Life history strategies of four small‐size fishes in the Suez Canal, Egypt

Abstract

Of 35 species collected from the shores of the Suez Canal and its lakes, five were abundant year round. Sihouettea aegyptia and Aphanius dispar are of Red Sea (warm water) origin, whereas Pomatoschistus marmoratus, Aphanius fasciatus and Atherina boyeri are Mediterranean species. S. aegyptia and A. dispar are distributed throughout the Suez system whereas A. fasciatus is restricted to the northern canal. P. marmoratus and A. boyeri have not spread southward beyond the Bitter Lakes. Salinity is the main limiting factor for the distribution of Mediterranean species. S. aegyptia and A. dispar are dominant in the Bitter Lakes (salinity 44‰), whereas P. marmoratus and A. boyeri are abundant in Timsah Lake (salinity 7·8–41·6‰). There was considerable interannual and monthly variation in the relative abundance of each species. The populations were dominated by a single age group, and life spans were no more than 2 years. Rapid growth was evident during the first spring in P. marmoratus and A. boyeri and during the first summer, early autumn in S. aegyptia and A. dispar. The relative abundance of each food item in the diet varied with fish size and season. S. aegyptia, P. marmoratus and A. dispar fed mostly on harpacticoid copepods, polychaetes, demersal eggs, diatoms and blue‐green algae whereas A. boyeri fed mostly on planktonic copepods. The warm water species are summer spawners, whereas the temperate species are autumn‐winter spawners.