Comparisons between the ichthyofaunas of a temperate lagoonal-like estuary and the embayment into which that estuary discharges

Abstract

Leschenault Estuary consists of a large lagoonal-like water body, which opens into Koombana Bay through a short and deep entrance channel at its southern end. Since the only major tributary discharges into the estuary opposite the entrance channel, much of the freshwater discharge in the winter passes directly out to sea. Consequently, during the year of the present study, the mean monthly salinities in the main body of the estuary remained above 20 per mil. This presumably accounts for the fact that the ichthyofaunal composition in the shallows of the estuary did not undergo the type of marked changes that are exhibited in other south-western Australian estuaries, in which salinities often fall below 10 per mil in winter. Despite the maintenance of high salinities in Leschenault Estuary and a close proximity to Koombana Bay, the estuary contained a far greater density and markedly different species composition of fish than that found in that marine embayment. This difference reflected, in part, the high abundance in Leschenault Estuary of some species whose entire life cycle is confined to estuaries,e.g. the atherinidsAtherinosoma elongata andLeptatherina wallacei and the gobiesPseudogobius olorum andAfurcagobius suppositus, and the fact that the juveniles of several marine species,e.g. Hyperlophus vittatus, Sillaginodes punctata, Mugil cephalus andGymnapistes marmoratus were also largely or entirely restricted to the estuary. In contrast,Lesueurina platycephala, which was by far the most abundant species in Koombana Bay, was absent in the estuary. Furthermore, the relatively protected region of Koombana Bay contained a greater density and different composition of fish than the more exposed region of this embayment. This reflected the greater use that was made of the protected region as a nursery area by certain marine species,e.g. Aldrichetta forsten andSillago bassensis. Our data, when taken in conjunction with those collected on the fish fauna in other south-western Australian estuaries, demonstrate that, within this geographical region, some fish species are specifically adapted to the estuarine environment, and that certain marine species apparently have a strong preference for using the highly protected and productive waters of this type of environment as a nursery area.