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Use of Shallow Lagoon Habitats by Nekton of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico
Citation:
ROZAS, L. P., T. J. MINELLO, AND D. D. DANTIN. Use of Shallow Lagoon Habitats by Nekton of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts. Estuarine Research Federation, Port Republic, MD, 35(2):572-586, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
Provide comparative use of valued nekton species of coastal habitats of a NE Gulf estuary. Secondary objective is to make such information available for assessment of relative value of threatened habitats considered critical for sustainable nearshore fishery populations in the NE Gulf. We also compared results to published data of nekton habitat use in the NW Gulf.
Description:
We compared nekton use of prominent habitat types within a lagoonal system of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). These habitat types were defined by combinations of structure (cover type) and location (distance from shore) as: Spartina edge (<1m from shore), Spartina 3 m from shore, Juncus edge (<1m from shore), seagrass located 3, 5, and 20 m from shore, and shallow nonvegetated bottom (SNB) at various distances from shore. Although seagrass and Spartina edge sites differed little in environmental characteristics, the density and biomass of most abundant taxa, including pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum, were higher in seagrass. Most species within seagrass and Spartina did not differ in abundance or biomass with distance from shore. Our study revealed a shift in peak habitat use in the northeastern GoM to seagrass beds from the pattern observed to the west where nekton is concentrated within shoreline emergent vegetation.