Sr. Thorrold et al., TEMPORAL PATTERNS IN THE LARVAL SUPPLY OF SUMMER-RECRUITING REEF FISHES TO LEE-STOCKING ISLAND, BAHAMAS, Marine ecology. Progress series, 112(1-2), 1994, pp. 75-86
Moored plankton nets were used to monitor the supply of settlement-sta
ge reef fishes to benthic habitats on Great Bahamas Bank in the vicini
ty of Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Sound, Bahamas. A total of 55 771 fis
hes, representing 53 taxa, were captured in 79 d of sampling from June
to September 1992. Reef fish larvae were extremely abundant in the sa
mples, particularly the families Labridae, Apogonidae, Balistidae, Oph
ichthidae and Scaridae. Almost all fish were taken in night collection
s, and discrete tide sampling suggested most settlement-stage fishes w
ere moving onshore during flood tides. Vertical distributions were tax
on specific, with some taxa concentrated in surface nets while others
were more abundant in mid-water collections. Larval supply of a number
of taxa occurred almost entirely during several days around the new m
oon in early July, while other families showed more consistent, althou
gh still episodic, replenishment patterns. Time series analysis found
evidence of semi-lunar cycling in the larval supply of scarids and oph
ichthids, lunar cycling in gobiids, bothids and apogonids, and acyclic
replenishment in clupeids, blennioids, labrids and balistids. Crossco
rrelations between larval supply and meteorological and hydrographic v
ariables found significant associations in the families Gobiidae, Apog
onidae, Blennioidei and Labridae. Significant correlations were driven
by a large pulse of replenishment of all these taxa coinciding with a
relaxation of southeast trade winds. This event apparently caused a r
eversal in the direction of longshore currents and generated significa
nt onshore current flow. Settlement-stage larvae may have been transpo
rted from the northern region of Exuma Sound to Lee Stocking Island. A
lternatively, larvae may have been entrained from offshore waters in t
he southern Sound and advected across the shelf to reef areas.