Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

PC03 Undergraduate Education

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001

Location: Southwest Hall

Gattorno, F, , Harbor Branch / Savannah State U. REU, Fort Pierce, USA, gattorno@yahoo.com

ICHTHYOPLANKTON COMMUNITIES OF THE INDIAN RIVER LAGOON (IRL), FLORIDA

Ichthyoplankton were sampled in three nearshore habitats: seagrass bed, mangrove prop roots and cement seawall from the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Fort Pierce, Florida. A nightlight lift-net was used as the collecting device to determine the abundance of larval fish and species composition of each habitat. The seagrass habitat had the highest abundance of larval fish with 56% of the total number of specimens collected, followed by the seawall habitat (39%) and the mangrove habitat (6%). Seagrass bed was dominated by Gobiidae (77%), Engraulidae (19%), and small numbers of at least 14 other taxa. The seawall was dominated by Engraulidae (75%), Gobiidae (18%), and small numbers of at least 18 taxa. Mangroves were composed of Engraulidae (51%), Gobiidae (37%), Clupeidae (9%), and one other taxon. The low number of ichthyoplankton and low species diversity collected from the mangrove community suggests that it is not the nursery area of larval fishes.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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