Gulf and Caribbean Research Volume 30 Issue 1 2019 Rapid Assessment of Post-Hurricane Michael Impacts on a Population of the Sea Urchin Lytechinus variegatus in Seagrass Beds of Eagle Harbor, Port Saint Joseph Bay, Florida Roberta Challener Bellarmine University, [email protected] James B. McClintock University of Alabama at Birmingham, [email protected] Raymond Czaja Jr. University of West Florida, [email protected] Christopher Pomory [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons To access the supplemental data associated with this article, CLICK HERE. Recommended Citation Challener, R., J. B. McClintock, R. Czaja Jr. and C. Pomory. 2019. Rapid Assessment of Post-Hurricane Michael Impacts on a Population of the Sea Urchin Lytechinus variegatus in Seagrass Beds of Eagle Harbor, Port Saint Joseph Bay, Florida. Gulf and Caribbean Research 30 (1): SC11-SC16. Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr/vol30/iss1/7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.3001.07 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 30 ASSESSMENT OF SEAGRASS FLORAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE FROM TWO CARIBBEAN MARINE PROTECTED 2019 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 RESE 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 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................111—115 ARCH 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 30, SC11-16, 2019 Manuscript received August 20, 2019; accepted October 1, 2019 DOI: 10.18785/gcr.3001.07 SHORT COMMUNICATION RAPID ASSESSMENT OF POST-HURRICANE MICHAEL IMPACTS ON A POPULATION OF THE SEA URCHIN LYTECHINUS VARIEGATUS IN SEAGRASS BEDS OF EAGLE HARBOR, SAINT JOSEPH BAY, FLORIDA Roberta C. Challener1*, James B. McClintock2, Raymond Czaja, Jr.3, and Christopher M. Pomory3 1Bellarmine University, Biology Department, 2001 Newburg Road, Louisville, KY 40205; 2University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, 1300 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35294; 3University of West Florida, Biology Department, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL 32514; *Corresponding author, email: [email protected]. KEY WORDS: echinoderms, seagrass ecosystem, storm events, climate change INTRODUCTION Echinoderms comprise an ecologically important group For example, Hurricane Gilbert (1988) and Hurricane Hugo of marine invertebrates whose representatives inhabit coastal (1989) did not significantly alter abundances of ophiuroid shorelines and bays of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Sea ur- or echinoid populations in backreef regions of Jamaica and chins, with their high densities and their capacity to rapidly St. Croix (Aronson 1993). Following the immediate passage graze a variety of algae and seagrasses, play a key role in struc- of Hurricane Andrew (1992), seagrass communities and as- turing coastal communities (Valentine and Heck 1991, 1999, sociated sea urchins at Lostman’s River in Everglades Na- 2001, Valentine et al. 1997, Watts et al. 2013). For example, tional Park, in southwestern Florida generally survived intact seasonal grazing by Lytechinus variegatus has been observed to (Dawes et al. 1995). Because it is almost impossible to predict stimulate seagrass production (Valentine et al. 1997, 2000) and pre—sample a coastal site ahead of a hurricane strike, in part because they provide nutrients to the local commu- the number of studies providing pre— and post—hurricane nity via their production of feces and ammonium (Greenway comparisons is relatively small. Therefore, with limited num- 1995, Watts et al. 2013). Lytechinus variegatus also influence bers of such studies and a wide range of potential effects on the community through their preferential consumption of echinoderms, it is important to study echinoderms that may detrital seagrass leaves (Montague et al. 1991, Greenway be impacted by hurricanes whenever possible. 1995). Moreover, when aggregated in high density grazing Saint Joseph Bay is a shallow, subtropical bay located on fronts, L. variegatus can alter community structure through the northwestern panhandle of Florida that is semi—enclosed a dramatic loss of primary and secondary production that by the Saint Joseph Peninsula (Figure 1A). The bay contains reduce fishery habitat and refugia (Rose et al. 1999, Maciá large regions of luxuriant seagrass beds and patches of well— and Liman 1999). Therefore, L. variegatus serves important sorted sand (Valentine and Heck 1993), along with dense ecological roles and there is a need to better understand how populations of the sea urchin L. variegatus (Beddingfield and physical