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Diel Changes in the Vertical Distributions of Some Common Fish Larvae in Southern Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii

Nine series of vertically-stratified zooplankton tows were made
with a closing net at a single station in southern Kaneohe Bay, Oahu,
Hawaii, between 31 August 1973 and 11 April 1974. Sampling periods
occupied from 12 to 26 hours, with tows usually taken at about 3 m
intervals between the surface and a maximum depth of 10 m.

A total of 21,254 fish larvae of 49 kinds was collected. Six
species were abundant: Foa brachygrammus, Omobranchus elongatus,
Callionymus decoratus, Caranx mate, Stolephorus purpureus, and
Abudefduf abdominalis. Blennius sp. and Gnathanodon speciosus were
commonly taken in small numbers.

These common larvae displayed five "distribution patterns:
1. F. brachygrammus and the smallest S. purpureus were most
abundant near the surface at night and at depths below 4 m
during the day;
2. C. mate and G. speciosus were dispersed throughout the water
column at night and usually most abundant between 5 m and 6 m
depth during the day;
3. Blennius sp., o. elongatus, and A. abdominalis were dispersed
throughout the water column at night and concentrated near
the surface during the day;
4. the larger ~. purpureus maintained a level of maximum abundance
below 6 m day and night;
5. C. decoratus was taken at all depths at all times.

Patterns 1, 2, and 3 are shown to be light-related. Pattern 4 is
shown to be partially attributable to avoidance of the towed net by
S. purpureus larvae larger than about 6mm, and a feeding-related
migration is proposed to account for pattern 5.
The observed patterns are analogous to those shown for fish larvae
in the open ocean on scales of from 50 m to 200 m. It is proposed that
Kaneohe Bay represents a vertically compressed ocean with respect to
the vertical distribution of fish larvae. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 130-134.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UHAWAII/oai:scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu:10125/18149
Date12 1900
CreatorsWatson, William
PublisherUniversity of Hawaii, Honolulu
Source SetsUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa Libraries
Languageen-US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Text
Format183 pages
RightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.

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