Agonostomus Monticola) in Brackish Water of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles
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Gulf and Caribbean Research Volume 28 Issue 1 2017 Occurrence of a Colorful Prejuvenile Mountain Mullet (Agonostomus monticola) in Brackish Water of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles Robert E. Schmidt Bard College at Simon's Rock, [email protected] Erin R. McMullin Bard College at Simon's Rock, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Schmidt, R. E. and E. R. McMullin. 2017. Occurrence of a Colorful Prejuvenile Mountain Mullet (Agonostomus monticola) in Brackish Water of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles. Gulf and Caribbean Research 28 (1): SC1-SC4. Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr/vol28/iss1/1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.2801.01 This Short Communication is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gulf and Caribbean Research by an authorized editor of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VOLUME 25 VOLUME GULF AND CARIBBEAN Volume 25 RESEARCH March 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS GULF AND CARIBBEAN SAND BOTTOM MICROALGAL PRODUCTION AND BENTHIC NUTRIENT FLUXES ON THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO NEARSHORE SHELF RESEARCH Jeffrey G. Allison, M. E. Wagner, M. McAllister, A. K. J. Ren, and R. A. Snyder....................................................................................1—8 WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT SPECIES RICHNESS AND DISTRIBUTION ON THE OUTER—SHELF SOUTH TEXAS BANKS? Harriet L. Nash, Sharon J. Furiness, and John W. Tunnell, Jr. ......................................................................................................... 9—18 Volume 28 ASSESSMENT OF SEAGRASS FLORAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE FROM TWO CARIBBEAN MARINE PROTECTED 2017 AREAS ISSN: 2572-1410 Paul A. X. Bologna and Anthony J. Suleski ............................................................................................................................................. 19—27 SPATIAL AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF RED DRUM CAUGHT AND RELEASED IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, AND FAC- TORS ASSOCIATED WITH POST—RELEASE HOOKING MORTALITY Kerry E. Flaherty, Brent L. Winner, Julie L. Vecchio, and Theodore S. Switzer....................................................................................29—41 CHARACTERIZATION OF ICHTHYOPLANKTON IN THE NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO FROM SEAMAP PLANK- TON SURVEYS, 1982—1999 Joanne Lyczkowski—Shultz, David S. Hanisko, Kenneth J. Sulak, Ma gorzata Konieczna, and Pamela J. Bond ..................................43—98 ł GULF AND CARIBBEAN R Short Communications DEPURATION OF MACONDA (MC—252) OIL FOUND IN HETEROTROPHIC SCLERACTINIAN CORALS (TUBASTREA COCCINEA AND TUBASTREA MICRANTHUS) ON OFFSHORE OIL/GAS PLATFORMS IN THE GULF Steve R. Kolian, Scott Porter, Paul W. Sammarco, and Edwin W. Cake, Jr........................................................................................99—103 EFFECTS OF CLOSURE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER GULF OUTLET ON SALTWATER INTRUSION AND BOTTOM WATER HYPOXIA IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN Michael A. Poirrier .............................................................................................................................................................................105—109 DISTRIBUTION AND LENGTH FREQUENCY OF INVASIVE LIONFISH (PTEROIS SP.) IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO OF MEXICO Alexander Q. Fogg, Eric R. Hoffmayer, William B. Driggers III, Matthew D. Campbell, Gilmore J. Pellegrin, and William Stein ESEARCH ............................................................................................................................................................................................................111—115 NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF INVASIVE LIONFISH (PTEROIS SP.) FROM THE NORTHCENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO William Stein III, Nancy J. Brown—Peterson, James S. Franks, and Martin T. O’Connell ...............................................................117—120 RECORD BODY SIZE FOR THE RED LIONFISH, PTEROIS VOLITANS (SCORPAENIFORMES), IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO Alfonso Aguilar—Perera, Leidy Perera—Chan, and Luis Quijano—Puerto ...........................................................................................121—123 EFFECTS OF BLACK MANGROVE (AVICENNIA GERMINANS) EXPANSION ON SALTMARSH (SPARTINA ALTERNI- FLORA) BENTHIC COMMUNITIES OF THE SOUTH TEXAS COAST Jessica Lunt, Kimberly McGlaun, and Elizabeth M. Robinson..........................................................................................................125—129 