Nursery Areas for Marine Fish

Abstract

The concept of nursery areas arose from the recognition that nearshore habitats sustain a high abundance of both fish and invertebrates, most of which move to different habitats as adults. These diverse habitats include estuaries and tidal flats, coastal lagoons and seagrass meadows, and marshes and mangrove forests, which are often characterized by higher primary and secondary productivity that support thriving marine communities. In this sense, nursery areas can be defined as habitats that support high juvenile densities and that contribute the most to the nourishment of adult populations (Beck et al. 2001; Able 2005; Dahlgren et al. 2006). The particular conditions offered by nursery areas enhance the export of juveniles by effective combinations of juvenile density, growth, survival, and movements to adult populations.

Influence of oceanic and climate conditions on the early life history of European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax

“…This points to a possible desynchronization between late hatching and optimal environmental conditions for transport towards the estuary, and highlights the complex species/environment interactions that drive year class strength in marine fishes with complex life cycles such as the Besides the possibility of weaker recruitment, desynchronization with suitable environmental conditions may still bring additional challenges to 0-group fish who manage to reach nursery areas. One of the main reasons why fish migrate towards nursery areas is to find shelter and a suitable place for rapid growth (Blaber and Blaber, 1980;Vasconcelos et al, 2010;Martinho 2020). Juvenile seabass have an optimal temperature range from 18 • C to 25 • C (Almeida et al, 2015), at which growth is most favourable.…”