SELECTIVE MORTALITY DURING THE LARVAL–JUVENILE TRANSITION IN TWO CORAL REEF FISHES

Abstract

For organisms with complex life histories, processes occurring during transitions between stages can strongly affect population dynamics. The major life history transition for many marine species is settlement from pelagic larvae to benthic or demersal juveniles. We examined differential mortality at settlement as a function of early life history traits (size-at-age, growth rates) in three cohorts of two common Caribbean coral reef fishes, Thalassoma bifasciatum and Halichoeres bivittatus (Labridae). We deployed light traps to collect late-stage larvae of each cohort. We also collected juveniles of each cohort at regular intervals (every second day) for two weeks following their first appearance on the nearshore reefs of Barbados, West Indies, during the spring (April–May) and fall (August–October) of 1997. Comparisons of otolith-derived traits exhibited by younger recruits (initial group) to those exhibited by older juveniles (survivor group) revealed that there was a difference in otolith growth during ...