Selection of a spawning aggregation site by Chromis hypsilepis (Pisces: Pomacentridae): habitat structure, transport potential, and food availability

Gladstone, W

Selection of a spawning aggregation site by Chromis hypsilepis (Pisces: Pomacentridae): habitat structure, transport potential, and food availability

Gladstone, W

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2007, 351 pp. 235 - 247
Issue Date:: 2007-12-06

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Gladstone, W https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4517-4605	en_US
dc.date.issued	2007-12-06	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2007, 351 pp. 235 - 247	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0171-8630	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15014
dc.description.abstract	Spawning aggregations form when fishes migrate to a site from their normal feeding grounds and form temporary groupings for breeding. Spawning aggregation sites are spatially rare, and demonstrating differences between a spawning aggregation site and unselected sites nearby is the first step towards understanding the benefits provided by the aggregation site. Chromis hypsilepis (Pomacentridae) is a demersally spawning reef fish, one population of which reproduces in a large, single aggregation at a rocky reef off the central coast of New South Wales, Australia. This study compared the habitat structure (rugosity, reef slope, substratum particle size, and abundance of preferred spawning microhabitat) of the spawning aggregation site and several non-spawning sites, and tested the hypotheses that the spawning aggregation site provided greater off-reef larval transport and prey availability for brooding males. Substratum rugosity was significantly greater and the preferred spawning microhabitat was significantly more abundant at the spawning aggregation site. Reef relief and substratum particle size were not significantly different from non-spawning sites. Passively drifting surface current drogues released at the spawning aggregation site were more rapidly transported off the reef, but did not travel further or faster, than drogues released at a non-spawning site over a 12 h period. Biomass of the preferred prey (copepods of 0.441 to 1.49 mm equivalent spherical diameter) was not significantly greater, but was less variable, at the spawning aggregation site. © Inter-Research 2007.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Marine Ecology Progress Series	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3354/meps07108	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	en_US
dc.title	Selection of a spawning aggregation site by Chromis hypsilepis (Pisces: Pomacentridae): habitat structure, transport potential, and food availability	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	351	en_US
utslib.for	0602 Ecology	en_US
utslib.for	0405 Oceanography	en_US
utslib.for	0608 Zoology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	351	en_US

Abstract:

Spawning aggregations form when fishes migrate to a site from their normal feeding grounds and form temporary groupings for breeding. Spawning aggregation sites are spatially rare, and demonstrating differences between a spawning aggregation site and unselected sites nearby is the first step towards understanding the benefits provided by the aggregation site. Chromis hypsilepis (Pomacentridae) is a demersally spawning reef fish, one population of which reproduces in a large, single aggregation at a rocky reef off the central coast of New South Wales, Australia. This study compared the habitat structure (rugosity, reef slope, substratum particle size, and abundance of preferred spawning microhabitat) of the spawning aggregation site and several non-spawning sites, and tested the hypotheses that the spawning aggregation site provided greater off-reef larval transport and prey availability for brooding males. Substratum rugosity was significantly greater and the preferred spawning microhabitat was significantly more abundant at the spawning aggregation site. Reef relief and substratum particle size were not significantly different from non-spawning sites. Passively drifting surface current drogues released at the spawning aggregation site were more rapidly transported off the reef, but did not travel further or faster, than drogues released at a non-spawning site over a 12 h period. Biomass of the preferred prey (copepods of 0.441 to 1.49 mm equivalent spherical diameter) was not significantly greater, but was less variable, at the spawning aggregation site. © Inter-Research 2007.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15014