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Composition and temporal patterns of larval fish communities in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, USA

2015; Inter-Research; Volume: 527; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps11265

1616-1599

Filipe Ribeiro, Edward A. Hale, Eric J. Hilton, TR Clardy, Alison L. Deary, Timothy E. Targett, JE Olney,

Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 527:167-180 (2015) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11265 Composition and temporal patterns of larval fish communities in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, USA Filipe Ribeiro1,3,*, Edward Hale2, Eric J. Hilton1, Todd R. Clardy1, Alison L. Deary1, Timothy E. Targett2, John E. Olney1,† 1Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062, USA 2School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, Delaware 19958, USA 3Present address: Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre—MARE, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal *Corresponding author: fmvribeiro@gmail.com †Deceased ABSTRACT: Comparing larval fish assemblages in different estuaries provides insights about the coastal distribution of larval populations, larval transport, and adult spawning locations. We simultaneously compared the larval fish assemblages entering 2 Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) estuaries (Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay, USA) through weekly sampling from 2007 to 2009. In total, 43 taxa (32 families) and 36 taxa (24 families) were collected in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, respectively. Mean taxonomic diversity, mean richness, and evenness were generally lower in Delaware Bay. Communities of both bays were dominated by Anchoa spp., Gobiosoma spp., Micropogonias undulatus, and Brevoortia tyrannus; Paralichthys spp. was more abundant in Delaware Bay and Microgobius thalassinus was more abundant in Chesapeake Bay. Inter-annual variation in the larval fish communities was low at both sites, with a relatively consistent composition across years, but strong seasonal (intra-annual) variation in species composition occurred in both bays. Two groups were identified in Chesapeake Bay: a ‘winter’ group dominated by shelf-spawned species and a ‘summer’ group comprising obligate estuarine species and coastal species. In Delaware Bay, 4 groups were identified: a ‘summer’ group of mainly obligate estuarine fishes being replaced by a ‘fall’ group; ‘winter’ and ‘spring’ groups were dominated by shelf-spawned and obligate estuarine species, respectively. This study demonstrates that inexpensive and simultaneous sampling in different estuaries provides important insights into the variability in community structure of fish assemblages at large spatial scales. KEY WORDS: Estuarine systems · Young-of-the-year · Community composition · Temporal variability · Ichthyoplankton · Middle Atlantic Bight Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Ribeiro F, Hale E, Hilton EJ, Clardy TR, Deary AL, Targett TE, Olney JE (2015) Composition and temporal patterns of larval fish communities in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, USA. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 527:167-180. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11265 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 527. Online publication date: May 07, 2015 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research.