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Comparison of Growth of the Reef Fish Species Haemulon Flavolineatum

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Comparison of Growth of the Reef Fish Species Haemulon Flavolineatum Comparison of growth of the reef fish species Haemulon flavolineatum (French grunt) between seagrass beds, mangroves and the coral reef, as a test for the nursery hypothesis E.M.G. Kokkelmans 0497908 March 2007 M.G.G. Grol, I. Nagelkerken Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Radboud University Nijmegen, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Aruba (DLVV) ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................. 3 2. METHODS ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 STUDY AREAS ................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1.1 Curaçao................................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.3. Studied species..................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ................................................................................................................................ 6 2.2.1. Fishing................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2.2. Additional research ............................................................................................................................. 8 2.2.3. Abiotic factors ..................................................................................................................................... 8 2.3 STATISTICS .................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.1. Curaçao............................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................... 9 3. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 3.1 TESTS OF CONFOUNDING FACTORS .............................................................................................................. 10 3.1.1. Curaçao............................................................................................................................................. 10 3.1.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................. 11 3.1.3. Comparison of two main areas in Aruba........................................................................................... 12 3.2 FREQUENCIES .............................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.1. Curaçao............................................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................. 14 3.3 GROWTH PER HABITAT ................................................................................................................................ 15 3.3.1. Curaçao............................................................................................................................................. 15 3.3.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................. 17 3.4 COMPARISON CURAÇAO AND ARUBA .......................................................................................................... 18 3.5 GROWTH AND ABIOTIC FACTORS ................................................................................................................. 20 3.5.1. Curaçao............................................................................................................................................. 21 3.5.2. Aruba................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.6 GROWTH AND FOOD AVAILABILITY ............................................................................................................. 22 4. DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................................. 24 4.1 GROWTH AND THE NURSERY HYPOTHESIS ................................................................................................... 24 4.2 COMPARISON BETWEEN CURAÇAO AND ARUBA .......................................................................................... 25 4.3 ABIOTIC FACTORS ....................................................................................................................................... 25 4.4 FOOD AVAILABILITY ................................................................................................................................... 26 4.5 LARGER SIZE CLASSES AND OTHER NURSERIES ............................................................................................ 27 4.6 TRADE OFF .................................................................................................................................................. 27 4.7 CONSERVATION ........................................................................................................................................... 28 5. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................ 28 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................................ 28 7. REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................ 29 8. APPENDIXES ................................................................................................................................................. 32 8.1 APPENDIX 1................................................................................................................................................. 32 8.2 APPENDIX 2................................................................................................................................................. 33 8.3 APPENDIX 3................................................................................................................................................. 35 8.4 APPENDIX 4................................................................................................................................................. 36 8.5 APPENDIX 5................................................................................................................................................. 38 8.6 APPENDIX 6................................................................................................................................................. 39 8.7 APPENDIX 7................................................................................................................................................. 41 8.8 APPENDIX 8................................................................................................................................................. 42 8.9 APPENDIX 9................................................................................................................................................. 43 8.10 APPENDIX 10............................................................................................................................................. 43 1 Abstract Juvenile French grunts ( Haemulon flavolineatum ) were caught, measured in length and weight and introduced in cages for 6 to 8 weeks to grow in their natural environments, the reef, the seagrass beds and the mangroves. After this period, weighing and measuring length was repeated and the growth could be calculated. The mangroves and seagrass beds are identified as nursery habitats for juvenile reef fish and are supposed to increase their survival chances. The nursery hypothesis claims nurseries are beneficial to the juveniles in several ways, including higher growth rates. This research, conducted on the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Aruba proved the opposite for juveniles between 3.5 and 4 cm. The growth in length and weight of the fishes were higher, although only significantly in Aruba, in the reef habitat compared to the nurseries. Food samples collected on Aruba at each site were comparable with the growth results, because the highest food availability
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