SB10 Chap 6 Demersal Fish.Indd 1 6/21/2011 1:22:43 PM Taxa Combined, Though Large Or Exceptionally

Chapter 6. Demersal Fishes and Megabenthic Invertebrates ocean monitoring program. Natural factors INTRODUCTION that may affect these organisms include prey Demersal (bottom dwelling) fishes and relatively availability (Cross et al. 1985), bottom relief and large (megabenthic), mobile invertebrates are sediment structure (Helvey and Smith 1985), and collected and analyzed for the South Bay Ocean changes in water temperatures associated with Outfall (SBOO) monitoring program to evaluate large scale oceanographic events such as El Niño/ possible effects of wastewater discharge on their La Niña oscillations (Karinen et al. 1985). These communities. These fishes and invertebrates are factors can affect migration patterns of adult conspicuous members of continental shelf habitats fish or the recruitment of juveniles into an area and are therefore important to the ecology of the (Murawski 1993). Population fluctuations that southern California coastal shelf, serving vital affect species diversity and abundance of both functions in wide ranging capacities. More than fishes and invertebrates may also be due to the 100 species of demersal fishes inhabit the Southern mobile nature of many species (e.g., fish schools, California Bight (SCB), while the megabenthic urchin aggregations). invertebrate fauna consists of more than 200 species (Allen 1982, Allen et al. 1998, 2002, 2007). For the This chapter presents analyses and interpretations of region surrounding the SBOO, the most common the trawl survey data collected during 2010, as well trawl-caught fishes include speckled sanddab, as a long-term assessment of these communities hornyhead turbot, California halibut, and California from 1995 through 2010. The primary goals are to: lizardfish. Common trawl-caught invertebrates (1) identify possible effects of wastewater discharge include various echinoderms (e.g., sea stars, sea on demersal fishes and megabenthic invertebrates, urchins, sea cucumbers, sand dollars), crustaceans (2) determine the presence or absence of biological (e.g., crabs, shrimp), mollusks (e.g., marine snails, impacts near the discharge site, and (3) identify octopuses) and other taxa. Because such organisms spatial or temporal trends in demersal community live in close proximity to the seafloor, they can be structure in the region. impacted by changes in sediments affected by both point and non-point sources (e.g., discharges from ocean outfalls and storm drains, surface runoff from MATERIALS AND METHODS watersheds, outflows from rivers and bays, disposal of dredge materials; see Chapter 4). For these Field Sampling reasons, their assessment has become an important focus of ocean monitoring programs throughout the Trawl surveys were conducted at seven fixed world, but especially in the SCB where they have monitoring stations around the SBOO during 2010 been sampled extensively for almost 40 years on (Figure 6.1). These surveys were conducted during the mainland shelf (Cross and Allen 1993). January (winter), April (spring), July (summer), and October (fall) for a total of 28 community Demersal fish and megabenthic invertebrate trawls during the year. These stations, designated communities are inherently variable and SD15–SD21, are located along the 28-m depth are influenced by many factors. Therefore, contour and encompass an area ranging from south distinguishing changes in these communities of Point Loma, California (USA) to an area off caused by anthropogenic influences such the Punta Bandera, Baja California (Mexico). A single SBOO wastewater discharge from other, more trawl was performed at each station during each natural, sources is an important aspect of the survey using a 7.6-m Marinovich otter trawl fitted 69 SB10 Chap 6 Demersal Fish.indd 1 6/21/2011 1:22:43 PM taxa combined, though large or exceptionally Point Loma Outfall San San abundant taxa were weighed separately. Diego Diego Bay Data Analyses SD21 ! Populations of each fish and invertebrate species were summarized as percent abundance per haul, frequency of occurrence among stations, mean LA4 SD20 ! abundance per haul, and mean abundance per SD19 occurrence. In addition, species richness (number ! Tiju ana Ri ve r SD18 of taxa), total abundance, total biomass, and ! South Bay Outfall . SD17! U.S Mexico Shannon diversity index (H') were calculated for SD16 each station/survey. For historical comparisons, ! 150 m data were grouped as “nearfield” stations (SD17, 100 m SD18), “south farfield” stations (SD15, SD16), and MEXICO “north farfield” stations (SD19, SD20, SD21). The SD15 ! two nearfield stations were those located closest to 55 m 8 m m 2 19 38 m m 19 the outfall (i.e., within 1000 m of the outfall wye). 