Faunal Composition and Distribution of Pelagic Larval And
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Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations HCNSO Student Work 12-8-2015 Faunal Composition and Distribution of Pelagic Larval and Juvenile Flatfishes (Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Connectivity Between Coastal and Oceanic Epipelagic Ecosystems Lacey Malarky Nova Southeastern University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Lacey Malarky. 2015. Faunal Composition and Distribution of Pelagic Larval and Juvenile Flatfishes (Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Connectivity Between Coastal and Oceanic Epipelagic Ecosystems. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (397) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/397. This Thesis is brought to you by the HCNSO Student Work at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HALMOS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND OCEANOGRAPHY Faunal composition and distribution of pelagic larval and juvenile flatfishes (Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes) in the northern Gulf of Mexico: connectivity between coastal and oceanic epipelagic ecosystems By Lacey Malarky Submitted to the Faculty of Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science with a specialty in: Marine Biology Nova Southeastern University December 2015 Thesis of Lacey Malarky Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science: Marine Biology Nova Southeastern University Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography December 2015 Approved: Thesis Committee Major Professor :______________________________ Tracey Sutton, Ph.D. Committee Member :___________________________ Samuel Purkis, Ph.D. Committee Member :___________________________ Thomas Munroe, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Pleuronectiformes (flatfishes) occur throughout the global oceans, and have high ecological and commercial importance in some areas. Though much is known regarding life history, abundance, and distribution for the benthic adult stage of flatfish species, much less is known about the pelagic larval phases of flatfishes in the open ocean. Taxonomic uncertainty and limited sampling in the oceanic Gulf of Mexico contribute to data gaps with respect to the distribution of early life history stage of flatfishes in this region. Knowledge of the faunal composition, abundance and distribution of larval flatfishes, such as members of Bothus, which have extended pelagic phases, is important for modeling their population dynamics as well as for understanding the importance of connectivity between neritic and oceanic ecosystems in their life histories. Pleuronectiform specimens utilized in this study were collected in the northern offshore Gulf of Mexico during several cruises conducted throughout 2010-2011 as part of the NOAA Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DWHOS). The Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis program (ONSAP) was established to determine composition, abundance and distribution of deep-water invertebrates and fishes in Gulf of Mexico waters that were potentially affected by the DWHOS. Results of the first large- scale discrete-depth distributional analysis of fishes in this region revealed that flatfishes were an intrinsic component of the oceanic ichthyofauna of these waters. A total of 2365 flatfish specimens were collected in offshore waters, representing four families and 11 of the 18 genera that occur in the Gulf of Mexico. Species composition was dominated by members of the genus Bothus, which had a high frequency of occurrence in the epipelagic zone throughout the year. Citharichthys spilopterus and Trichopsetta ventralis were the second- and third-most abundant and frequently occurring taxa, respectively. Detailed spatial analyses of taxa in the epipelagic zone revealed that larvae of Citharichthys spilopterus were only collected in winter and occurred most frequently near the continental shelf break, while early life stages of Bothus spp. were more abundant at the northern convergence flow of a large anticyclonic Loop Current eddy during spring and summer. Keywords: early life stages, offshore, oceanic Gulf of Mexico, Loop Current i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my major advisor Dr. Tracey Sutton for his continuous support, guidance and motivation. