Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) nursery habitats: evaluation of habitat quality and broad-scale habitat identification

Wilson, JoEllen K.; Adams, Aaron J.; Ahrens, Robert

doi:10.1007/s10641-018-0835-y

Cited by 26 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Although outside the scope of this study, thorough habitat identification and assessments of tarpon nurseries, such as by Wilson et al . (2019), are critical to exploring abiotic factors affecting growth and survival of young tarpon throughout the species' entire range. Prey availability was not measured in the current study but is a likely factor affecting growth of juvenile tarpon and should be addressed in future studies in the region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mean growth rate estimate for juvenile tarpon (1.56 ± 0.11 mm day −1 ) falls within the range (0.9–2.6 mm day −1 ) reported by Nichols (1994), Rickards (1968) and Zerbi et al . (2001) but is higher than estimates reported by other studies (0.07–0.14 mm day −1 ; Mace et al ., 2018, 2020; Wilson et al ., 2019). Differences in growth rate estimations could result from a variety of factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current study examined age-0 fish only during the first growing season and may explain the higher growth rates. Conversely, studies which used tag recapture methods (Mace et al, 2018(Mace et al, , 2020Wilson et al, 2019) derived growth rates from samples which included individuals that experienced multiple seasons and low winter-temperature conditions when growth is expected to be slow or non-existent (Cyr, 1991;Mace et al, 2018;Rickards, 1968). Because of this seasonal variation in growth rates, comparisons drawn among studies should consider the timing and seasons of collections, along with annual temperature variations for specimens older than 1 year.…”

Section: Juvenile Occurrence Age and Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age and growth of early‐life‐stage Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) from the northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Graham

Franks

Anderson

et al. 2021

Journal of Fish Biology

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Age and growth of early‐life‐stage Atlantic tarpon Megalops atlanticus collected from Mississippi coastal waters in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are described using otolith microstructure analysis. Tarpon leptocephali (n = 95, 16.0—27.8 mm standard length, LS) collected from June throughOctober 2013—2018, ranged in age from 22 to 43 days (mean = 30.9 ± 0.5 days). Leptocephalus somatic growth rates ranged 0.46—1.24 mm day−1 (mean = 0.76 ± 0.02 mm day−1), and leptocephalus otolith growth rates ranged 1.78—3.97 μm day−1 (mean = 2.58 ± 0.04 μm day−1). Growth rates were inversely correlated to leptocephalus age, indicating the shrinkage phase associated with leptocephalus metamorphosis. Juvenile tarpon (n = 358, 50—359 mm fork length, LF) were collected from August through December 2007—2018. Juveniles exhibited a positive allometric relationship (adjusted R2 = 0.99, P < 0.001) between length and mass. The age of 100 juveniles (71—277 mm LF) ranged from 76 to 174 days. Juvenile growth rate was estimated as 1.56 ± 0.11 mm day−1. Significant (P < 0.001) linear relationships were found between juvenile age and otolith metrics, including otolith mass (R2 = 0.81) and radius (R2 = 0.68). Evaluation of the backcalculated hatch dates suggests that specimens in the collection hatched from late May through mid‐September with slight peaks during July and August. A Rao's Spacing Test of Uniformity indicates the presence of significant lunar periodicity in leptocephalus hatch dates (n = 95, U = 250.1, P < 0.05), with 50% of the leptocephali hatched within 5 days (before or after) of the full moon. This study fills critical gaps in the scientific knowledge of tarpon and provides estimates of early‐life‐history metrics for an iconic game fish at the northernmost extent of its GOM range.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Juvenile Occurrence Age and Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Age and growth of early‐life‐stage Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) from the northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Graham

