 75: 93-108.

Clarke, K.R. – 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Aust. J. Ecol., 18: 117-143. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.1993.tb00438.x

Clarke, K.R. and R.M. Warwick. – 1994. Changes in the marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. Natural Environment Research Council, U.K.

Cushing, D.H. – 1975. Marine Ecology and Fisheries. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Doherty, P.J. and D.McB. Williams. – 1988. The replenishment of coral reef fish populations. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., 26: 487-551.

Dorenbosch, M., M.G.G. Grol, I. Nagelkerken and G. Van Der velde. – 2006. Seagrass beds mangroves as potential nurseries for the threatened Indo-Pacific humphead wrasse, Cheilinus undulates and Caribbean rainbow parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Biol. Conserv., 129. 277-282. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.10.032

Fahay, M.P. – 1983. Guide to the early stages of marine fishes occurring in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Aterras to the Southern Scotian shelf. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Sci., 4: 1-423.

Folkestad, H. – 2005. Stage dependent habitat use under conflicting predation pressure: An experimental test with larval and juvenile two-spotted gobies, Gobiusculus flavescens Fabricius. J. Exp. Mar Biol. Ecol., 323: 160-171. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2005.04.005

Fortier, L. and R.P. Harris. – 1989. Optional foraging and densitydependent competition in marine fish larvae. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 51: 19-33. doi:10.3354/meps051019

Fortier, L. and W.C. Leggett. – 1993. Vertical migrations and transport of larval fish by hydrodynamic convergence within the Mississippi River plume front. Cont. Shelf Res., 12: 1265-1276.

Francour, P. – 1997. Fish assemblages of Posidonia oceanica beds al Port – Cros (France, NW Mediterranean): assessment of composition and long – term fluctuations by visual census. P. S. Z. N. I: Mar. Ecol., 18: 157 - 173. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0485.1997.tb00434.x

Garcia-Charton, J.A., A. Pérez Ruzafa, P. Sánchez Jerez, J.T. Bayle-Sempere, O. Reñones and D. Moreno. – 2004. Multiscale spatial heterogeneity, habitat structure and the effect of marine reserves on Western Mediterranean rocky reef fish assemblages. Mar. Biol., 144: 161-182. doi:10.1007/s00227-003-1170-0

Garcia-Rubies, A. and E. Macpherson. – 1995. Substrate use and temporal pattern of recruitment in juvenile fishes on the Mediterranean litoral. Mar. Biol., 124(1): 35-42. doi:10.1007/BF00349144

Gotceitas, V. and P. Colgan. – 1989. Predator foraging success and habitat complexity: quantitative test of the threshold hypothesis. Oecologia, 80:158-166.

Hemminga, M.A. and C.M. Duarte. – 2000. Seagrass Ecology. United Kingdom, Cambridge.

Jiménez, S., R. Cano, J. Bayle, A. Ramos and J.L. Sánchez Lizaso.– 1996. Las praderas de Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile como zonas de protección de juveniles de especies de interés comercial. Tomo extraordinario. 125 Aniversario de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, pp.375 - 378.

Kendall, A.W. and N.A. Naplin. – 1981. Diel-depth distribution of summer ichthyoplancton in the middle Atlantic Bight. Fish Bull. US., 79: 705 - 726.

Kingsford, M.J. – 2001. Diel patterns of abundance of presettlement reef fishes and pelagic larvae on a coral reef. Mar. Biol., 138: 853-867. doi:10.1007/s002270000455

Leis, J.M. – 1986. Vertical and horizontal distribution of fish larvae near coral reefs at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Mar. Biol., 90: 505-516. doi:10.1007/BF00409271

Leis, J.M. – 1991. The pelagic stage of coral reef fishes: the larval biology of coral reef fishes. In: P.F. Sale (ed.), The ecology of fishes on coral reef fishes, pp. 183–230. Academic Press, New York.

Leis, J.M. and B.M. Carson-Ewart. – 1994. Complex behaviour by coral-reef larvae in open-water and near reef. Pelagic environments. Env. Biol Fish. 53: 266-298.

