A spatially explicit, individual-based model to assess the role of estuarine nurseries in the early life history of North Sea herring, Clupea harengus

Herring (Clupea harengus) enter and remain within North Sea estuaries during well‐defined periods of their early life history. The costs and benefits of the migrations between offshore spawning grounds and upper, low‐salinity zones of estuarine nurseries are identified using a dynamic state‐variable model, in which the fitness of an individual is maximized by selecting the most profitable habitat. Spatio‐temporal gradients in temperature, turbidity, food availability and predation risk simulate the environment. We modeled predation as a function of temperature, the optical properties of the ambient water, the time allocation of feeding and the abundance of whiting (Merlangius merlangus). Growth and metabolic costs were assessed using a bioenergetic model. Model runs using real input data for the Scheldt estuary (Belgium, The Netherlands) and the southern North Sea show that estuarine residence results in fitter individuals through a considerable increase in survival probability of age‐0 fish. Young herring pay for their migration into safer estuarine water by foregoing growth opportunities at sea. We suggest that temperature and, in particular, the time lag between estuarine and seawater temperatures, acts as a basic cue for herring to navigate in the heterogeneous space between the offshore spawning grounds at sea and the oligohaline nursery zone in estuaries.     

东海区泗礁沙滩碎波带仔稚鱼种类组成及栖息地利用模式

为探明泗礁沙滩碎波带仔稚鱼种类组成及其对碎波带的利用模式,于2010年7月至2011年8月每月大潮期间,在泗礁沙滩8个站位点水深0.5~1.5 m处,两人沿海岸平行方向步行拖曳小型拖网(1 m×4 m,网目1 mm)采集仔稚鱼样本。周年采集仔稚鱼1 762尾,隶属于28科46种,其中海洋性鱼类29种,河口性鱼类14种,洄游性鱼类2种,淡水性鱼类1种。体长10~30 mm的仔稚鱼占总渔获量的87.05%;后弯曲期仔鱼和稚鱼分别占总渔获量的24.57%和68.27%。鳀(Engraulis japonicus)为优势种,占总渔获量的55.68%。种类数及单位捕捞努力渔获量(CPUE)春夏季较高而秋冬较低,种类数和CPUE峰值分别出现在2010年8月和2011年5月。站点间的种类数和CPUE变化表明,仔稚鱼偏好栖息于封闭型沙滩碎波带。前10位主要种对碎波带的利用分3种类型:鳀、中国花鲈(Lateolabrax maculatus)、鮻(Liza haematocheila)和棘头梅童鱼(Collichthys lucidus)利用碎波带作为保育场;中华侧带小公鱼(Stolephorus chinensis)、鲻(Mugil cephalus)、细鳞鯻(Terapon jarbua)和弓斑东方鲀(Takifugu ocellatus)连续数月利用碎波带作为暂时栖息地;相模虾虎鱼(Sagamia geneionema)和鲬(Platycephalus indicus)则在单月进入碎波带栖息。因此在进行海滩和港湾开发和利用时,应重视对沙滩破碎带仔稚鱼栖息地的保护。     

Overlaps in habitat use of fishes between a seagrass bed and adjacent coral and sand areas at Amitori Bay, Iriomote Island, Japan: Importance of the seagrass bed as juvenile habitat

ABSTRACT:   To clarify faunal overlap between a seagrass bed and adjacent coral and sand areas, and the number of reef fishes utilizing the seagrass bed as juvenile habitat, visual censuses were conducted at Amitori Bay, Iriomote Island, Japan. The numbers of species and individuals of fishes were significantly higher in the coral area than in the seagrass bed and sand area. Cluster and ordination analyses based on the number of individuals of each species demonstrated that the fish assemblage structure differed among the three habitats in each season, but with some overlaps. Approximately half the seagrass bed fishes occurred in the adjacent coral area (coral–seagrass species). Dominant species of coral–seagrass species utilized the seagrass bed as an important juvenile habitat. Thus, some overlaps in habitat use were present between the seagrass bed and adjacent coral area. Despite such overlaps, however, coral–seagrass species accounted for only approximately 15% of coral reef fishes overall, indicating that most of the latter hardly utilize the seagrass bed directly in the study area.