Franks

Anderson

et al. 2021

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…Regardless of the mechanism underpinning the importance of the Mississippi River Delta to tarpon, citizen scientists are clearly part of the conservation solution. Several recent advances in our understanding of tarpon population structure (Guindon et al, 2015), movement and migration (Luo et al, 2020), and nursery habitat use (Wilson, Adams, & Ahrens, 2019) have been facilitated by citizen science efforts, particularly in Florida. For example, tarpon anglers from nine southeastern US states (Texas through Virginia) collected nearly 24,000 tarpon tissue samples in support of a genetic mark-recapture study; 96% of these were collected in F I G U R E 2 (a) The move persistence parameter ( g t ) displayed as a time-series for the state-space model filtered tarpon data, with white and grey name templates indicating fish tagged in Alabama verses Louisiana, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documentation of Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) space use and move persistence in the northern Gulf of Mexico facilitated by angler advocates

Drymon

Jargowsky

Dance

et al. 2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus, hereafter tarpon) are facing a multitude of stressors and are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN; however, significant gaps remain in our understanding of tarpon space use and movement. From 2018 to 2019, citizen scientists facilitated tagging of 23 tarpon with SPOT tags to examine space use and movement across the northern Gulf of Mexico. Movement‐based kernel densities were used to estimate simplified biased random bridge‐based utilization distributions and a joint move persistence model was used to estimate a behavioral index for each fish. Tarpon showed consistent east–west movement from the Alabama/Florida border to Louisiana, and utilization distributions were highest in the Mississippi River Delta. Move persistence was highest in Alabama and Mississippi and lowest in Louisiana. Our examination of tarpon space use and movement indicates that Louisiana is a critical, yet understudied, part of their range.

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“…Atlantic tarpon (hereafter tarpon) use natural and managed habitats as juveniles before emigrating to marine habitats and are frequently found in estuarine impoundments, ponds, and pools in and around South Florida and the Caribbean (Zerbi et al 2005;Cianciotto et al 2019;Wilson et al 2019), as well as farther north in estuaries along the southeastern US Atlantic (i.e., South Carolina and Georgia;Nichols 1994;Robinson and Jennings 2014;Mace et al 2018) and Gulf coasts (Stein et al 2016). Managed marsh impoundments are designed to maintain consistent environmental conditions (e.g., depth), with water control structures limiting tidal influence and water flow according to seasonal operation protocols, but on occasion external forces (e.g., severe storms, drought) can combine with internal operations (e.g., low or no water flow) to create extreme water temperature, salinity, or dissolved oxygen conditions (McGovern and Wenner 1990;Robinson and Jennings 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Juvenile tarpon Megalops atlanticus use of natural and managed marsh habitats in coastal South Carolina

2021

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36-333 mm standard length) were observed during July to November. Tarpon from natural marsh pools (North Inlet estuary; mean ± SD = 65.4 ± 20.2 mm) were smaller than those from managed impoundments (Kiawah Island and Yawkey Preserve; 253.9 ± 41.6 mm), with no overlap in size across habitats throughout the study duration. Mean tarpon length was relatively constant throughout the study in marsh pools (65 ± 20.2 mm SL), but mean tarpon length increased from 180 ± 9.9 mm SL in August to 290 ± 31.5 mm SL in October in managed impoundments. Peak catch-per-unit-effort occurred during August (marsh pools) into September (managed impoundments) across habitat types and declined as water temperatures decreased at the end of October to November. The absence of size overlap between habitats and increasing size of tarpon over time in marsh impoundments compared to the minimal change in length over time observed for marsh pools suggests that (1) tarpon are transient in marsh pools early in life, (2) tarpon do not enter impoundments until reaching a certain size, (3) small juvenile tarpon are cryptic in impoundments and larger juvenile tarpon are more susceptible to capture in those habitats, or (4) a combination of (1), (2), and (3).

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Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) nursery habitats: evaluation of habitat quality and broad-scale habitat identification

Cited by 26 publications

References 52 publications

Age and growth of early‐life‐stage Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) from the northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Age and growth of early‐life‐stage Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) from the northcentral Gulf of Mexico

Documentation of Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) space use and move persistence in the northern Gulf of Mexico facilitated by angler advocates

Juvenile tarpon Megalops atlanticus use of natural and managed marsh habitats in coastal South Carolina

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