TIME—ACTIVITY BUDGETS OF STOPLIGHT PARROTFISH (SCARIDAE: SPARISOMA VIRIDE) IN BELIZE: CLEANING INVITATION AND DIURNAL PATTERNS Wesley A. Dent and Gary R. Gaston .................................................................................................................................................131—135 FIRST RECORD OF A NURSE SHARK, GINGLYMOSTOMA CIRRATUM, WITHIN THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND Jill M. Hendon, Eric R. Hoffmayer, and William B. Driggers III......................................................................................................137—139 REVIEWERS ........................................................................................................................................................................................................141 INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS ...............................................................................................................................................................142-143 Published by © 2013 The University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Published by Research Laboratory. MARCH 2013 Printed in the United States of America ISSN: 1528—0470 703 East Beach Drive All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or 228.872.4200 • FAX: 228.872.4204 by any means without written permission from the publisher. Ocean Springs, Mississippi www.usm.edu/gcrl Gulf and Caribbean Research Vol 28, SC1-4, 2017 Manuscript received, November 3, 2016; accepted, January 31, 2017 DOI: 10.18785/gcr.2801.01 SHORT COMMUNICATION OCCURRENCE OF A COLORFUL PREJUVENILE MOUNTAIN MULLET (AGONOSTOMUS MONTICOLA) IN BRACKISH WATER OF MONTSERRAT, LESSER ANTILLES Robert E. Schmidt* and Erin R. McMullin Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA 01230, USA; *Corresponding author, email: schmidt@simons—rock.edu KEY WORDS: Mugilidae, Caribbean, Amphidromy INTRODUCTION Two freshwater mullets (Mugilidae) have been recorded in the Caribbean, Bobo Mullet, Joturus pichardi Poey 1860 and Mountain Mullet, Agonostomus monticola (Bancroft 1834). McMahan et al. (2013) found 4 distinct lineages within the Mountain Mullet, roughly corresponding to ocean basins: an Eastern Mexico form, a Caribbean form, and 2 forms in the Pacific Ocean. Mountain Mullet has often been described as catadromous (e.g., Fievet et al. 2001), but its condition has been questioned (Gilbert and Kelso 1971, Loftus et al. 1984, Cruz 1987). In Puerto Rico, it has been considered amphidromous as determined by Sr:Ca ratios and passive integrated transponder (PIT) and radio-telemetry tagging (Smith andUncorrected Kwak 2014). Regardless of the categorization of proofs- migratory behavior of Mountain Mullet, early larval stages through small juveniles are marine. Although the marine stages have been described, the taxonomy of these early life history stagesNot is confusing (Anderson for 1957, Ditty Distribution et al. 2006). Mugilid juveniles are silvery, but Robins et al. (1986) found Mountain Mullet juveniles with a “Bright red stripe on side on front half of body” (their emphasis). The objective of the present work is to describe the morphology and color pattern of small prejuvenile Mountain Mullet from brackish/ freshwater in Montserrat, Lesser Antilles. MATERIALS AND METHODS Montserrat is a small volcanic island on the northern end FIGURE 1. Study area showing major river drainages. The Belham River of the Lesser Antilles (Figure 1). The Nantes River, located is indicated by dashed lines because it was buried by pyroclastic flows and on the western side of the island (Figure 1), is the first subsequent lahars to a depth of >10 m. intact drainage north of pyroclastic flows and subsequent ‘lahars’ that buried the island’s largest freshwater stream, the Caribbean Sea by a 4 m cobble and boulder beach. Storm Belham River, during eruptions of 1995—2012 (Barclay et al. surges inundated its mouth at least up to the first waterfall, a 2007). The Nantes River is 3 km long, drops about 550 m 1.5 m drop about 40 m inland. in altitude (Montserrat Tourist Board 1983), and has many Mountain Mullet were collected on 8 January 2015 with boulders and large cobble in the stream bed. In 2015, this dip nets from shallow pools at the mouth of the Nantes River spring—fed river was very shallow (although flowing) and was and kept alive in an aquarium to be digitally photographed. no more than 1 m wide. Pools (up to 2.5 m wide, at most 1 m Morphology and coloration of Mountain Mullet prejuveniles deep) alternated with very shallow riffles and vertical drops were taken from digital photographs of living individuals in up to 2 m. Its mouth was a shallow pool separated from the the aquarium. Meristic and morphometric characters were SC1 Schmidt and McMullin recorded by measuring each preserved specimen with a pair of dividers following Harrison et al. (2007). These current data were compared to previous morphometrics recorded for