Recruitment Patterns in Young French Grunts. Haemulon Flavolineatum (family Haemulidae). at St. Croix. Virgin Islands
Year: 1985
Type: article
Abstract: During 1979 and 1!l80 the settlement of postlarval grunts (mostly French grunts.H"..mu{(»Ijlm'Qhnen.lwm)from the plankton tl, inshore areas in Tague Bay.St. Croix, Virgin Islands, was monitored.Settlement occurred at all times of the year.but showed two distinct maxima during May-June and October-November.Summer settlement rates wel'e approximately one-thir-.ithe peak rates, whereas winter settlement rates were low hut always present.A r1ominant, semilunar periorlicity in the settlement of t.he postlarvae was dearly present.but smaller interspersed weekly peaks occurred.Calculation of the fertilization dates of recently settled postlarval b'l"llnts, derived frum otolith ages, also established a dominant 15•day periodicity, hut ab'llin interspersed with smaller weekly fertilization peaks.The phase of settlement and fertilization is most strongly associated with the quarter moons and/or intermediate daily excursions of the tides: the smaller weekly peaks are more closely associated with new and full moons.The pelagic existence of French b'runts is ahout 15 days.suggesting that fertilizations lhat lead to successful recruitment to inshore areas precede settlement by 15 days.Two) hypotheses-semilunar shifts in spawning versus a more constant daily rate of repr\,ouction-are discussed as possible explanations of the dominant semilunar rhythm observed in the settlement patterns.
Language: English
Subfield: Aquatic Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2341776683