Critical swimming speeds of late-stage coral reef fish larvae: variation within species,among species and between locations |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Rebecca?FisherEmail author Jeffrey?M?Leis Domine?L?Clark Shaun?K?Wilson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia;(2) Department of Ichthyology, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia;(3) The School for Field Studies, Centre for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands;(4) Present address: Department of Biology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON, N9B3A1, Canada |
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Abstract: | The swimming abilities of larval fishes are important for their survival, potentially affecting their ability to avoid predators,
obtain food and control dispersal patterns. Near settlement swimming abilities may also influence spatial and temporal patterns
of recruitment. We examined Critical speed (U-crit) swimming ability in late stage larvae of 89 species of coral reef fishes from the Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean.
Coefficients of variation in U-crit calculated at the individual level were high (28.4%), and this was not explained by differences in size or condition
factor of these same larvae. Among species U-crit ranged from 5.5 cm s−1 to 100.8 cm s−1 (mean=37.3 cm s−1), with 95% of species able to swim faster than the average current speed around Lizard Island, suggesting that most species
should be capable of influencing their spatial and temporal patterns of settlement. Inter-specific differences in swimming
ability (at both the family and species levels) were significantly correlated with size and larval morphology. Correlations
were found between swimming performance and propulsive area, fineness ratio and aspect ratio, and these morphological parameters
may prove useful for predicting swimming ability in other taxa. Overall, the swimming speeds of larvae from the same families
at the two locations were relatively similar, although the Lutjanidae and Acanthuridae from the Caribbean were significantly
slower than those from the great barrier reef. Differences in swimming speed and body form among late stage larvae suggests
that they will respond differently to factors influencing survival and transport during their pelagic phase, as well as habitat
use following settlement. |
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