Recruitment of ichthyoplankton and macrozooplankton during overtopping events into a temporarily open/closed southern African estuary

Abstract

The composition and short-term temporal variation in the ichthyofauna and macrozooplankton entering the temporarily open/closed (TOC) West Kleinemond estuary (33°33′S, 27°02′E) during 7 overtopping events were investigated in June 2003. A total of 84 fish representing 7 taxa from 6 families and 456 macrozooplankton representing at least 16 species was collected from water overtopping the sandbar using a custom-built funnel trap (150 μm mesh). Larvae of estuarine dependant marine species, especially the sparid, Rhabdosargus holubi, which contributed 54% to the total fish catch, dominated the ichthyofauna. Also well represented among the ichthyofauna were Monodactylus falciformis and Mugilidae spp., which together accounted for a further 40% of the total fish catch. Among the macrozooplankton, larvae of Palaemon peringueyi and the mysid Mesopodopsis wooldridgei dominated numerically and by biomass. Numerical analyses using multidimensional scaling (MDS) revealed variability in the overtopping community on a diel scale. It is suggested that recruitment through overtopping is essentially a passive process governed by the physical environment with the composition of the recruiting community being a function of the patchy dynamics of surf zone plankton. Preliminary estimates indicate that an hour-long period of overtopping over spring high tide is capable of introducing between 8000 and 33 500 individuals of R. holubi into the TOC West Kleinemond estuary. The advantages and disadvantages of recruitment using overtopping events as well as impacts on the estuarine foodweb are discussed.