Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial and temporal variability in the assemblage structure of fishes associated with mangroves (Avicennia marina) and intertidal mudflats in temperate Australian embayments

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Fishes using mangrove (Avicennia marina) and mudflat habitat were sampled using three different types of gear (seine, fyke, and gill nets) at three sites within each of two large embayments through time (quarterly) between January 2002 and November 2002. At least 41 species of fish were sampled, of which 78% were marine, 17% were estuarine, and 5% were freshwater. Juveniles were sampled in 41% of the species, and 5 and 6 species occurred exclusively in mangrove and mudflat habitats, respectively. The assemblage structure of fishes varied significantly between habitats (for both fyke and seine catches) and between spring and summer (seine catches), but only in one bay. Most of the variability between habitats and times of the year could be explained by differences in abundances of atherinids, mugulids, gobiids, tetraodontids, pleuronectids, and clupeids. Fyke nets sampled mainly juvenile and smaller species of fish. Fish abundance was always greater in mangroves than mudflats (but significantly so at four of the six study sites) and varied significantly between times of the year at one site, while the number of species varied significantly between times of the year at three sites. Gill nets sampled mostly adult/subadult fishes and abundances were greater in mudflats than mangroves at two sites, and in mangroves over mudflats at one site, while species abundance varied between times of the year at two sites. The seine net sampled mainly early post-settlement and small (<20 mm) fishes, more species of which were sampled in mudflat than mangrove during winter and spring, whereas the opposite pattern occurred in summer and autumn. The number of fish sampled with the seine net only varied significantly between habitats in one embayment during summer and spring, when they were larger and smaller, respectively, in mangroves than mudflats. Mangrove habitat in temperate Australian waters supports a richer juvenile fish assemblage than adjacent mudflats, but there is little difference between habitats for the subadult/adult assemblage. Ultimately, the ‘value’ of mangrove habitats to fishes depends strongly on when and where (bays and sites within bays) the study is done.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barletta-Bergan A, Barletta M, Saint-Paul U (2002) Community structure and temporal variability of ichthyoplankton in north Brazilian mangrove creeks. J Fish Biol 61:33–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell JD, Pollard DA, Burchmore JJ, Pease BC, Middleton MJ (1984) Structure of a fish community in a temperate tidal mangrove creek in Botany Bay, New South Wales. Aust J Mar Freshw Res 35:33–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaber SJM, Brewer DT, Salini JP (1989) Species composition and biomasses of fishes in different habitats of a tropical northern Australian estuary: their occurrence in the adjoining sea and estuarine dependence. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 29:509–531

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapman MG, Underwood AJ (1995) Mangrove forests. In: Underwood AJ, Chapman MG (eds) Coastal marine ecology of temperate Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, pp 187–204

  • Clynick B, Chapman M (2002) Assemblages of small fish in patchy mangrove forests in Sydney Harbour. Mar Freshw Res 53:669–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Boer W, Schie A van, Jocene D, Mabote A, Guissamulo A (2001) The impact of artisanal fishery on a tropical intertidal benthic fish community. Environ Biol Fish 61:213–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de la Moriniere E, Pollux B, Nagelkerken I, Velde G van der (2002) Post-settlement life cycle migration patterns and habitat preference of coral reef fish that use seagrass and mangrove habitats as nurseries. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 55:309–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan R, Szelistowski W (1998) Influence of puffer predation on vertical distribution of mangrove littorinids in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Oecologia 117:433–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edgar GJ, Shaw C (1995a) The production and trophic ecology of shallow-water fish assemblages in southern Australia I. Species richness, size-structure and production of fishes in Western Port, Victoria. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 194:53–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edgar GJ, Shaw C (1995b) The production and trophic ecology of shallow-water fish assemblages in southern Australia II. Diets of fishes and trophic relationships between fishes and benthos at Western Port, Victoria. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 194:83–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson RN, Robb L (1996) Piscine predation on juvenile fishes on a Scottish sandy beach. J Fish Biol 49:120–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Acosta A, De la Cruz-Aguero G, De la Cruz-Aguero J, Ruiz-Campos G (1999) Icthyofauna associated to El Conchalito mangrove swamp, Ensenada de La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Oceanides 14:121–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday IA, Young WR (1996) Density, biomass and species composition of fish in a subtropical Rhizophora stylosa mangrove forest. Mar Freshw Res 47:609–615

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamer PA, Jenkins GP (1996) Larval supply and short-term recruitment of a temperate zone demersal fish, the King George Whiting, Sillaginodes punctata Cuvier and Valenciennes, to an embayment in south-eastern Australia. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 208:197–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harty C (1997) Mangroves in NSW and Victoria: forests of the tidal zone in temperate Australia. Vista Publications, Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • Hindell JS, Jenkins GP, Keough MJ (2000) Variability in abundances of fishes associated with seagrass habitats in relation to diets of predatory fishes. Mar Biol 136:725–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogarth P (1999) The biology of mangroves. Oxford University Press, New York

  • Inglis G (1995) Intertidal muddy shores. In: Underwood AJ, Chapman MG (eds) Coastal marine ecology of temperate Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, pp 171–186