Leis, J.M., P.A. Sweatman and S.E. Reader. – 1996. What pelagic stages of coral reef fishes are doing in blue water: daytime field observation of larval behavioural capabilities. Mar Freshw. Res., 47: 401-412. doi:10.1071/MF9960401

Lo Bianco. – 1931. Fauna e flora del golfo di Napoli.38 monografía: Uova, larve e staidi giovanili di teleostei. Stazione Zoologica di Napoli.

Mikhman, A.S. and L.V. Tomanovich. – 1977. The feeding of the Azov anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus maeoticus. J. Ichthyol., 17: 240 - 244.

Moser, H.G. – 1984. Ontogeny and Systematics of fishes. The American Society of Ichtyologists and Herpetologists. Allen Press, California.

Munk, P., T. Kiorboe and V. Christensen. – 1989. Vertical migrations of herring, Clupea harengus, larvae in relation to light and prey distribution. Environ. Biol. Fish., 26(2): 87-96. doi:10.1007/BF00001025

Nakamura, Y. and M. Sano. – 2004. Is there really lower predation risk for juvenile fishes in a seagrass bed compared with an adjacent coral area? Bull. Mar. Sci., 74(2): 477-482.

Olivar. M.P. – 1985. Ictioplancton en el Atlántico Sudoriental. Ph. D. thesis, Univ. Barcelona.

Olivar, M.P and A. Sabatés. – 1997. Vertical distribution of fish larvae in the North–West Mediterranean Sea in spring. Mar. Biol., 129: 289-300. doi:10.1007/s002270050169

Orth, R.J., K.L. Heck and L. Van montfrans. – 1984. Faunal communities in seagrass beds: a review of the influence of plant structure and prey characteristics on predator-prey relationships. Estuaries, 31: 1-137.

Parrish, J.D. – 1989. Fish communities of interacting shallow-water habitats in tropic oceanic regions. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 58 : 143-160. doi:10.3354/meps058143

Pérès, J.M. and J. Picard. – 1964. Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la mer Mediterranée. Rec. Trav. St. Mar. Endoum., 31(47): 1-137.

Ramos, A.A. – 1985. Contribución al conocimiento de las bioceno sisbentónicas litorales de la isla de Tabarca o Nueva Tabarca (Alicante). In: A.A. Ramos (ed.), La reserva marina de la Isla Plana o Nueva Tabarca (Alicante), pp. 111-147. Universidad de Alicante.

Robertson, A.I. and S.J.M. Blaber. – 1992. Plankton, epibenthos and fish communities. In: A.I. Robertson and D.M. Alongi (Eds.), Tropical Mangrove Ecosystems, Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Vol. 41, pp. 172-224. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

Russell, F.S. – 1976. The eggs and planktonic stages of British marine fishes. Academic Press, London.

Sabatés, A. – 1988. Sistemática y distribución espacio – temporal del ictioplancton en la costa catalana. Ph. D. thesis, Univ. Barcelona.

Shulman, M.J. – 1984. Resource limitation and recruitment patterns in a coral reef assemblage. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 74: 85-109. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(84)90039-X

Sinclair, M. – 1988. Marine Populations: An Essay on Population Regulation and Speciation. Washington Sea Grant Program. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

Strickler, J.R., A.J. Udvadia, J. Marino, N. Radabaugh, J. Ziarek and A. Nihongi. – 2005. Visibility as a factor in the copepod-planktivorous fish relationship. Sci. Mar., 69(Suppl. 1): 111-124.

Tudela, S. and I. Palomera. – 1995. Diel feeding intensity and daily ration in the anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus in the Northwest Mediterranean Sea during the spawning period. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 129: 55 - 61. doi:10.3354/meps129055

Underwood, A.J. – 1981. Techniques of analysis of variance in experimental marine biology and ecology. Annu. Rev. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol., 19: 513-605.

Underwood, A.J. – 1997. Experiments in ecology: their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Warwick, R.M., H.M. Platt, K.R. Clarke, J. Agard and J. Gobin. – 1990. Analysis of macrobenthic and meiobenthic community structure in relation to pollution and disturbance in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 138: 119-142. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(90)90180-K