Benthic habitat properties can delay settlement in an estuarine fish (Sciaenops ocellatus)

• Published in: Aquatic Biology
• Main Authors: Havel, L.N., Fuiman, L.A., Ojanguren, Alfredo Fernandez
• Other Authors: University of St Andrews. School of Biology, University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Habitat preference; Substrate; Seagrass; Red drum; QH301 Biology; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; QH301; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7666; https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00639

Funds were provided from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute Perry R. Bass Chair in Fisheries and Mariculture. Settlement is the last stage of high mortality in the life cycle of demersal marine fishes, making the number of larvae that successfully settle to a benthic habitat a predictor of future population size. Habitat selection is an active settlement process for coral reef fishes, however, there has been less research about settlement in other ecosystems. This study used laboratory and field experiments to examine the relationship between size and settlement over various substrates in red drum Sciaenops ocellatus, a temperate and subtropical estuarine species. In the laboratory, vertical position of fish (4.3 to 40.0 mm standard length [SL]) was recorded in the presence of sand, oyster shells, or seagrass to determine median settlement size. Median settlement size was 12.9 mm SL for seagrass, 15.8 mm SL for sand, and 20.5 mm SL for oyster shells. To determine the size at which fish settle in the wild, vertically partitioned field enclosures were used to separate individuals (5.2 to 37.3 mm SL) in the water column (>16 cm from the sediment) from those in the seagrass ( Publisher PDF Peer reviewed