Distribution, abundance, and species composition of fish larvae and juveniles of Gobiidae in the Cimaja estuary, Palabuhanratu, Indonesia

Abstract

Cimaja estuary has been well known as a fishing ground for fish larvae and juveniles of amphidromous fishes. The local people call this group of fish impun and collect them frequently for consumption. However, no information about fish diversity and recruitment of amphidromous goby in the Cimaja estuary is known. Therefore, this study aims to reveal species composition, recruitment pattern, and estimation of the abundance of fish larval and juvenile amphidromous goby in the Cimaja estuary day and night. Sampling was performed monthly during the new moon period from December 2020 to February 2021. Fish specimens were identified to the lowest taxon level through a morphological approach. A total of 23,331 larvae and juveniles of Gobiidae were collected, and most of them were Sicyopterus spp. The juvenile stage (11.9-21.8 mm BL) comprised 95.6% of the catches, postflexion larvae (6.9-11.8 mm BL) contributed 3.5% to the total yield and 0.9% of the total capture consisting of flexion larvae (3.9-6.8 mm BL). Gobiid fishes are preferred to recruit and migrate into the Cimaja river during the day than at night time (p < 0.05), and their movement to the upstream are synchronized with the tidal cycle.

Diet composition and feeding strategy of larvae and juveniles of green riffle goby, Stiphodon elegans in Cimaja Estuary, Indonesia

“…The previous study stated that the level of biodiversity of larvae and juveniles of amphidromous fish recruited into the Cimaja estuary waters was slightly higher than in other estuaries of Indonesia [10]. One species most commonly found recruiting into the Cimaja estuary is the green riffle goby, Stiphodon elegans [9]. The high diversity of amphidromous fish that recruit indicates that the habitat of the Cimaja estuary waters is still in good condition and feasible to support the survival of amphidromous fish [10].…”

“…Cimaja estuary is one of the largest estuaries in Palabuhanratu Bay, Sukabumi, West Java Province. The Cimaja estuary is also a potential fishing ground for larvae and juvenile fishes in Palabuhanratu Bay [8,9]. The previous study stated that the level of biodiversity of larvae and juveniles of amphidromous fish recruited into the Cimaja estuary waters was slightly higher than in other estuaries of Indonesia [10].…”

Identification of gelodok fish (Perciformes, Gobiidae) in a coastal mangrove ecosystem, based on morphological and molecular characteristics

“…Gobies are widely geographically distributed in the world, ranging from the Indo Pacific region to the Atlantic coast of Africa (Jaafar & Murdy, 2017). In Indonesia, gobies are found in the region of Sumatra (Maeda & Tan, 2013;Ridho et al, 2021;Harefa & Chen, 2022;Khairul & Lubis, 2022;Hernawati et al, 2023), Java (Arisuryanti et al, 2018;Ningsih & Santoso, 2020;Aji & Arisuryanti, 2021;Baihaqi et al, 2022;Febrianti et al, 2023), Maluku (Taniwel et al, 2020), Sulawesi (Gani et al, 2020(Gani et al, , 2021Bandjolu et al, 2021;Hasan et al, 2021;Astuti et al, 2022;Baderan et al, 2023;Zakiyah Darojat et al, 2023), Nusa Tenggara (Rhaifa et al, 2021), and Papua (Greenfield & Tornabene, 2014;Putra et al, 2022).…”