9 m 4 Multivariate analyses of demersal fish communities km 0 1 2 3 4 5 sampled in the region were performed using data Figure 6.1 collected from 1995 through 2010. In order to Otter trawl station locations, South Bay Ocean Outfall reduce statistical noise due to seasonal variation in Monitoring Program. population abundances, analyses were limited to data from the July surveys only. PRIMER software with a 1.3-cm cod-end mesh net. The net was towed was used to examine spatio-temporal patterns in for 10 minutes bottom time at a speed of about the overall similarity of fish assemblages in the 2.0 knots along a predetermined heading. region (Clarke 1993, Warwick 1993, Clarke and Gorley 2006). These analyses included The total catch from each trawl was brought classification by hierarchical agglomerative onboard ship for sorting and inspection. All clustering with group-average linking and fishes and invertebrates captured were identified ordination by non-metric multidimensional to species or to the lowest taxon possible. If an scaling (nMDS). The fish abundance data were animal could not be identified in the field, it was square-root transformed and the Bray-Curtis returned to the laboratory for further identification. measure of similarity was used as the basis for For fishes, the total number of individuals and classification. Because species composition total biomass (kg, wet weight) were recorded was sparse at some stations, a “dummy” species for each species. Additionally, each individual with an abundance value of 1 was added to all fish was inspected for physical anomalies or samples prior to computing similarities (Clarke indicators of disease (e.g., tumors, lesions, fin and Gorley 2006). Similarity profile (SIMPROF) erosion, discoloration) as well as the presence analysis was used to confirm non-random of external parasites, and then measured to the structure of the dendrogram (Clarke et al. 2008). nearest centimeter size class (standard lengths). Similarity percentages (SIMPER) analysis was For invertebrates, the total number of individuals subsequently used to identify which species was recorded per species. Due to the small size primarily account for observed differences of most organisms, invertebrate biomass was between cluster groups, as well as to identify typically measured as a composite weight of all species typical of each group. 70 SB10 Chap 6 Demersal Fish.indd 2 6/21/2011 1:22:49 PM Table 6.1 Demersal fish species collected in 28 trawls in the SBOO region during 2010. PA= percent abundance; FO=frequency of occurrence; MAH=mean abundance per haul; MAO=mean abundance per occurrence. Species PA FO MAH MAO Species PA FO MAH MAO Speckled sanddab 49 100 114 114 Basketweave cuskeel < 1 7 < 1 3 California lizardfi sh 21 96 49 51 Fantail sole < 1 18 < 1 1 Yellowchin sculpin 6 54 15 27 Vermilion rockfi sh < 1 14 < 1 2 English sole 5 64 12 19 Pink seaperch < 1 7 < 1 3 White croaker 4 39 10 25 Stripetail rockfi sh < 1 11 < 1 2 Roughback sculpin 3 64 7 11 California skate < 1 11 < 1 1 Pacifi c pompano 3 18 7 37 Kelp bass < 1 4 < 1 4 California tonguefi sh 1 75 3 5 Pygmy poacher < 1 14 < 1 1 Longfi n sanddab 1 57 3 6 Spotted cuskeel < 1 11 < 1 1 Hornyhead turbot 1 82 3 4 Spotted turbot < 1 11 < 1 1 Longspine combfi sh 1 43 2 6 Diamond turbot < 1 7 < 1 2 Queenfi sh 1 25 2 6 Sarcastic fringehead < 1 11 < 1 1 Shiner perch < 1 29 1 3 Barcheek pipefi sh < 1 7 < 1 1 Plainfi n midshipman < 1 36 1 2 California butterfl y ray < 1 4 < 1 2 California scorpionfish < 1 29 1 2 Curlfi n sole < 1 7 < 1 1 Northern anchovy < 1 18 1 3 Pacifi c angel shark < 1 7 < 1 1 Specklefi n midshipman < 1 11 1 5 Bigmouth sole < 1 4 < 1 1 California halibut < 1 25 < 1 1 Brown rockfi sh < 1 4 < 1 1 Ocean whitefi sh < 1 14 < 1 2 Kelp perch < 1 56 < 1 1 Round stingray < 1 14 < 1 2 Kelp pipefi sh < 1 4 < 1 1 Shovelnose guitarfi sh < 1 25 < 1 1 Pacifi c electric ray < 1 4 < 1 1 Thornback < 1 18 < 1 2 sculpin, hornyhead turbot, California tonguefish, RESULTS and longfin sanddab. The majority of species sampled in the South Bay outfall region tended Demersal Fish Community Parameters to be relatively small fish with an average length < 25 cm (see Appendix E.1). Although larger fishes Forty-three species of fish were collected from the such as the Pacific angel shark, Pacific electric ray, monitoring stations surrounding the SBOO in 2010 shovelnose guitarfish, California halibut, California (Table 6.1, Appendix E.1). The total catch for the year skate, round stingray, California butterfly ray, and was 6570 individuals, representing an average of thornback were also caught during the year, these 235 fish per trawl. As in previous years, the speckled species were relatively rare. sanddab was the dominant species collected. This species occurred in every haul, accounted for 49% During 2010, species richness (number of taxa) and of all fishes collected, and averaged 114 individuals diversity (H') values were relatively low compared per haul. California lizardfish were also abundant, to values reported previously for other areas of the and accounted for 21% of the total number of fishes SCB (Allen et al.

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