| |
Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(391) MORPHOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION AND RECRUITMENT SIZE OF AMPHIDROMOUS, NATIVE HAWAIIAN FISHES.
M.E. Benbow1, A.J. Burky1, and C.M. Way2. 1Department of Biology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469 2320, 2Barry Vittor and Associates, Inc., 8060 Cottage Hill Rd., Mobile, AL 36695
There are five Hawaiian amphidromous fishes (Lentipes concolor, Awaous guamensis, Sicyopterus stimpsoni, Stenogobius hawaiiensis, Eleotris sandwicensis). Amphidromous adults deposit eggs on the stream bottom. After hatching, larvae drift to the ocean for growth followed by postlarval migration back into the streams. Postlarvae were collected for analyses of morphological characteristics used to construct a dichotomous identification key. In 1993 and 1999 trapping occurred over several months to determine total body length (TL, in mm) changes over time. Gobies were separated from the eleotrid by fused pectoral fins. Within the gobies, S. stimpsoni and A. guamensis were significantly longer than the others. Although TL could not separate L. concolor and S. hawaiiensis, the former had 5 anterior dorsal fin rays compared to 6. Nineteen pectoral fin rays differentiated S. stimpsoni from A. guamensis. Postlarval TL did not significantly differ over several months within the same year. Comparing years, TL of L. concolor did not but S. stimpsoni did differ. This difference for S. stimpsoni may be due to sample size differences between years requiring a nonparametric test, thus reducing discriminating power (with a t-test, there was no significant difference), or species-specific developmental differences induced by climatic variables within each year.
Presented at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, May 31, 2000 in Fish Ecology
|
|
