Ten individuals of Cephalopholis cruentata, a marine serranid common on Caribbean coral reefs and important to artisanal reef fisheries, were implanted with acoustic transmitters on two reefs within the Soufriere Marine Management Area, St. Lucia. The mean home range area determined was 2120m2. Home range shape was non-circular, with a mean aspect ratio of 0.72. Neither home range size nor home range shape differed between the study sites or as a function of fish size. However, more active fish, as determined by movement per hour and displacement per hour, had larger home ranges. / Use of space within the home range was characterised as activity rates (movement per hour), displacement rates (maximum distance between fish locations per hour), and preferential use of specific areas (% of position fixes in different areas). All fish demonstrated a clear preference for specific areas in their home range. Activity, displacement and % time spent in the preferred reef area were not correlated with fish size. Activity and displacement were higher by night than by day, and consistent with this, fish spent less time in their preferred home range area by night than by day. Given the home range size and movement patterns of C. cruentata determined in the study, the effectiveness of the marine reserve zones in the Soufriere Marine Management Area in protecting C. cruentata is assessed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33825 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Popple, Ian D. |
| Contributors | Hunte, Wayne (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001874034, proquestno: MQ78942, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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