Experimental analysis of recruitment patterns of coral reef fishes in seagrass beds: Effects of substrate type, shape, and rigidity

Habitat choice of reef fish larvae at settlement is one of the mechanisms proposed to explain spatial patterns in the distribution of fishes and the corresponding spatial structure of communities. Field experiments using Pomacentridae were conducted at Iriomote Island, southern Japan, in order to determine if rare recruitment of coral reef fishes in seagrass beds is due to larval settlement preference. When three types of natural patch treatments (branching coral patch, seagrass patch, and control without patches) were established in cleared seagrass squares in the center of a seagrass bed, four pomacentrid species, Amblyglyphidodon curacao, Dischistodus prosopotaenia, Cheiloprion labiatus, and Dascyllus aruanus, recruited exclusively onto the coral patches, indicating that larvae distributed in the seagrass bed may have preferred a coral rather than seagrass substrate as a settlement habitat. The effects of differences in physical shape (grid structure for branching coral vs. vertical structure for seagrass leaves) and rigidity (rigid substrate for coral vs. flexible substrate for seagrass) between coral and seagrass substrates on such recruitment patterns were investigated using artificial coral and seagrass units. When artificial habitat units with predator exclusion cages were established in the cleared seagrass squares as above, high densities of A. curacao and D. prosopotaenia recruits were observed on the rigid rather than flexible habitat units (both unit types having similar shape), whereas differences in recruit numbers of the two species were unclear in differently shaped units. These results demonstrated that even though pomacentrid larvae are distributed in the seagrass bed, they do not settle on the seagrass substrate owing to their habitat choice being partially based on a preference for substrate rigidity. Moreover, non-recruitment of C. labiatus and D. aruanus on artificial habitat units suggested that the presence of living coral substrates rather than physical shape/rigidity of substrates are an important cue for habitat choice of these fishes.     

The Effect of an Infaunal Suspension Feeding Bivalve Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) on Benthic Recruitment*

Abstract. Animal-animal interactions are recognized as critical in benthic invertebrate recruitment. The hypothesis tested was that benthic recruitment is more successful in low densities of infaunal suspension feeders than in high densities. Densities of young hard clams Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) ranging from 82.5 to 330m^-2 were placed in defaunated boxes of sand. The mean number of species, mean number of individuals, mean wet weight biomass, mean species richness and mean dominance index per sample were calculated per density of hard clams from May to October. The experiment did not support the hypothesis. It was concluded that feeding behaviour of dense populations of M. mercenaria did not preclude successful recruitment of other benthic species.     

Food and feeding of Kahawai (Teleostei: Arripididae)

Analysis of 326 stomachs of the kahawai, Arripis trutta (Bloch and Schneider), from Wellington Harbour showed that the fish is a voracious carnivore which feeds mainly on fishes and to a lesser extent on planktonic crustaceans. The kahawai is principally a pelagic feeder, but occasionally takes food from the sea bottom; it appears to feed on those fishes which are locally most abundant, and follows shoals of small fish on which it preys. Small kahawai below 100 mm in length eat mainly copepods.     

日本鳗鲡补充群体的日龄、全长、出生时间及耳石生长的变化

在中国大陆沿岸6个取样床搜集了日本鳗鲡白仔鳗,191尾用于长度测定,112尾鉴定了日龄及测定了耳石半径,近中心核的标记轮直径、耳石生长轮的宽度.补充群体长度平均值从(53.4±2.2)mm到(58.1±1.7)mm,长度与补充群体的地理分布之间无内在联系.补充群体日龄从(138.2±6.7)d至(155.2±9.0)d,长江口和温州地区补充群的日龄最低,以此为中心,向高纬度和低纬度走向分布,补充群的日龄都逐渐增大,补充群出生时间从1993年8月15日至1994年1月10日.低纬度的群体补充的时间早,其出生时间也早.纬度越高,补充的时间越迟,出生时间也晚.补充群耳石半径平均值从(142.5±8.4)μm至(155.8±14.5)μm,具有显着性差异(p<0.01).标记轮直径从(10.36±0.85)μm至(10.81±1.26)μm,其差异不具显著性(p>1.01).耳石生长轮平均宽度为(0.996-1.097) μm,其差异具有显著性(p<0.01),生长轮平均宽度以温州和长江口群体最大,以此为中心,向高纬度和低纬度分布的补充群的平均值分别逐渐减小.补充群耳石从中心至边缘生长轮宽度变化的共同点是在第90轮处平均宽度值最高.