Abstract
The intertidal zone is a transitional environment that undergoes daily environmental fluctuations as tides rise and fall. Relatively few fish species are adapted to endure the physiological pressures of this environment. This study focused on Bathygobius cocosensis (Gobiidae), a common intertidal fish in New South Wales, Australia. We investigated whether shore height impacted site fidelity, survival probability, fish size, and morphological traits with respect to tidal height. Mark-recapture methods were used over a five month period to determine if individuals in high shore pools had greater site fidelity; fish in high tide pools were more than twice as likely to be recaptured in their original pool than fish from low tide pools. High pool individuals were, on average, smaller with larger eyes and longer snouts relative to their size as compared to low pool individuals. We discuss several mechanisms that could cause the observed pattern in morphological variation. Ultimately, this study suggests that within species behaviour and morphology differ by tidal position for an intertidal fish.
Highlights
A total of 222 individuals were tagged at least once, corresponding to 158 individuals collected in high shore pools and 64 individuals collected in low shore pools over the five-month study period
The average density of B. cocosensis was somewhat greater in low pools
The two best models included: (i) encounter probability (p) that differed by group and survival probability (φ) that did not differ by groups or time (best model: φ(.)p(g )) and, (ii) survival probability that differed by group and encounter probability that differed by group (second best model: φ(g )p(g ))
Summary
Many ecological studies have been conducted in the intertidal environment (Dakin, Benneti & Pope, 1948; Connell, 1972; Paine, 1974; Menge, 1976; Thomson & Lehner, 1976), as this environment’s highly transitional physicochemical properties over small spatial distances facilitate the study of abiotic effects on biota (Connell, 1972; Daniel & Boyden, 1975; Morris & Taylor, 1983). Vertical distributions of fishes living in the intertidal are frequently described in terms of life histories (Gibson, 1972; Yoshiyama, Sassaman & Lea, 1986; Griffiths, West & Davis, 2003; Cox et al, 2011; White, Hose & Brown, 2015). Resident species spend their full adult life cycle in the intertidal (typically following a pelagic larval stage) and are well adapted to endure high physiological stress. Resident species may experience extreme gradients of abiotic and biotic conditions, those that covary with shoreline height, few studies have quantified intraspecific behavioral or morphological variation within resident fishes with regards to shoreline height
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