
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Leis, Jeffrey M. 
A1  - Carson-Ewart, Brooke M. 
A1  - Webley, James 
T1  - Settlement behaviour of coral-reef fish larvae at subsurface artificial-reef moorings
JF  - Marine and Freshwater Research
JO  - Mar. Freshwater Res.
Y1  - 2002
VL  - 53
IS  - 2
SP  - 319
EP  - 327
KW  - recruitment, Pomacentridae, Apogonidae, Blenniidae, Gobiidae, Monacanthidae, Tetraodontidae.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF01082 
N2  - Artificial-reef units (rolls of plastic garden mesh) attached to subsurface floats were used to study settlement behaviour of larval reef fishes. These units were located 3, 5, 7 and 9 m above the bottom in water 15&#8211;19 m deep in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon, 1 km from natural reefs. Larvae of 50 species (15 families) settled on these units. The nine most abundant reef-fish taxa were in the families Apogonidae, Blenniidae, Gobiidae, Monacanthidae, Pomacentridae and Tetraodontidae. The less abundant of these taxa (n = 4) settled uniformly. The more abundant taxa (n = 5) had clumped settlement. Four taxa preferred structurally complex reef units, whereas five showed no preference. Apogonids, gobiids, tetraodontids and a pomacentrid preferred deep units, one pomacentrid had no depth preference, and a blenniid and a monacanthid preferred shallow units. Experiments evaluated visual, olfactory and auditory cues that reef-fish larvae may use to locate and settle onto reefs. Visual cues (large white panels) did not enhance settlement. Experiments on olfactory cues (corals in vented containers) and auditory cues (&#8216;the nocturnal chorus&#8217; of tropical reefs) were compromised by low and highly variable settlement, but show the potential of the method. The advantages of subsurface moorings for study of settlement behaviour are discussed. 
ER  -

