COMPARATIVE VARIATION IN SPAWNING OUTPUT AND JUVENILE RECRUITMENT OF SOME CARIBBEAN REEF FISHES

It is generally accepted that the intensity of recruitment of pelagic young of temperate marine fishes is determined primarily by events tha t affect young as larvae, and that pelagic processes substantially inc rease variation in recruitment over the level expected from variation in spawning output alone. Spawning and recruitment of 6 species of Car ibbean damselfishes were monitored monthly at a site in Panama for 1 t o 3 yr (1983 to 1987) and 7 to 10 yr (1980 to 1989), respectively. Int ermensual variation in recruitment strength exceeded corresponding var iation in spawning output by average factors of at least 1.5 to 3.0 (a nd perhaps as much as 4 to 20) among those species. Serial changes in seasonally-adjusted monthly spawning output and 'resultant' recruitmen t strength were not correlated in any species. Thus, regardless of whe ther or not local populations are self-recruiting, pelagic processes e vidently do largely control, and substantially enhance, short-term var iability in recruitment strength in these fishes. Interannual variatio n in recruitment was low in all but one species, in which it also exce eded variation in spawning. Thus control of variation in recruitment s trength by short-term pelagic processes had little or no net effect on interannual variation in recruitment in most cases. Interspecific dif ferences in recruitment seasonality and in levels of variation in mens ual and annual recruitment strength (but not mensual and annual spawni ng output) indicate that pelagic processes affect recruitment of some of these closely related species to different degrees and in different temporal patterns.