  • Jenkins G, Hamer P (2001) Spatial variation in the use of seagrass and un-vegetated habitats by post-settlement King George whiting (Percoidei: Sillaginidae) in relation to meiofaunal distribution and macrophyte structure. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 224:219–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins GP, May HMA, Wheatley MJ, Holloway MG (1997) Comparison of fish assemblages associated with seagrass and adjacent unvegetated habitats of Port Phillip Bay and Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia, with emphasis on commercial species. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 44:569–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kathiresan K (2000) A review of studies on Pichavaram mangrove, southeast India. Hydrobiologia 430:185–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kathiresan K, Bingham B (2001) Biology of mangroves and mangrove ecosystems. Adv Mar Biol 40:84–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuo S, Lin H, Shao K (1999) Fish assemblages in the mangrove creeks of northern and southern Taiwan. Estuaries 22:1004–1015

    Google Scholar 

  • Laegdsgaard P, Johnson CR (1995) Mangrove habitats as nurseries: unique assemblages of juvenile fish in subtropical mangroves in eastern Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 126:67–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Laegdsgaard P, Johnson CR (2001) Why do juvenile fish utilise mangrove habitats? J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 257:229–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Laroche J, Baran E, Rasoanandrasana N (1997) Temporal patterns in a fish assemblage of a semiarid mangrove zone in Madagascar. J Fish Biol 51:3–20

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lenanton R, Potter I (1987) Contribution of estuaries to commercial fisheries in temperate western Australia and the concept of estuarine dependence. Estuaries 10:28–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Ley J, Halliday I, Tobin A, Garrett R, Gribble N (2002) Ecosystem effects of fishing closures in mangrove estuaries of tropical Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 245:223–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Ley JA, McIvor CC, Montague CL (1999) Fishes in mangrove prop-root habitats of northeastern Florida Bay: distinct assemblages across an estuarine gradient. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 48:701–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin HJ, Shao KT (1999) Seasonal and diel changes in a subtropical mangrove fish assemblage. Bull Mar Sci 65:775–794

    Google Scholar 

  • Little C (2000) The biology of soft shores and estuaries. Oxford University Press, New York

  • Louis M, Bouchon C, Bouchon-Navaro Y (1995) Spatial and temporal variations of mangrove fish assemblages in Martinique (French West Indies). Hydrobiologia 295:275–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison M, Francis M, Hartill B, Parkinson D (2002) Diurnal and tidal variation in the abundance of the fish fauna of a temperate tidal mudflat. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 54:793–807

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morton RM (1990) Community structure, density and standing crop of fishes in a subtropical Australian mangrove area. Mar Biol 105:385–394

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagelkerken I, Velde G van der (2002) Do non-estuarine mangroves harbour higher densities of juvenile fish than adjacent shallow-water and coral reef habitats in Curacao (Netherlands Antilles). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 245:191–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagelkerken I, Velde G van der, Gorissen M, Meijer G, Van’t Hof T, Den Hartog C (2000) Importance of mangroves, seagrass beds and the shallow coral reef as a nursery for important coral reef fishes, using a visual census technique. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 51:31–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OZESTUARIES (2000) Estuary assessment 2000. National Land & Water Resources audit: a program of the Natural Heritage Trust. http://www.ozestuaries.org

  • Pinto L, Punchihewa NN (1996) Utilisation of mangroves and seagrasses by fishes in the Negombo Estuary, Sri Lanka. Mar Biol 126:333–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn G, Keough M (2002) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Robertson AI, Duke NC (1987) Mangroves as nursery sites: comparisons of the abundance and species composition of fish and crustaceans in mangroves and other nearshore habitats in tropical Australia. Mar Biol 96:193–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson AI, Duke NC (1990) Mangrove fish-communities in tropical Queensland, Australia: spatial and temporal patterns in densities, biomass and community structure. Mar Biol 104:369–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Rueda M (2001) Spatial distribution of fish species in a tropical estuarine lagoon: a geostatistical appraisal. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 222:217–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Thollot P (1992) Importance of mangroves for the reef fish fauna from New Caledonia. Cybium 16:331–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Tongnunui P, Ikejima K, Yamane T, Horinouchi M, Medej T, Sano M, Kurokura H, Taniuchi T (2002) Fish fauna of the Sikao Creek mangrove estuary, Trang, Thailand. Fish Sci 68:10–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vance D, Haywood M, Heales D, Kenyon R, Loneragan N, Pendrey R (2002) Distribution of juvenile penaeid prawns in mangrove forests in a tropical Australian estuary, with particular reference to Penaeus merguiensis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 228:165–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidy G (2000) Estuarine and mangrove systems and the nursery concept: which is which? The case of the Sine Saloum system (Senegal). Wetlands Ecol Manage 8:37–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without generous funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC 2001/036) and Fisheries Victoria. D. Hatton, S. Blake, and S. Moran helped with fieldwork. D. Ball helped with the preparation of figures. Earlier versions of this manuscript were improved by comments from L. Morris and two anonymous reviewers. This work was done using the facilities at the Primary Industries Research Victoria and the Queenscliff Marine Station.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primary Industries Research Victoria, Marine and Freshwater Systems, and Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, PO Box 114, Queenscliff 3225, Australia

    J. S. Hindell & G. P. Jenkins

Authors
  1. J. S. Hindell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. P. Jenkins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. S. Hindell.

Additional information

Communicated by M.S. Johnson, Crawley

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hindell, J.S., Jenkins, G.P. Spatial and temporal variability in the assemblage structure of fishes associated with mangroves (Avicennia marina) and intertidal mudflats in temperate Australian embayments. Marine Biology 144, 385–395 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1201-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1201-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation