Biologging to examine multiple life stages of an estuarine-dependent fish

Abstract

To better understand habitat use through ontogeny, this paper synthesizes 7 yr of biologging research on the adult and juvenile life stages of an estuarine-dependent fish, the com- mon snook Centropomus undecimalis in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, USA. During 3 yr of telemetry research in a putative nursery habitat (mangrove creeks), we resighted 85.4% of 1924 juvenile snook marked after, and 13.5% of 2191 juveniles marked prior to, deployment of a telemetry array. During 4 yr of research in spawning habitat (barrier island beaches), we used seine nets and recaptured 5.63% of 3304 marked adult snook. After analyzing these concurrent data sets, we found significant intra- and interannual site fidelity patterns in both life stages, while document- ing movement between juvenile and adult spawning habitats. Additionally, this tag-based approach allowed an investigation of the relative effects of a severe cold event, which reduced apparent survival by 22.6 to 38.3% for juveniles and 97.8 to 98.5% for adults. This work presents data within and between life stages that are critical to understanding processes affecting onto - genetic habitat use and connectivity and underscores the importance of incorporating within- stage fidelity and emigration in studies on ontogeny.