Seasonal Distribution and Habitat Preferences of Crimson Seabream Parargyrops edita: Implications for a Marine Protected Area in Beibu Gulf, Northern South China Sea

Abstract

Understanding distribution patterns and habitat characteristics of ecologically or economically important species in marine protected areas is critical for identifying ecological boundaries and optimizing management strategies. However, studies on groundfish resources around marine protected areas are often limited because of economic, geographic, or jurisdictional constraints. This study investigated the seasonal distribution of Crimson Seabream Parargyrops edita, an important demersal fish species in the Beibu Gulf, northern South China Sea, based on bottom trawl surveys inside and outside of the experimental zone of a marine protected area. It examined habitat preferences of Crimson Seabream in terms of 11 abiotic and biotic factors (sea bottom temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, depth, transparency, zooplankton biomass, eastings, northings, season, and zone) using generalized additive models. The density of Crimson Seabream was highest in spring, with a mean ± SD density of 50,700 ± 15,100 individuals/km2 and an occurrence frequency of 92.3%, and lowest in winter, with a mean ± SD density of 20 ± 39 individuals/km2 and an occurrence frequency of 30.8%. Crimson Seabream were most aggregated in summer and least aggregated in winter. Results suggest that the distribution of Crimson Seabream was first and foremost influenced by season, sea bottom temperature, and salinity. Crimson Seabream were most likely to be found in areas with sea bottom temperature between 22.8°C and 25.0°C, salinity between 31.5‰ and 32.0‰, dissolved oxygen between 4.4 and 6.8 mg/L, and zooplankton biomass between 114.0 and 2,717.5 mg/m3. Further, findings suggest that dynamic management strategies with more effort on minimizing human activity around the marine protected area in winter and spring may provide more effective support for Crimson Seabream recruitment. Statistical approaches applied here and related outcomes may serve as a basis for determining the spillover effects of marine protected areas and enhancing fishery management units.

RETRACTED: Exploring Spatio-Temporal Heterogeneity and Inter-Domain Ecological Networks of biological community in a Marine Ranching Habitat: Implications for fishery resources conservation

“…The Beibu Gulf is an important germplasm resource conservation area for Parargyrops edita [45] . The resources of Parargyrops edita were rich in the studied area, accounting for about 24% of the total catches.…”

Habitat suitability evaluation of Harpadon nehereus in nearshore of Zhejiang province, China

“…In this study, sea salinity had a significant influence on the distribution of H. nehereus in spring, which could be attributed to its selection of suitable habitats (Wang et al, 2019). The species was heavily concentrated in estuaries and offshore areas, indicating that it has a wide salinity tolerance range.…”

“…GAMs are an extension of generalized linear models (GLMs), and both are based on the statistical distribution of response variables for data analysis (Li et al, 2017). GLMs assume that the predictive function between the response variable and the explanatory variable is a linear relationship, whereas GAMs consider a non-linear relationship (Wang et al, 2019). Data analysis is based on the additive predictive function, which ensures that the model has some non-parametric characteristics.…”

“…Coastal waters provide important habitats for a wide range of fish species. These waters sustain terrestrial and marine-origin nutrient supplies and spatiotemporal changes in the nearshore physicochemical environment (e.g., water depth, temperature and salinity) due to flood and ebb tides (Kasai et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2019;Kume et al, 2021). Furthermore, they create different types of fluctuating habitats, which provide a highly productive, ever-changing ecosystem for fish communities (Seitz et al, 2014;Potter et al, 2015).…”