Sr. Thorrold et Ad. Mckinnon, RESPONSE OF LARVAL FISH ASSEMBLAGES TO A RIVERINE PLUME IN COASTAL WATERS OF THE CENTRAL GREAT-BARRIER-REEF LAGOON, Limnology and oceanography, 40(1), 1995, pp. 177-181
Ichthyoplankton assemblages were compared among stations in the vicini
ty of a riverine plume in coastal wafers of the central Great Barrier
Reef lagoon, Australia, during January 1991. Although the plume dramat
ically influenced both community structure and abundance of larval fis
h, effects were temporally dynamic and taxon-specific. Mullids were th
e only family to show significantly higher densities at the plume fron
t than either inside or outside the plume. Samples from the plume fron
t and coastal waters outside the plume showed similar taxonomic affini
ties. These affinities appeared to be driven by the offshore movement
of the plume translocating coastal larvae offshore, which also led to
accumulation of these larvae at the plume front. Given the large area
that the plume covered and the high zooplankton biomass and secondary
production in these waters, we suggest that the plume may have affecte
d larval fish survival and recruitment more than the associated plume
front.