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Sam Purkis and Dr. Tom Munroe for their valuable insight throughout this thesis project. Special thanks to Dr. Joanne Lyczkowski-Shultz and Lauren Jackson (NOAA SEFSC) who assisted with the taxonomic identification of specimens. I would also like to acknowledge April Cook for her guidance regarding data analysis, as well as members of the Oceanic Ecology Laboratory for their assistance with the curation of specimens used in this study. ii Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables v List of Figures vi Introduction 1 General Background 1 Pelagic Larval Phase 2 Classification & Phylogeny 4 Morphological and Life-History Characteristics 5 Oceanographic Features of the Gulf of Mexico 6 Statement of Purpose 9 Methods 10 Sample Collection and Processing 10 Taxonomic Identification 13 Data Analysis 14 Spatial Interpolation 15 Oceanographic Features 16 Results 18 Synthesis of Larval Characters for Taxonomic Identification 18 Bothidae 18 Poecilopsettidae 20 Paralichthyidae 20 Cynoglossidae 23 Faunal Composition and Abundance 23 Comparison of Gear Type 24 Seasonal Occurrence 29 iii Spatial Occurrence 29 Vertical Distribution 29 Frequency of Occurrence 35 Horizontal Distribution 36 Discussion 44 Faunal Composition 44 Seasonal and Spatial Distribution 47 Bothus spp. 47 Trichopsetta ventralis 53 Citharichthys spilopterus 54 Future Research 54 Conclusion 56 References 57 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Summary of quantitative sample data for all three M/V Meg Skansi 12 surveys Table 2. Total number of flatfish specimens collected by life-history stage and 24 size range, per taxonomic unit Table 3. Spearman’s rank table of flatfish catch per unit effort and rank of taxa 25 for the two gear types utilized during ONSAP: MOCNESS and large, dual-warp trawl Table 4. Faunal composition and abundance of early life stage flatfishes 27 collected during M/V Meg Skansi surveys Table 5. Percent frequency of occurrence for all flatfish taxa collected in the 35 epipelagic zone by solar cycle during M/V Meg Skansi surveys v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. M/V Meg Skansi sampling station locations. 10 Figure 2. NOAA FRV Pisces sampling station locations. 13 Figure 3. HYCOM image of sea surface height and surface currents in the 17 northern Gulf of Mexico during the MS7 sampling campaign. Figure 4. Spearman’s rank scatterplot of catch per unit effort of flatfish taxa 25 collected with a large, dual-warp trawl verses 10-m2 MOCNESS. Figure 5. Standardized abundance of the top 10 fish taxa collected in the 26 epipelagic zone during the MS7 survey. Figure 6. Standardized abundance of all flatfish specimens collected during M/V 28 Meg Skansi surveys by solar cycle, from 0 to 200 m. Figure 7. Seasonal occurrence of the top 3-most abundant flatfish taxa collected 30 at night during an M/V Meg Skansi survey. Figure 8. Vertical distributions of all flatfish taxa collected during M/V Meg 31 Skansi surveys, showing diel vertical distribution. Figure 9. Seasonal depth of occurrence interpolation of Bothus spp. collected at 33 night during M/V Meg Skansi surveys. Figure 10. Size range distribution with depth for specimens of Bothus spp. 34 collected during each M/V Meg Skansi survey. Figure 11: Three-dimensional seasonal abundance interpolation of larvae and 37 juvenile Bothus spp. collected during M/V Meg Skansi surveys. Figure 12. Seasonal abundance interpolation of larvae and juvenile Bothus spp. 38 collected at night in the epipelagic zone during M/V Meg Skansi surveys. Figure 13. Epipelagic distribution of Bothus spp. collected during the MS7 39 survey. vi Figure 14. Correlation of oceanographic features present during the MS7 late 40 spring/early summer 2011 campaign with abundance and distribution of Bothus spp. collected in the epipelagic zone. Figure 15. Seasonal epipelagic distribution of Trichopsetta ventralis larvae 42 collected during M/V Meg Skansi surveys. Figure 16. Epipelagic distribution of Citharichthys spilopterus larvae collected 43 during the MS6 survey. Figure 17. HYCOM sea surface height and currents during the late summer 51 sampling period, showing oceanographic features present on August 10, 2011. Figure 18. HYCOM sea surface height and currents during the late summer 52 sampling period, showing oceanographic features present on September 26, 2011. vii INTRODUCTION General Background. Pleuronectiform fishes have a nearly global distribution from the southern Arctic Ocean through equatorial shelves, to continental seas off Antarctica. Adult marine flatfishes occupy a wide range of bathymetric habitats from shallow shorelines to the outer margins of the continental shelf, with a depth range up to 2000 m (Munroe 2005). In general, flatfish species diversity increases along the continental shelf region