temporal and spatial variation in length of larval life and size at settlement of the hawaiian amphidromous goby lentipes concolor

R.L. Radtke, R.A. Kinzie, III, D.J. Shafer-2001

Journal of Fish Biology, 59(4): 928-938

Abstract:

Larvae of the Hawaiian amphidromous goby Lentipes concolor settled after a mean length of larval life (LLL) of 86.2±8.5 days (n=236, range=63-106 days) at a mean size of 16.0±0.7mm L_T(n=154, range=14.1-17.9mm). Mean LLL for L. concolor was about twice that typically reported for tropical marine gobiids. Variation in LLL (CV=10%) and size at settlement (CV=4%) were low, and comparable to that for marine gobiids. LLL and L_Twere weakly positively correlated (Pearson's correlation coefficient r=0.50, P< 0.0001). Larvae settled after shorter planktonic lives and at smaller sizes during months with warmer ocean temperatures. Inter-island variation in LLL did not support a dominant south-east to north-west larval drift, following the dominant south-east to north-west flow of prevailing currents in the Archipelago. Instead, recruits on Maui Island, centrally located in the archipelago, had shorter LLL than recruits to upstream Hawai`i and downstream Kaua`i islands. These findings have important implications for understanding the complex life history dynamics of amphidromous fishes as well as their management.

(Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai`i, Honolulu, Hawai`i, 96822, U.S.A., Tel.: +1 808 956 7498; fax: +1 808 956 9516; e-mail:radtke@hawaii.edu)

home