Alongshore dispersal and site fidelity of juvenile plaice from tagging and transplants

Abstract

Juvenile plaice Pleuronectes platessa (n ¼ 1281) were tagged and released at two locations 300 m apart on a 1 km long sandy beach. Most (>90%) of the fish were recaptured within 100 m of the release site (shown by the colour of the tag), with very few caught >200 m distance after 6 weeks. The changing spatial distribution of marked fish was adequately reproduced by a simple dispersal model with a single parameter: a 78% probability of remaining in a 100 m wide zone from one day to the next, with a 22% chance that fish move into an adjacent zone. In a subsequent similar study at the same beach, fish were either released at the point of capture (n ¼ 881) or transplanted to the alternate site (n ¼ 910) 100 m distant. After 6 weeks, transplanted fish moved along the shore towards their sites of original capture. Fish replaced at the point of capture showed no such movement along the shore. Further modification of the dispersal model to allow for a distinction between dispersal from home sites and from sites away from the original point of collection, was sufficient to reproduce the behaviour of the populations of both transplanted and control treatment groups. The likelihood of dispersal from home sites was much less than that seen at sites away from home. Juvenile plaice thus have a degree of long-shore site fidelity not expected of a fish with strong depth-related migration behaviour in a relatively homogenous habitat. # 2004 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

Development, validation and field application of an RNA‐based growth index in juvenile plaice Pleuronectes platessa

“…Clearly, the factors controlling growth, in particular the relative importance of temperature and food, vary in space and time. Given that young P. platessa show limited (generally ≤100 m) alongshore movement on nursery beaches (Macer, 1967; Riley, 1973; Burrows et al , 2004), it is possible that growth is heterogeneous even at very small scales within a single beach (Berghahn, 1987; Gibson et al , 1996; Beyst et al , 2002). However, juveniles from a single P. platessa population are distributed along hundreds of kilometres of coastline for a period of several months (Pihl et al , 2000), therefore, a population‐level understanding of nursery function must integrate these small‐scale processes across an extensive, heterogeneous landscape.…”

Dynamics of shallow-water juvenile flatfish nursery grounds: application of the self-thinning rule

“…m -2 ) declines due to mortality. Individuals may also face space limitation for foraging (Steingrímsson & Grant 1999) even if they are not necessarily territorial but simply 'site faithful' (Burrows et al 2004). On occasion, high fish abundance and/or low prey density may impose a carrying capacity, i.e.…”

Field experiments on depth selection by juvenile plaice Pleuronectes platessa

“…This fidelity to a particular depth can be compared with the horizontal site fidelity shown by young winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Saucerman & Deegan 1991) and plaice (Riley 1973, Burrows et al 2004, in which individuals do not stray far alongshore. Juvenile plaice also show 'homing' whereby they return to their original position when laterally displaced (Riley 1973, Burrows et al 2004) and on a larger scale, the ability of the adults to return to spawning and feeding grounds is well documented (e.g.…”

“…Juvenile plaice also show 'homing' whereby they return to their original position when laterally displaced (Riley 1973, Burrows et al 2004) and on a larger scale, the ability of the adults to return to spawning and feeding grounds is well documented (e.g. Hunter et al 2003, Solmundsson et al 2005.…”