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Environmental influences on the replenishment of lizardfish (family Synodontidae) in Caribbean Panama

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Abstract

Lizardfish (family Synodontidae) are little studied despite their potentially important predatory role in epibenthic coral reef communities. The present study documented the temporal and spatial larval supply patterns of five Caribbean lizardfish species together with environmental variables (solar radiation, rainfall, water temperature, onshore-offshore winds, alongshore winds and wind-induced turbulence) to examine: (1) whether species within the same family respond differently to their developmental environment and (2) if larval supply in year-round warm waters is influenced by climatic changes. To address these questions, late-stage larvae of Synodus foetens, Synodus intermedius, Synodus poeyi, Saurida suspicio and Saurida brasiliensis were collected in replicate light traps in three different reef habitats (back-reef, lagoon and exposed) in the San Blas Archipelago, Panama, over 18 consecutive lunar months. Although replenishment of lizardfish occurred year-round, the temporal and spatial supply patterns were species-specific: S. foetens, S. intermedius and S. poeyi were most abundant during the dry season while S. suspicio and S. brasiliensis were most prevalent during the wet season. When seasons were analysed separately, water temperature explained 39 and 26% of the variance in light trap catches of S. foetens and S. intermedius, respectively, in the dry season while wind-induced turbulence accounted for 25% of the variability in S. suspicio and S. brasiliensis catches during the wet season. These findings stress the importance of analysing larval supply in conjunction with environmental data at a high taxonomic resolution to better understand the mechanisms that drive replenishment in reef systems at low latitudes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Kuna General Congress for permitting fieldwork in the San Blas Archipelago and to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s Marine Environmental Science Program for providing environmental data. We want to thank J. Ditty for his advice on lizardfish identification, B. Victor for his invaluable assistance with differentiating between larval Synodus poeyi and Synodus intermedius based on morphological characteristics, and T. Hatley for editorial comments. This study was funded by the following grants: James Cook University, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the National Geographic Society of America (NGS#5395-94).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    T. Lemberget & M. I. McCormick

  2. Fisheries and Marine Science Program, Bureau of Rural Sciences, GPO Box 858, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    D. T. Wilson

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  1. T. Lemberget
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  2. M. I. McCormick
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  3. D. T. Wilson
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Correspondence to T. Lemberget.

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Communicated by Environment Editor Prof. Rob van Woesik

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Lemberget, T., McCormick, M.I. & Wilson, D.T. Environmental influences on the replenishment of lizardfish (family Synodontidae) in Caribbean Panama. Coral Reefs 28, 737–750 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-009-0489-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-009-0489-5

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