Fish assemblages found in tidal-creek and seagrass habitats in the Suwannee River estuary

• Main Authors: Tuckey, Troy D., Dehaven, Mark
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Fisheries; Suwannee River; Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://aquaticcommons.org/9010/; http://fishbull.noaa.gov/1041/tuckey.pdf; http://aquaticcommons.org/9010/1/tuckey.pdf

Fish assemblages were investigated in tidal-creek and seagrass habitats in the Suwannee River estuary, Florida. A total of 91,571 fish representing 43 families were collected in monthly seine samples from January 1997 to December 1999. Tidal creeks supported greater densities of fish (3.89 fish/m2; 83% of total) than did seagrass habitats (0.93 fish/m2). We identified three distinct fish assemblages in each habitat: winter−spring, summer, and fall. Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), pigfish (Orthopristis chrysoptera), and syngnathids characterized seagrass assemblages, whereas spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), bay anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli), silversides (Menidia spp.), mojarras (Eucinostomus spp.), and fundulids characterized tidal-creek habitats. Important recreational and commercial species such as striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) were found primarily in tidal creeks and were among the top 13 taxa in the fish assemblages found in the tidal-creek habitats. Tidal-creek and seagrass habitats in the Suwannee River estuary were found to support diverse fish assemblages. Seasonal patterns in occurrence, which were found to be associated with recruitment of early-life-history stages, were observed for many of the fish species.